Padma Talwalkar (born 28 February 1948) is an Indianclassicalvocalist. Padma Talwalkar was born in Mumbai, India. She received training in Khyal gayaki in three main styles or gharanas: Gwalior, Kirana and Jaipur. Smt. Padma Talwalkar is considered to be one of the foremost exponents of Hindustani vocal music today. Her music, which combines feeling or “bhav” with technical brilliance, takes the listener to an almost ethereal plane.
Gifted and blessed with deep spiritual leanings from her very childhood, Padmatai fondly recalls singing every evening in a temple from the tender age of four, unmindful of the throng of devotees crowding around her. Encouraged by her parents to do so, she feels that even today when she performs in front of packed audiences, she sings for Him, the Almighty, offering her music both as a homage and in gratitude for the benevolence He has showered upon her. This sense of sincere devotion extends to her Gurus and also other senior musicians who have, in one way or another, influenced and inspired her musical thinking, notable amongst those being Ustad Amir Khan, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi and Pandit Kumar Gandharva.
Simple and unassuming in her living she, however, is very clear about her individual concept of what constitutes good music – the emphasis being on ‘swara’ (notes) and laya (tempo). Correctly and lovingly approached notes and a keen, internalized sense of tempo and rhythmic cycles (taala) are a must for music to be effective, she emphasizes. Her love for the accuracy and sanctity of notes she attributes to her first Guru, Pt. Pimpalkhare of the Gwalior Gharana, and the latter to her training under the late Shreemati Mogubai Kurdikar of the Jaipur Gharana. From Pandit Gajanan Bua Joshi she imbibed elements of the forceful and majestic Gwalior Gharana. She also gratefully acknowledges her musical debt to Shreemati Kishori Amonkar whose musical influences remain with her even today.
While mastery on swara and laya are undoubtedly the basic qualities of good music, there is something that goes beyond swara and laya, that distinguishes the “truly great” from the “good.” In her own words, when the artiste approaches the art with a feeling of total surrender and achieves an egoless state, the music happens of its own, as if it is flowing from some divine source.
Padmatai has received “seena-ba-seena” taleem in the Gwalior as well as Jaipur styles, and has imbibed the best from these styles, and yet created a style of her own which comes across in every alaap, in every musical phrase, and every taan in her presentation. Her music is devoid of gimmickry and acrobatics, yet the moment she closes her eyes and sings the first Shadja in her performance, she connects with the listener and draws him into her world.
For the Ragas of our time there exist a variety of combinations. The ascending and descending scales (arohana and avaroha) can exist of 5, 6 or 7 main notes (oudava, shadava or sampoorna).
In the Natya Sastra , which is the fundamental work by the sage Bharata Muni with more than 6000 Sutras defining the notation of the Raga modi which can be understood as the origin of the melodic structure of modern Ragas, the so called Jati-s. In all India the Jatis had been popular particularly for the singing.
The Natya Sastra classified the Jati-s in 18 groups, seven (7) as pure forms, from which 146 modified ragas can be defined… and eleven (11) hybrid forms with a multiplicity of variations.
dates of broadcasting…
25th February 2013 – 04:00 pm EST (10:00 pm CET) @ Radio RaSA (CH)
(premiere: 15th June 2010 – 09:00 pm CET @ Tide Radio) broadcasting plan | streaming (Internet Radio & Mobile Radio) | podCast
Almost at the same time the musical scripture “Dattilam” written by the (Muni) Dattila followed the Natya Sastra. It is dates approximately between the 4th century BC and 2nd century AC. The Dattilam described the Jati-s more exactly each with ten (10) characters from those the melodic structure of the contemporary ragas of North Indian Classics had developed.
For the ancient ragas the weighting of a note (swara) was described with the term Amsa. Amsa is in its function multivarious. Among others it is the note, with which the complete character of a raga is described, e.g. in form of a stabalizing element as Nyasa Swara.
In the arrangement of a raga which is subjected to a strict set of rules each phrasing has a starting point: with Graha the position of a note is described, more exactly: the note, with which a Raga exposition must be begin. Graha is the initial note and Nyasa the conclusion. The instrumentalist or vocalist returns at the end of a melodic phrasing to Nyasa as “melodic center” and “quiescent pole”.
Für die Ragas unserer Zeit gibt es unterschiedlichste Kombinationen von aufsteigenden und absteigenden Skalen: arohana und avaroha. Sie können aus 5, 6 oder 7 Hauptnoten (oudava, shadava o. sampoorna) bestehen.
Im Natya-Sastra, dem Grundlagenwerk des Weisen Bharata Muni mit mehr als 6000 Sutren wurde eine Notation für die Ragamodi definiert, die man als Ursprung der melodie-ähnlichen Struktur moderner Ragas verstehen kann, die s.g. Jati-s. Sie waren in ganz Indien besonders für den Gesang beliebt.
Das Natya-Sastra fasste die Jati-s in 18 Gruppen, sieben (7) reine Formen, aus denen man 146 modifzierte Ragas gestalten konnte… und elf (11) Hybridformen mit einer Vielzahl von Variationen.
Sendetermine…
25. Februar 2013 – 22:00 Uhr @ Radio RaSA (CH) (Premiere: 15. Juni 2010 – 21:00 Uhr @ Tide Radio) broadcasting plan | streaming (Internet Radio & Mobile Radio) | podCast
Dem Natya-Sastra folgte nahezu zeitgleich die musikalische Schrift Dattilam des Weisen Muni Dattila. Die Entstehung des Dattilams datiert man ungefähr auf das 4. vor bis 2. Jahrhundert nach Christi Geburt. Im Dattilam wurden die Jati-s mit jeweils zehn (10) Charakteren genauer beschrieben, aus denen sich die melodische Struktur der zeitgenössischen Ragas der nordindischen Klassik entwickelte.
Die Gewichtung einer Note, einer Swara, wurde für die antiken Ragas mit dem Begriff Amsa umschrieben. Amsa ist in seiner Funktion vielfältig, u.a. ist es die Note, mit der der gesamtheitliche Charakter eines Ragas beschrieben wird, z.B. in Form eines Ruhepols, als Nyasa Swara.
In der Ausgestaltung eines Ragas, die einem strengen Regelwerk unterworfen ist, hat jede Phrasierung einen Ausgangpunkt: Graha ist die Anfangsnote und Nyasa der Abschluss. Mit Graha wird die Position einer Note beschrieben, genauer: die Note, mit der eine Ragaexposition begonnen werden muss. Der Instrumentalist oder Sänger kehrt am Ende einer melodischen Phrasierung zu Nyasa als “melodisches Zentrum” und “Ruhepol” zurück.
The relationship between music and language, between sounds and the spoken word or vocals is a very special one.
Busto di Pitagora. Copia romana di originale greco. Musei Capitolini, Roma. (Source: Wikipedia (ENG))
The grammarians of Sanskrit, the ancient Indian science language regard music and language as divergent aspects of one and the same phenomena.
With Indian classial music (Hindustani, Carnatic) there is a multiplicity in common under the topic to “music and language “, which is the bases of the occidental harmonics, dated back to the founder of the mathematical analysis of music by Pythagoras of Samos who had evidenced empirically the harmonic intervals – approximately written before 500 B.C. .
Music seems to be reflected far less vaguely in us than it had been granted so far. Rather our perceptions of sounds are defined very exactly by outlined possibilities and borders. The audiomental system has greater importance than one had assumed recently.
dates of broadcasting…
part 1: 24th Febr 2013 | part 2: 10th March 2013 – 05:00 pm EST (11:00 pm CET) @ Radio FRO (A) (premiere: 16th March 2010 (part 1) | 20th April 2010 – 09:00 pm CET @ Tide Radio) broadcasting plan | streaming (Internet Radio & Mobile Radio) | podCast
As shown by recent studies the perception of music and ‘music making’ incorporate nearby almost all regions of the brain. The widespread acceptance that music is processed in the right brain hemisphere and language in the left had completely been wrong. The current research shows that language and music are assimilated almost identically. The profound emotional content of music, from felicity to sadness affects particularly stimulating our brain and also produces frequently physically intensively perceptible reactions to the listener.
Music settles visibly in our life, in brain activities which are measurable nowadays and made vividly visible with modern medical imaging techniques e.g. (functional) magnetic resonance tomography (MRT) or Magnetoencephalography (MEG), see picture below.
In part 1 of 2IMC – India meets Classic presents the structure of music & language. The following broadcasting (part 2) will bring light up the social psychological meaning of music for individual and community interaction processes influenced by the nature of music as communication form.
Stefan Koelsch: Nature Neuroscience 7(3), 2004: Music, Language and Meaning: Brain Signatures of Semantic Processing
Note: IMC OnAir’s radio show “music and language” in two parts (2x 58 min.) represents a fundamental introduction regarding the multiplicity of sciences involved (music ethnology, anthropology, language and social sciences, neuro sciences, psychology, computer sciences (artificial intelligence) among others).
Die Beziehung zwischen Musik und Sprache, zwischen Klang und gesprochenem oder gesungenem Wort ist eine Besondere.
Die Grammatiker des Sanskrits, der alten indischen Wissenschaftssprache, betrachten Musik und Sprache als divergierende Aspekte ein und desselben Phänomens.
Busto di Pitagora. Copia romana di originale greco. Musei Capitolini, Roma. (Source: Wikipedia (ENG))
Mit der indisch klassischen Musik (Hindustani, Carnatic) gibt es eine Vielzahl von Gemeinsamkeiten unter der Überschrift “Musik und Sprache“, die auch die Grundlagen der abendländischen Harmonielehre sind, deren Beginn man mit dem Begründer der mathematischen Analyse der Musik – Pythagoras von Samos – und seinen empirischen Beweisführung der harmonischen Intervalle auf etwa mehr als 500 Jahre vor Christi Geburt datieren kann.
Musik scheint sich weit weniger diffus in uns abzubilden, als bisher angenommen. Vielmehr wird unsere Wahrnehmung von Tönen durch sehr genau umrissene Möglichkeiten und Grenzen definiert. Dem audiomentalen System kommt eine weit aus größere Bedeutung zu, als man bis vor Kurzem angenommen hatte.
Sendetermine… Teil 1: 24. Februar | Teil 2: 10. März 2013 – 23:00 Uhr CET (05:00 pm EST) @ Radio FRO (A) (Premiere: 16.03.2010 (Teil 1) u. 20.04.2010 (Teil 2) – 21:00 @ Tide Radio) broadcasting plan | streaming (Internet Radio & Mobile Radio) | podCast
In Teil 1 stellt IMC – India meets Classic die Struktur von Musik und Sprache dar. In Teil 2 werden die sozialpsychologische Bedeutung von Musik für das Individuum und seine Interaktionsprozesse aus seiner geschichtlichen Entwicklung und aus dem Wesen der Musik näher beleuchten.
Die Wahrnehmung von Musik und das aktiv Musizieren, das zeigen uns jüngste Studien, beziehen nahezu alle Regionen des Gehirns mit ein. Die weitverbreitete Annahme, dass Musik in der rechten Gehirnhälfte und Sprache in der linken Gehirnhälfte verarbeitet wird, war schlichtweg falsch. Die aktuellen Forschungen zeigen auch, dass Sprache und Musik nahezu gleich verarbeitet werden. Der tiefgreifende, emotionale Gehalt der Musik, von Glückseligkeit bis zur Traurigkeit wirkt besonders stimulierend auf unser Gehirn mit für den Musikhörenden häufig körperlich intensiv wahrnehmbaren Reaktionen.
Musik schlägt sich sichtbar in unserem Leben nieder, in Gehirnaktivitäten, die heute mit modernen, bildgebenden Verfahren messbar sind und mit der (funktionellen) Magnetresonanz-Tomographie (MRT) oder Magnetenzephalographie (MET) plastisch sichtbar gemacht werden können (Bild s. u.).
Stefan Koelsch: Nature Neuroscience 7(3), 2004: Music, Language and Meaning: Brain Signatures of Semantic Processing
Hinweis: Die 2-teilige IMC-Sendung “Musik und Sprache” (2x 58 min.) stellt angesichts der Vielzahl der beteiligten Wissenschaften (Musikethnologie, Anthropologie, Sprach- u. Sozialwissenschaften, Neuro-Sciences, Psychologie, Computerwissenschaften (künstliche Intelligenz) u.a. ) eine grundlegende Einführung dar.
Speech by Federal President Joachim Gauck on prospects for the European idea on 22 Februay 2013 at Schloss Bellevue:
Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,
There has never been this much Europe! I say that as someone who is profoundly grateful to be able to look across this room and welcome guests from Germany and from all over Europe.
There has never been this much Europe. A lot of people at the moment have very different feelings about that when they, for example, open the German newspapers. There we find Europe reduced to four letters – euro – and read about crisis. Time and again, the stories centre around summit diplomacy and rescue packages. We read about difficult negotiations, and partial successes – but the main theme is a sense of unease, even unmistakeable anger, which cannot be ignored. In some member states, people are afraid they are the ones footing the bill in this crisis. In others, there is growing fear of facing ever harsher austerity and falling into poverty. For many ordinary people in Europe, the balance between giving and receiving, between debt and liability, responsibility and a place at the table no longer seems fair.
Add to that the litany of criticism we have been reading and hearing about for a long time: annoyance with Brussels technocrats and their mania for regulation; complaints that decisions are not transparent enough; distrust of an impenetrably complex network of institutions; and, not least, resistance to the growing significance of the European Council and the dominant role of the Franco-German tandem.
Attractive though Europe is, the European Union leaves too many people feeling powerless and without a voice. I hear this and read it on almost a daily basis and can tell you: there are issues in Europe that need clearing up. When I see all the signs of people’s impatience, exhaustion and frustration, when I hear about polls showing a populace unsure about pursuing “more” Europe, it seems to me that we are pausing on a new threshold – unsure whether we should really stride out on the onward journey. There is more to this crisis than its economic dimension. It is also a crisis of confidence in Europe as a political project. This is not just a struggle for our currency; we are struggling with an internal quandary too.
All that being said – you still see before you an unabashed pro-European, and a man who feels the need to reflect on what Europe has meant in the past, what it means now, and what potential it still has for the future. Let me take you through these things as I see them today.
This is also a chance for me to reassess what I said so euphorically shortly after I came to office. I said straight out that we wanted to go for more Europe. These days, I would no longer put it quite so impetuously. When we talk about “more Europe”, we need to know what it means, we need nuance. In what areas can and should more Europe help our joint venture succeed? What do we want Europe to look like? What do we want to develop and strengthen, and what do we want to keep in bounds? Last but not least, how can we engender greater confidence in more Europe?
Let us look back. The beginning was full of promise. Only five years after the end of the Second World War, France’s Foreign Minister Robert Schuman proposed to his partners in Europe that they found a European Coal and Steel Community. France and Germany thus became the major drivers of European development – and wartime enemies became close partners. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Élysée Treaty this January, we realized anew how valuable a friendship this has become for Europe, and how fortunate we are to have the friendship live on through the next generation.
When it all began, in 1950, the visionary was Jean Monnet. His goal was to secure peace in Europe by turning it into a community which would benefit the member states nationally at the same time. This integration also constituted West Germany’s first step towards rehabilitation in the international community. France and the other partner countries had their security concerns alleviated by checks on coal and steel production that included German industry. The idea, difficult to put into practice, but politically very clear-sighted, was that economic integration would eventually lead to political integration too. Walther Rathenau said that a hundred years ago. Where states once fought for resources and hegemony, peace is flourishing through mutual ties.
Of course, 1950 was too soon for comprehensive supranational policy making. Economic integration was only to become political integration step by step, areas of community-level policy growing larger and larger as a shared Europe slowly emerged. Some were to see it as a European federation; others saw a Europe of cooperating fatherlands. That pragmatic way of advancing the European project did work for many years. Now, however, we find ourselves forced to rethink our tactics. Because things were allowed to develop without enough of an overarching political framework, those who should be shaping policy have occasionally ended up swept along by events instead.
Even when we look back at significant milestones, the political dimension was often left underdeveloped. Ten countries became EU members after the Communist bloc collapsed, but the foundations for such a large EU were not in place. The biggest EU enlargement ever, this process left many questions about deepening integration unanswered. Introducing a common currency was also to have ramifications. Seventeen countries joined the euro over the years, but there was no consistent financial policy to provide direction. That structural flaw led to an imbalance in the European Union which was only patched up by emergency measures, such as the European Stability Mechanism and the fiscal compact.
I remain convinced, nonetheless, that even the failure of individual rescue measures would not call into question the European project as a whole. The advantages it has brought so far are too obvious. We can travel from the Neman to the Atlantic and from Finland to Sicily without at any point having to dig out a passport. We can use one and the same currency across much of Europe, and we buy Spanish shoes and Czech cars without paying extra customs charges. We get treatment in Germany from Polish doctors – and we are grateful that they are here to help keep our health centres open. Our entrepreneurs are increasingly employing staff from all the EU’s member states, people who would find no jobs, or have to work for far worse conditions, in their home countries. And our pensioners spend their retirement years on the Spanish coast or on the Baltic in Poland. In a very positive way, more Europe has become part of our everyday lives.
That is why the results of polls are only contradictory at first glance. People may have been expressing more and more scepticism about the EU in recent years, but the majority remain convinced that the complex and increasingly globalized reality we live in calls for some supranational order. Coming together has brought major political and economic benefits to all of us in Europe.
It is still hard to pinpoint what it is that makes us European, what it means to have a European identity. Some young guests visiting Bellevue the other day confirmed something that I think will ring bells with many of you here. “When we are out in the big wide world,” they said, “we think of ourselves as European. When we are in Europe, we think of ourselves as German. And when we are in Germany, we think of ourselves as Saxon or from Hamburg.”
As we can see, identity has a lot of layers to it. Our European identity does not negate regional identities, or national ones, but exists alongside them. I just met a student at Regens¬burg University who grew up in Germany thinking of himself as Polish. Polish was his first language; when there were sporting competitions on, he wore the Polish flag. But when he spent a semester studying in Poland, his classmates saw him as German, and only then did he become aware himself of those parts of his identity. He is far from alone in his experience. Comparison with others is often what it takes to let us recognize our own identity.
Writing in the late 1950s, the Swiss philosopher Denis de Rougemont put it like this: “It is only necessary to go away from Europe, in any direction, to feel the reality of our cultural unity. In the United States already, in the Soviet Union without hesitation, and in Asia beyond all possible doubt, Frenchmen and Greeks, Englishmen and Swiss, Swedes and Castilians are seen as Europeans. […] Seen from out-side the existence of ‘Europe’ is obvious.”
Is it just as clear from within that Europe exists? Even geographically speaking, the continent is hard to define. Does it stop at the River Bug, for example, or go on to the Ural mountains? To the Bosphorus or to Anatolia? Europe’s long history has seen many changes in what it has taken as the source of its identity. Our understanding today is that there was a whole panoply of elements – from the legacy of Ancient Greece, to the Roman idea of empire and Roman law, to the Judeo-Christian religious heritage that helped shape us too.
But what identifies us today? What unifying bond marks out the people of Europe? Where does Europe get its unmistakable meaning, its political legitimacy, the recognition of its people?
When the European Union was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize last November, the speeches referred to it as a project for peace. We’ll never forget Winston Churchill calling for the recreation of the European family in his famous speech to young people in Zurich in 1946. We’ll never forget that the most strongly held conviction for politicians and ordinary people after the war could be expressed in two words: “never again!” And we’ll never forget how 700 politicians and intellectuals gathered for the Hague Congress in 1948, bringing together such a variety of figures as British philosopher Bertrand Russell, Italian author Ignazio Silone and Germans like Konrad Adenauer, Walter Hallstein and Eugen Kogon.
The French philosopher Raymond Aron later summed up what their intentions were. “Nobody knows,” he said, “whether perpetual peace is possible on this Earth – but there is not the least doubt that we all share a duty to limit violence in this violent century.”
As it turned out, the idea of Europe soon came to apply only to Western Europe. In the Cold War, the continent was split into two political blocs. Nonetheless, though Central and Eastern Europe was cut off for more than forty years, the people living there never really left the European project, not in spirit. For them, and for me, saying yes to a free, democratic and prosperous Europe, as we did with such conviction, was like going back and founding Europe all over again – bringing on board part of the continent that had been unable to join in when it all began. The enlargement also added to Europe in qualitative terms. Just as Europe after the Second World War had been principally a pursuit of peace, in 1989 it came to embody freedom.
The younger generation, born in or after the 80s, has yet another different way of seeing Europe. Their grandparents and great-grandparents, who had seen Berlin, Warsaw and Rotterdam in ruins, managed to rebuild Europe and in the West were even able to give their children and grandchildren prosperity.
You school pupils who are here today – I know that your very first pocket money was in euros; you will learn at least two foreign languages; your school trips go to Paris, London, Madrid, maybe Warsaw, Prague or Budapest; and when you finish school, there will be scholarships open to you from Erasmus, or vocational training funds from the Leonardo da Vinci Programme. You and your peers in Europe learn alongside one another, not about one another. You party together too, at European music festivals and in the vibrant cities around Europe. No previous generation has had so much occasion to say, “We are Europe!” You really do get to experience “more Europe” than any generation that has gone before.
That said, though, it is of course true what people say: there is no overarching narrative to give Europe its identity. We do not have the sort of shared narrative for Europe that might unite the EU’s more than 500 million people in a shared history, have a place in their hearts and spur them to build on it. That is a fact. To this day, we Europeans have no founding myth, like a decisive battle where we would face a common enemy and, win or lose, at least defend our identity. A successful revolution might have provided a founding myth too, with the people of our continent achieving some act of social emancipation together – but we have not had one of those either. There is no single European identity, just as there is no such thing as a European demos, a single European people or one European nation.
And yet – Europe does have a source of identity: an essentially timeless canon of values which unites us at two different levels, both in our profession of respect for them and in the action we take to uphold them. When we stand in the name of Europe, we do not stand around monuments that base the greatness of some on the defeat of others. We stand together for something: for peace and freedom, for democracy and the rule of law, for equality, human rights and solidarity.
All of these European values have not just been promised – they have been actually set down in treaties, enshrined in legislation, and they can be enforced in courts of law. They form a point of reference for our republican worldview, the basis of the idea that everyone has an equal right to participation in society and politics. Our European values create a space for our European res publica.
Our European community of values wants to be a space of freedom and tolerance. It penalizes fanatics and ideologists who stir people up against one another, incite them to violence or undermine our political foundations. It wants to be a space where peoples live together peacefully and no longer go to war against each other. The bloody reality of war – like the war in the Balkans, where European soldiers and civilian forces are still needed to keep the peace – must never be allowed to happen again.
It is often people who have come here from other continents who can most clearly see how much there is to be cherished in Europe. They know the poverty, wars, tyranny and injustice that exist in other parts of the world. They experience Europe as a place of prosperity and self-fulfilment – and, in many cases, as a place where they are protected, where they can live free from state censorship in the media and online; from torture and the death penalty; from child labour and violence against women; or from persecution for living in same-sex relationships.
Our European values are binding, and they bind us together. When European states violate European rules, they can be brought before European courts. There may still be cause, now and again, to accuse Europe or Germany of adopting an ambiguous approach to human or civil rights – but Europe guarantees that the public and the media will always be free to criticize and able to take the side of the persecuted or oppressed, especially in dictatorial or authoritarian states.
The European canon of values is not bound by national borders, and it is valid beyond all national, ethnic, cultural and religious differences. An illustrative example is provided by the Muslim people who live in Europe. They have become a normal part of our European community. European identity is not about excluding those who are different. Rather, European identity grows out of our deepening cooperation and the conviction of those who say we want to be part of this community because we share common values. More Europe means making diversity more genuinely part of our lives and allowing it to unite us.
All the things we have had to learn, and indeed continue to learn, about international relations to secure peace among our nations – these are also things we are having to keep learning within our societies in order to maintain a balance between increasingly different elements. As we have daily proof, we are still Europeans when we stay at home. In Germany, you will find restaurant owners from Italy, nurses from Spain and footballers from Turkey. There are more and more people at universities and in companies, on the stage and in shops who have family roots in other countries and who, if they are religious, attend different places of worship from Protestant or Catholic Germans.We have had more Europe for a while now. Diversity has become part of everyday life in our society.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Happily, very few Europeans call into question our canon of values. However, there is an intensive debate going on at present about Europe’s current institutional framework. For some, a federal European union is our continent’s only chance, while others seek to improve the existing institutions – for example by establishing a second chamber or extending the rights of the European Parliament. Some believe it is enough to maintain the status quo provided we exert greater political will and take full advantage of the possibilities this offers us. And eurosceptics would love to limit the European level.
We are in the midst of this discussion, not at the end. We will find it easier to reach agreement on the institutional framework once we have discussed together and at length the fundamental issues affecting the future of the European project. Fortunately, policymakers have now – under considerable pressure – made the necessary economic and financial policy adjustments in the eurozone. However, we all know that Europe faces further challenges. At the outset of my speech, I spoke of the threshold ahead of us. We are pausing to reflect so that we can equip ourselves both intellectually and emotionally for the next step, which will require us to enter unchartered territory. Once, European countries were major powers and global players. In today’s globalized world with the new emerging economies, the most we can expect from a united Europe is that it manages to hold its own: hold its own in political terms, so that it can remain a major player at global level and champion its values – freedom, human dignity and solidarity – around the world. And hold its own in economic terms, so that it remains competitive at global level, thus guaranteeing Europe’s material security and social peace.
So far, Europe has done little to prepare itself for this role. We need further harmonization within Europe. For without financial and economic policy integration, it will be difficult for a single currency to survive. We also need greater harmonization in the spheres of foreign, security and defence policy in order to be armed against new threats, act more effectively and speak with one voice. We also need joint strategies in the ecological, social – I’m thinking here of migration – and, not least, demographic fields.
Everyone committed to the European project has a duty to get this across with patience and care. We must prevent anyone being driven into the arms of populists and nationalists by uncertainty or fear. The main question in the face of all these changes should therefore be: what would a democratic Europe look like which allays the fears of citizens and gives them scope for action? In short, a Europe with which they can identify.
Those who think that European integration is an artificial construct incapable of bringing together its disparate citizens from – in the near future – 28 nation-states, should remember that nation-states did not evolve naturally and are not built for eternity. Indeed, in many cases their citizens were very slow to accept them. When Italian unification was achieved in 1861, the author and politician Massimo D’Azeglio declared, “We have made Italy; now we must make Italians.” Less than ten per cent of the population spoke Italian and the masses could only speak dialects.
However, in contrast to the situation in the 19th century, when the German Reich was also created from a patchwork of kingdoms and principalities, we cannot decree European unification from above. Nor do we want to. We now have strong civil societies. No European nation, no European state, can grow without the consent of its citizens. The pace and depth of European integration will ultimately be determined by them.
I would now like to turn to Britain. I listened with interest to the Prime Minister’s dual message: the “yes” to British traditions and to British interests which is not intended to be a “no” to Europe. Of course, it is up to the British to decide on their own future, but perhaps they are prepared to listen to an appeal from Schloss Bellevue:
Dear people of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, dear new British citizens! We would like you to stay with us! We need your experience as the oldest parliamentary democracy, we need your traditions, your pragmatism and your courage! During the Second World War, your efforts helped to save our Europe – and it is also your Europe. Let us continue to engage in discussion on how to move towards the European res publica, for we will only be able to master future challenges if we work together. More Europe cannot mean a Europe without you!
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am concerned that Germany’s role in the European process is currently being regarded with scepticism and distrust in some countries. The fact that Germany rose to become the largest economic power in the heart of the continent after reunification has aroused the fears of many people. I was shocked at how quickly perceptions became distorted, as if today’s Germany was continuing in the tradition of German great power politics, or even German crimes. It is not only populist parties which are even portraying the German Chancellor as the representative of a state which, just like in former times, supposedly wants to enforce a German Europe and oppress other peoples.
However, I want to assure all citizens of neighbouring countries that I cannot imagine any of Germany’s policymakers seeking to impose a German diktat. Until now, our society has conducted itself in a rational and mature manner. In Germany, no populist-nationalist political party has gained enough support within the population to make it into the German parliament. No populist or nationalist party has managed to win substantial support; not a single populist or nationalist has a seat in the German Bundestag.It is my heartfelt conviction that in Germany more Europe does not mean a German Europe. For us, more Europe means a European Germany!
We do not want to intimidate others, nor force our ideas on them. However, we stand by our experience and would like to pass it on to others. Less than ten years ago, Germany itself was regarded as the sick man of Europe. Despite the domestic conflicts they provoked, the measures which led us out of the economic crisis then have been successful. At the same time, we know that there are different economic strategies and that there is more than one way to achieve our goal.
If any German politician has shown too little empathy for the situation of others or if rationality has sometimes come across as cold-heartedness or a know-it-all attitude, it was the exception and not the rule. Perhaps it was due to the necessary discussion on the right way forward. However, if critical comments have been disdainful or even contemptuous in tone then that is not only morally reprehensible but also politically counterproductive. It makes the self-critical discourse which is already taking form in all crisis countries, at least among a minority of people, more difficult or even impossible. We in Germany should be aware that those who have confidence in their own arguments have no need to provoke or humiliate their partners.
It is worth the effort for all 27 partners in our community to recall once more the pledges made when economic and monetary union was launched. This Union is based on the idea that rules are abided by and any breaches penalized. This Union is characterized by give and take. It should never be a one-way street for anyone. It is based on the principles of reciprocity, equal rights and equal obligations. More Europe must mean more reliability. Reliability and solidarity stand or fall with each other.
I firmly believe that if everyone in Europe remains committed to this principle then solidarity within Europe can even grow and, in the long term, reduce the great inequalities on our continent, thus helping to create conditions which offer people new prospects in their own countries.
Ladies and gentlemen, more Europe requires more courage from everyone! What Europe needs now are not doubters but standard-bearers, not ditherers but people who are prepared to knuckle down, not those who simply go with the flow but active players.
But you, Excellencies, know better than anyone that even with a pro-European stance some efforts have no impact. I do not want to ignore such difficulties today. It seems to me that one of the main problems we have in building a more integrated European community is the inadequate communication within Europe. And by that I mean in everyday life rather than at the diplomatic level.
To this day, it is often the case that each one of the 27 member nations sees the same European events in its own way. Media coverage is almost exclusively dominated by national considerations. Knowledge about neighbouring countries is still scanty – with the exception of a comparatively small group of students, business people, intellectuals and artists. To date, Europe does not have a single European public space which could be compared to what we regard as a public sphere at national level. First of all we lack a lingua franca. There are 23 official languages in Europe, plus countless other languages and dialects. A German who does not also speak English or French will find it difficult to communicate with someone from Portugal, or from Lithuania or Hungary. It is true to say that young people are growing up with English as the lingua franca. However, I feel that we should not simply let things take their course when it comes to linguistic integration. For more Europe means multilingualism not only for the elites but also for ever larger sections of the population, for ever more people, for everyone! I am convinced that feeling at home in one’s native language and its magic and being able to speak enough English to get by in all situations and at all ages can exist alongside each other in Europe.
A common language would make it easier to realize my wish for Europe’s future – a European agora, a common forum for discussion to enable us to live together in a democratic order. This agora would be even more wide-ranging than the one pupils perhaps know from the history books. In Ancient Greece, it was a central meeting-place, a place for ceremonial gatherings and a court at the same time, a place for public discussion where efforts focused on creating a well-ordered society. Today we need an extended model. Perhaps our media could produce an innovation to foster more Europe, like an ARTE channel for everyone, a multichannel linked to the Internet for at least 27 states, for the young and old, for onliners and offliners, for pro-Europeans and eurosceptics. It would have to do more than broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest or European detective series. For example, it would have to broadcast reports on the founders of companies in Poland, young unemployed people in Spain or family policies in Denmark. It would have to organize discussions which bring home to us the sensibilities of our neighbours and help us to understand why they may regard the same event in a very different light. And on the grand political stage, the doors would open after a crisis summit and the cameras would show everyone at the negotiating table, not just one face.
With or without such a TV channel, we need an agora. It would disseminate knowledge, help to develop a European civic spirit and also act as a corrective when national media adopt a nationalistic approach and report on neighbouring countries without sensitivity or real knowledge. I know that many media companies have already attempted to create a European public space by reporting on other countries, by focusing on Europe and by putting into practice many good ideas. But let us see more of this – more reports on and more communication with Europe!
I do not regard communication as a side aspect of the political process. Rather, providing adequate information on issues and problems is politics itself. Politics which expects the participants in the agora to be responsible and does not discount them as subservient, disinterested and ignorant. For me, more Europe means more European civil society. I am therefore delighted that 2013 is the European Year of Citizens. I would not want to go so far as the authors of the Manifesto for Rebuilding Europe, but I very much like the banner under which many supporters have already gathered: “Don’t ask what Europe can do for you but ask what you can do for Europe!”
The European Joachim Gauck has listed his responses.
First, do not be indifferent! Brussels may be far away, but the issues which are negotiated and decided there concern all of us. We cannot be indifferent to how the EU influences norms which subsequently have an impact in our children’s bedrooms or on our tables. We cannot be indifferent to the yardsticks by which we measure the foreign, security, environment and development policies implemented on our behalf. We cannot be indifferent to how the EU deals with people who have to leave their countries for political reasons.
Second, do not be lazy! The European Union is complicated because it has to achieve complicated things. It deserves citizens who are interested and keep themselves informed. It deserves more than a 43 per cent turnout at European Parliament elections. And it does not deserve to have Brussels made a scapegoat when national interests or national failures are to blame.
Third, recognize your ability to make a contribution! A better Europe will not emerge if we always believe that others should shoulder the responsibility. There are so many possibilities. Anyone who wants to initiate or prevent something can take advantage of the European Citizens’ Initiative. Anyone who wants to found or build something can apply for a grant. And anyone who wants to do good and get to know their neighbours can apply to join the European Voluntary Service. Everyone can find a good reason to say: Yes, I want Europe!
Does anyone know this cry better than you here in this hall?
I would like to thank so many people today, starting with the European Ambassadors, European activists in the education field, academia and society, not to mention the fantastic teachers in bilingual nurseries in the euroregions. I would like to thank everyone who is helping to link up Europe in countless ways – economically, socially and culturally. I also very much want to thank our German politicians who have always reconciled their national tasks with our European obligations. And my special thanks go to those who do not believe that solidarity simply means looking after the property of the propertied class.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Deep in our hearts, we Germans in particular know that there is something which ties us to Europe in a special way. After all, it was from our country that the attempts to destroy everything European, all universal values were unleashed. Despite everything that happened, the Allies granted our country support and solidarity straight after the war. We were spared what could so easily have followed our hubris: an existence as a disowned outcast outside the family of nations.
Instead, we were invited, received and welcomed – something which seems especially unexpected and wonderful from today’s viewpoint. We are partners!
We had the fortunate experience of learning to respect ourselves and being respected by others when we wanted to be “not above and not below other peoples”. Our actions are thus determined by European considerations. Indeed, we have pledged ourselves to Europe.
Today we reaffirm this pledge. We will pause to consider before crossing a new threshold, we will rethink the situation.
Then armed with new ideas and good reasons, we will renew confidence, strengthen our commitment and continue to build what we have been building – Europe.
‘HIDDEN POTENTIAL’ is the International Conference on Music Therapy as an adjunct in Psychiatry, Neurology, Cardiology, and other clinical specialities, to be held in Puducherry from 22nd to 24th February 2013.
Puducherry is the spiritual land of The Mother and Sri Aurobindo and a popular tourist site which is nourished by the divine love of our great Masters, who laid the foundation for the higher evolution of human beings above the mental consciousness, the ‘Supermind’. The sea waves fondling the shores of Puducherry shower one and all with the sweet fragrance of the celestial Grace descending from above.
The Conference offers innovative Spot Light Sessions, Concurrent Paper Sessions, Workshops, Poster Sessions along with Special Cultural Events by popular artistes. Participants are offered the rare opportunity of interacting with renowned researchers and clinicians coming from all over the world, who will impart their knowledge on the latest trends in their relevant areas of speciality. Music Therapy in India is now sprouting into a full-fledged therapeutic discipline, especially in the field of Psychiatry, where it is being commonly accepted.
The Ragas and Ragams of North Indian and South Indian Classics trace back to the oldest musical treatise of the sage Matanga Muni. He is the author of the Brihaddeshi. Matanga lived before 2000 years… and he described already the Moorchana-s (or Mūrcchanā-s).
Matanga Muni introduced the term Moorchanas to the musical tradition – Ghandarva -, regarding an earlier preform of the Ragas, the Jati-s (Jati Gaan).
“Moorchana” is derived from the root “Moorcha”. In Sanskrit it means: “unconsciousness”.
The Moorchana-s overtake an important function for the arrangement of Raga compositions. Each of the seven (7) main pitches of a Raga scale can be transformed into the basic tone “SA” (1st pitch), from where new Ragas with the same interval distances of the original Ragas are developed. This “modal SHIFT” – Shadja – causes a change of the emotional expression of the original Ragas by an audible perception. This technique is called Moorchana Paddhati.
Beside this ancient form of modal shifting there is a more modern variant for the derivation of scales, the fixed Tonic method. Here the first pitch SA is maintained and individual intervals are changed.
A raga form, which is emanated from different Moorchana-s is called Moorchanakaraka Raga.
dates of broadcasting…
21st February 2013 – 03:00 pm EST (09:00 pm CET) @ radio multicult.fm (DE) (premiere: 17th February 2009 – 11:00 pm CET (05:00 pm EST) @ Tide Radio) broadcasting plan | streaming (Internet Radio & Mobile Radio) | podCast
In the exterior world the Moorchana-s are a mirror of the world. The basic tone SA tells its history same as a mixture of colours, which is told by this individual note “SA”.
A Raga is the expansion and contraction of the main tone SA (1st pitch) as the universe was created, as it expanded and is limited. The secret of the Moorchana-s is to link the end with the beginning in an endless cycle of the renewal. This point “SAM “, with new beginning again on “SA”, is the origin word for “Samadhi“, the fusion with the divine (Devi):
“Moorchana sangeet ki papaharini devi hai.” (Hindi)
(translation: In music the Moorchana-s are the divine, which release from all sins; the divine that visits the soul in the condition of free from sin.)
With methods of modular arithmetic the Moorchana-s and raga scales deriving from it can be determined easily. For the mathematics layman by a 12×12er-Matrix – Moorchana Transform matrix (MTM) – the Moorchanas of a Ragas can be computed very fast. The scientific processing of the Moorchana-s with mathematical and computer-assisted models helps us in the rational sense to equalise the complexity of the Moorchana-s and for understanding the compositorial and formative potential for Raga scales.
On the basis of the 7 main notes (svara-s), the melodic basic material of a Raga the Moorchana-s are seized into 14 sequential order samples.
The system of the Moorchana-s is the most comprehensive source to discover new Ragas. The term of the harmony in Indian Classics can be understood as a kind of Symphony of the Road, the melodic terrain of Ragas. Like all roads, they lead out into the world; one can return on them in addition, again. Thus we cleave with the help of the Moorchana-s through a Raga scale cyclically in the ascending and descending form.
In their resting condition of the unconscious the Moorchana-s remain quietly, until they open us by a “pure spirit” the path to new Ragas and opening us their place within the universal family of Raga scales – a similar state as it can reveal itself to us by meditation.
In der nordindischen und südindischen Klassik gehen die Ragas und Ragams auf die älteste musikalische Abhandlung des Weisen Matanga Muni zurück. Er ist der Verfasser des Brihaddeshi. Matanga lebte vor 2000 Jahren. Von ihm wurden die Moorchana-s (o. Mūrcchanā-s) bereits beschrieben.
Matanga Muni führte in der musikalischen Tradition – Ghandarva – den Begriff Moorchanas ein, in Bezug auf eine frühere Vorform der Ragas, den Jati-s (Jati-Gaan).
“Moorchana” leitet sich aus dem Wortstamm “Moorcha“, ab. Im Sanskrit bedeutet dies: “die Unbewusstheit” (unconsiousness)…
Die Moorchana-s übernehmen eine wichtige Funktion in der Gestaltung von Ragakompositionen. Mit ihnen kann jede der sieben (7) Hauptstufen einer Ragaskale in den Grundton “Sa” verwandelt werden, von dem aus neue Ragas mit den gleichen Intervallabständen des ursprünglichen Ragas entwickelt werden. Dieser “modale Shift” – Shadja – bewirkt in der akkustischen Wahrnehmung eine Veränderung des emotionalen Ausdrucks des ursprünglichen Ragas. Diese Technik wird Moorchana Paddhati genannt.
Neben dieser antiken Form des modalen Shiftens gibt es eine modernere Variante zur Ableitung der Skalen, dem fixiterten System des Grundtons (fixed Tonic method). Hier wird die erste Stufe Sa beibehalten und einzelne Intervallabstände verändert.
Eine Ragaform, die aus verschiedenen Moorchana-s hervorgeht, wird Moorchanakaraka Raga genannt.
Sendetermine…
21. Februar 2013 – 21:00 Uhr CET (03:00 pm EST) @ radio multicult.fm (DE) (Premiere: 17. Februar 2009 (23:00) @ Tide Radio) broadcasting plan |streaming (Internet Radio & Mobile Radio) | podCast
Im Äusseren sind die Moorchanas ein Spiegel der Welt. Der Grundton Sa erzählt ihre Geschichte, wie eine Mixtur von Farben, die von dieser einzelnen Note “Sa” erzählt wird.
Ein Raga ist die Ausdehnung und Kontraktion des Haupttons Sa, wie das Universum selbst erschaffen wurde, wie es sich ausdehnte und begrenzt ist. Das Geheimnis der Moorchanas ist, das Ende mit dem Anfang zu verknüpfen, in einem endlosen Kreislauf der Erneuerung. Dieser Punkt “Sam“, mit Neubeginn wieder “Sa”, ist das Ursprungswort für “Samadhi”, der Verschmelzung mit dem Göttlichen (Devi):
“Moorchana sangeet ki papaharini devi hai.” (Hindi)
(Übersetzung: In der Musik sind die Moorchana-s das Göttliche, das von allen Sünden befreit; das Göttliche, das die Seele im Zustand der Sündenlosigkeit besucht.)
Mit Methoden der modularen Arithmetik können die Moorchanas und die sich daraus ableitenden Ragaskalen sehr einfach ermittelt werden. Auch für den Mathematiklaien steht eine 12x12er-Matrix – Moorchana Transform Matrix (MTM) zur Verfügung, mit der sich die Moorchanas eines Ragas sehr schnell berechnen lassen. Die wissenschaftliche Aufarbeitung der Moorchana-s mit mathematischen und computergestützten Modellen hilft uns im rationalen Sinne, die Komplexität der Moorchanas zu entzerren und das kompositorische, gestalterisches Potential für Ragaskalen zu begreifen.
Auf der Basis der 7 Hauptnoten (svara-s), dem melodischen Grundmaterial eines Ragas, werden die Moorchanas in 14 sequentielle Ordnungsmuster gefasst.
Das System der Moorchana-s ist die umfassendste Quelle, neue Ragas zu entdecken. Der Begriff der Harmonie in der indischen Klassik versteht sich als eine Art Synphonie der Strasse, dem melodischen Terrain eines Ragas. Wie alle Strassen, führen sie in die Welt hinaus; man kann auf ihnen aber auch wieder zurückkehren. So bewegen wir uns mit Hilfe der Moorchanas durch eine Ragaskala, zyklisch in der aufsteigenden und absteigenden Form.
In ihrem ruhenden Zustand des Unbewussten verharren die Moorchana-s still, bis sie uns durch einen “reinen Geist” den Weg zu neuen Ragas und ihren Platz innerhalb der universellen Familie von Ragaskalen öffnen – ein ähnlicher Zustand, wie er sich uns durch Meditationspraxis offenbaren kann.
Padma Talwalkar (born 28 February 1948) is an Indian classical vocalist. Padma Talwalkar was born in Mumbai, India. She received training in Khyal gayaki in three main styles or gharanas: Gwalior, Kirana and Jaipur. Smt. Padma Talwalkar is considered to be one of the foremost exponents of Hindustani vocal music today. Her music, which combines feeling or “bhav” with technical brilliance, takes the listener to an almost ethereal plane.
Simple and unassuming in her living she, however, is very clear about her individual concept of what constitutes good music – the emphasis being on ‘swara’ (notes) and laya (tempo). Correctly and lovingly approached notes and a keen, internalized sense of tempo and rhythmic cycles (taala) are a must for music to be effective, she emphasizes. Her love for the accuracy and sanctity of notes she attributes to her first Guru, Pt. Pimpalkhare of the Gwalior Gharana, and the latter to her training under the late Shreemati Mogubai Kurdikar of the Jaipur Gharana. From Pandit Gajanan Bua Joshi she imbibed elements of the forceful and majestic Gwalior Gharana. She also gratefully acknowledges her musical debt to Shreemati Kishori Amonkar whose musical influences remain with her even today.
While mastery on swara and laya are undoubtedly the basic qualities of good music, there is something that goes beyond swara and laya, that distinguishes the “truly great” from the “good.” In her own words, when the artiste approaches the art with a feeling of total surrender and achieves an egoless state, the music happens of its own, as if it is flowing from some divine source.
IMC - India meets Classic presents ... 