DE – Raga CDs des Monats (10/2012): Improvisation mit u. ohne Rhythmus – 4 Improvisationstypen in der südindischen Klassik

Manodharma, Improvisation mit und ohne Rhythmus. 

– Die vier Improvisationstypen in der südindischen Klassik.

Ein Maestro im indischen Gesang oder Instrumentalspiel beweist seine wahre Kunstfertigkeit  in der freien Improvisation. Die Gestaltungsmöglichkeiten sind derart vielfältig, dass keine Ragaperformance einer anderen gleicht. Jede Ragadarbietung ist einzigartig und nicht wiederholbar. Die Improvisation wird in das festgelegte Gerüst eines Ragas eingeflochten. Es ist die Kunst der indischen Improvisation, sich in einem engen Korsett eines komplexen Regelwerkes frei zu bewegen, den Gestaltungsspielraum spontan in vorgegebenen, ritualisierten Möglichkeiten zu ergründen. D.h. immer auch zweckdienlich für die Improvisation Kompositionsformen zu verwenden. In der südindischen Klassik sind es Formate wie die Kritis, Varnams, Tillanas oder Pallavis.

Manodharma bezeichnet in der karnatischen Musik die Form der Improvisation. Im Manodharma Sangeet, dem improvisierten Gesang existieren vier Hauptformen. Sie treten in Erscheinung mit rhythmischer Begleitung oder ohne Bezug zu einem Rhythmuszirkel, dem Tala.  Manodharma Sangeet heisst in der sinngemäßen Übersetzung soviel wie “einfallsreiche Musik“.

Sendetermine…

15. Oktober 2012 – 23:00 Uhr @ Tide 96.0 FM (DE)
(Premiere: 18. Juli 2011 – 23:00 Uhr)
broadcasting plan | streaming (Internet Radio & Mobile Radio) | podCast

Für den Schüler beginnt der Unterricht mit dem Erlernen der vorkomponierten Formen, Kalpita Sangita, bevor er sich der freien Improvisationsform nähert. Für den fortgeschrittenen Konzertmusiker ist es Niraval (auch Neraval oder Sahitya Prastara). Niraval ist die gängige Darbietung der Improvisation. Die anspruchsvollste Form der Improvisation in der karnatischen Musik ist Raga Alapana (auch Raga Vistara) oder einfach nur Alap.

So wie die Improvisationsform  Alapana als Einführung eines Ragas fungiert, bedienten sich besonders die Veenaspieler eines Préludes: Tana oder Tanam. Zu den Veenas gehört die Sitar, die Sarode und auch die echten Lauten, die Rudra Veenas, einem Saiteninstrument der nordindischen Klassik. Die Rudra Veena galt vor ca. 200 Jahren als die Königin aller Instrumente der indischen Klassik.
Die Gesangsvirtuosen bedienen sich des Tanam in der vorkomponierten Improvisationsform Ragam Thanam Pallavi, sozusagen eine Komposition innerhalb einer Improvisation.

DE – Raga CDs of the Months (10/2012): Improvisation with(out) Rhythm – 4 Types in South Indian Classics (Carnatic)

Manodharma – Improvisation with(out) rhythm. 

– The four types of improvisation in South Indian Classics (Carnatic).

An instrumental or vocal maestro of Indian Classics shows his true skills in free improvisation. The possibilities are so varied that no one Raga performance are alike. Each Raga performance is unique and unrepeatable. The improvisation is woven into the established framework of a raga. It is the art of Indian improvisation to move freely in a tight corset of a complex set of rules to explore spontaneously in predetermined and ritualized ways. It is always useful for the improvisational forms to hark back to forms of composition. In South Indian Classics (Carnatic) there exist formats such as Kritis, Varnams, Tillanas or Pallavis.

Manodharma is known in the Carnatic music as form of improvisation. In Manodharma Sangeet (the improvised song) exist four main forms. They appear with rhythmic accompaniment or without reference to a rhythm cycle, the Tala. Manodharma Sangeet from words in the figurative sense means “imaginative music“.

dates of broadcasting…

15th October 2012 – 11:00 p.m. CET (05:00 pm EST) @ Tide 96.0 FM (DE)
(premiere: 18th July 2011 – 11:00 pm CEST (05:00 pm EST))
broadcasting plan | streaming (Internet Radio & Mobile Radio) | podCast

For a student of Indian Classics the training begins with learning the pre-composed forms, Sangita Kalpita before (s)he approaches the form of free improvisation. For the advanced concert musician it is Niraval (or Neraval / Sahitya prastara). Niraval is the common presentation of improvisation. The most demanding form of improvisation in Carnatic music is Raga Alapana (also Vistara raga) or simply Alap.

As the Alapana serves as an introduction to a raga for the vocal form of improvisation same the intrumentalists themselves especially the Veena players use a kind of  preludes: Tana or Tanam. The family of Veenas (lutes) include the sitar, sarod and also the Rudra Veenas, a stringed instrument of North Indian classical music. About 200 years ago the Rudra Veena was the queen of all instruments of Indian classical music.

Nowadays the vocal virtuosos make use of Tanams in pre-composed forms, called Thanam Pallavi Ragam, so to speak a “composition within an improvisation” (or otherway round).

A – Raga CDs of the months (10/12): Raags, Ghazals and Goethe…

The word Ghazel originates from the Arabean-Persian word Gazal. Its roots back to the Arabian world of the 6th, 7th century. In Turkish we find this poetry form as Gazel.

Beside in Parsi, the Persian language of the Pashtunes, and in Hindi and Urdu, which is spoken in Pakistan, Ghazals have been established in many other languages as expression and verse form of poetry. Far beyond India, Pakistan and Afghanistan to Anglo-American, Hebrew and German linguistic area inside Ghazals experienced a large interest; in Spanish Federico Garcia Lorca experimented with the Ghazal form.

The traditional Ghazal form has love as a melancholy expression, life and metaphysical questions as literary objects.

In the literature Ghazel pretty often is defined as a form of Indian light classical style within the Indian classical music. IMC OnAir’s show will demonstrate that it behaves differently with this structural form of poetry.

dates of broadcasting…

14th October 2012 – 05:00 pm EST (11:00 p.m. MESTZ) @ Radio FRO (A)
(premiere: 15th June 2009 – 10:00 pm CET @ TIDE Radio)
InternetStream (Web & Mobile Radio) | PodCasting | broadcasting plan

The Ghazal wins it’s expressiveness by an „impersonal note“, into which the reader respectively listener can interprate the own individual mental state. Ghazals live in their emotional expression by a coding, a symbolic, indirect address and of opposed characters, as for example the separation pain of an unfulfilled love in divine form, on a metaphysical, universal, spiritual level…

The film industry of India and Pakistan contributed substantially to the popularization of the Ghazals. Their variety in the expression of love and emotional state like togetherness, desire, pain of separation, apathy and in the form of sullenness or regret, the priority meaning of the word and gentle nature of the Ghazals found a multiplicity of interpreters in Mumbai, the Bollywood metropolis and in Lollywood, the analogue of Pakistan’s film industry.

Outstanding Ghazal composers of India & Pakistan (Urdu ghazals)…

Hafiz or Hafez (1315-1390)	Muhammad Jalaluddin Rumi (13th century)	Mirza Assadullah Khan Galib (1797-1869)

Daag Dehlvi (1831-1905)	Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938)	Faiz Amed Faiz (1911-1984)	Mehdi Hassan (1927)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

J.W. v. Goethe

J. W. v. Goethe is considered as a founder of the „world literature“. Beside his work for music, theology and sciences he showed large interest in the Persian and Arabian literature.

By a non-fictional writing style in aphorisms together with Friedrich Schiller as the prominent figures of the Weimar classicism Goethe had a relevant influence onto Germany’s philosophy and far beyond the European borders.

Goethe & Hafiz – „West-Eastern Divan“

Goethe wrote the compilation “West-Eastern Diwan” as one of his late works, between Schiller’s death in the year 1805 up to its dying in March 1832.

The compilation was probably written between 1814 and 1819. It was published in the year 1827 in an extended edition. The West-Eastern Divan covers completely in the sense of its original meaning 12 books (see Gutenberg project).

The „West-Eastern Divan“ may be understood according to its time as an expression of intercultural exchange, a Western-Eastern approach between the Orient (Asia) and Occident. In the second book, the book Hafis (Hafis name) Goethe had concretely taken reference to the Persian poet and Ghazal maestro Hafiz.

Hafiz Goethe monument (Weimar)

Goethe had been influenced by Hafiz (or Hafez) for his interest in Persian literature Goethe had been influenced by Hafiz (or Hafez) considerably. Till today the Hafez-Goethe monument in Weimar reminds of this relationship.

Goethe found large acknowledgment for the „West-Eastern Diwan“ in the Middle East and in South Asia. As the answer to Goethe’s Diwan the national poet of Pakistan Muhammad Iqbal published 1924 his work „Payam e Mashriq“ (The Message of the East).

Also companions of Goethe were concerned in similar way with eastern, Arabean or South Asian topics and availed the Ghazal for their poetic arts. The German poet J. M. Friedrich Rückert (05/16/1788-01/31/1866) was translator and professor for Eastern languages and wrote 1839 the „Brahmanische Erzählungen“ (Brahmin narrations). It covers 6 volumes, in which Rückert used extensively the Ghazal as poetry form.

The poet August von Platen (Karl August Georg Maximilian Count of Platen Hallermünde – 10/24/1796-12/05/1835) published 1821 “Die Ghaselen” and 1823 „Die Neuen Ghaselen“.

The philosopher Georg Friedrich Daumer (03/05/1800-12/14/1875) showed with „Hafis“ his exeptional poetic virtuosity published in 1846 in Hamburg, a free interpretation of the songs of famous Persian poets.

Faiz-Ghazal: Aaj bazaar main pa ba jolan chalo – CD “Faiz Ki Yaad Mein” (2004) | singer: Nayyara Noor (English translation by poet Anis Zuberi (Toronto, Canada))

aaj bazaar main pa bajolan chalo Chashm-e-nam, jaan-e-shoreeda kafi nahin Tohmat-e-ishq-posheeda kafi nahin aaj bazaar main pa-bajolan chalo Dast afshan chalo, mast-o-raqsan chalo Khak bar sar chalo, khoon badaman chalo Rah takta hai sub shehr-e-janaan chalo Hakim-e-shehr bhi, majma-e-aam bhi Teer-e-ilzam bhi, sang-e-dushnam bhi Subh-e-nashaad bhi, roz-e-naakaam bhi Unka dum-saaz apnay siwa kaun hai Shehr-e-janaan main ab baa-sifa kaun hai Dast-e-qatil kay shayan raha kaun hai Rakht-e-dil bandh lo, dil figaro chalo Phir hameen qatl ho aain yaro chalo

let us walk in bazaar in shackles wet eyes and restless soul is not enough being charged for nurturing concealed love is not enough let us walk in bazaar in shackles let us go with afshan in hand, in trance and dancing go with dust on head and blood on garb Go as the city of my beloved is waiting Citys ruler and crowd of commoners arrow of false charge, stone of accusation morning of sorrow, day of failure who is their friend except me who is untainted in the city of beloved who deserve the killers or executioners hand get ready for the journey of heart, go wounded heart let me go to be executed