Musical Routes: India, tradition in transition

Musical Routes India, tradition in transition Centre Casa Asia-Madrid Palacio de Miraflores Carrera de San Jer贸nimo, 15 28015 Madrid Tel.: 91 429 50 81 mediateca.bcn@casaasia.es mediateca.madrid@casaasia.es www.casaasia.eu Casa Asia Consortium:

India, tradition in transition

If the first Indian musical route approached us to styles with a higher international projection this vast land has given, this second approach suggests the immersion in two worlds that a priori seem contrary and that experience a great geographical and social distance. On the one hand, we will deepen into and approach styles that directly connect us to the eldest Indian cultures.

Musical Routes

On the other hand, we will travel all the way to Great Britain to feel impressed by the proposals of the children zand grandchildren of those who left India and landed in Europe more than half a century ago. This combination of opposite extremes could serve as a reflection of the complex Indian musical reality. Because it doesn’t only consist of being surprised with the variety of instruments, melodies or rhythms developed by each of the Indostanic cultures (something implicit to such a vast and populated land). Over this detail, we must take into account that behind every composition, there are firm ideas that connect the interpreter and the listener with philosophical and religious concepts that have evolved during centuries of experiences. And we come across the millennial traditions of the Baul from Bengala, the gypsies from Rajasthan or the percussionist masters of Kerala that remind us. But, at the same time, Indian music transmits a spirit of celebration and joy, even in the most intimate and reflexive melodies, that connect with the joy of life and of enjoying every moment. Bhangra is within this festive dynamic, the style that best defines the connection between tradition and modernity through, respectively, the popular form that is still cultivated in Punjab and the renovated aesthetics developed in British cities during the last third of the 20th century. Completing the circle (even though it might be best to quote the justice wheel that appears on the Indian flag) we find the creativity of a diaspora that uses diverse musical elements (Indostanic and Western) and moves in multiple directions (from heavy rock to vocal experimentation) to try to transmit the reality of a community that still searches for its place in the world.

index India, Folklore India, Travelling Musicians India, Bhangra India, tradition in transition

Musical Routes

India, Diaspora India, Compilations

India, tradition in transition

India, Folklore

Despite the fact that they don’t result as attractive and exuberant for western ears as ragas, ghazal or filmi music, traditional Indian music maintains its validity and diversity in the whole subcontinent.

Musical Routes

The fact that in India traditional music is grouped under the name “desi” (or “deshi”), which means “from earth” to distinguish the musical forms known as “marga” (the world that is applied to classical styles and that literally means “caste”) reinforces this affirmation. By extension, the term “desi” is also applied to other artistic disciplines, such as theatre or dance, if they have this popular character. And even if some traditionalist academics observe folklore as a deviation from previous styles of a higher rate, reality encourages us to think the opposite. Because desi music has fed classic repertoires (Indostanic from the north and Carnatic from the south) with countless melodies that have even become popular ragas as time goes by. We cannot forget that instruments that are now usual in the classical circuit, such as sarangi or santoor, were first played (and still are) by traditional musicians.

Finally it must be remembered that Indian classical music artists normally close their performances with the interpretation of some folkloric style (dhun, kajaris…) to reduce the tension generated before the concentration and severity demanded by ragas. On the other side of the scales we find folkloric music regardless of this dynamic, linked to specific events (such as certain religious ceremonies) or to social groups who resist losing their identifying marks (here the adivasi are highlighted, considered direct descendants of the original inhabitants of India). All in all, a range of options that is opened before us to flood our feelings.

India, tradition in transition

India, Folklore

Musical or ritual Indian percussions have had a basic function of accompaniment for the development of the sweet melodic modes that inspire ragas. But using the wellknown saying, there is also an exception that proves the rule.

Several artists “Inde du Sud / Kerala / LeThayambaka” Ocora Radio France, 1997

This is the case of thayambaka, a musical form from the state of Kerala, south India, which gives importance to a chenda drum group it accompanies, from a secondary role, wind instruments such as kuzhal and kombu (related to oboes and trumpet, respectively). Like other ceremonial music, thayambaka was born to accompany certain religious rituals inside temples and it was only interpreted coinciding with annual festivals. As time goes by, thayambaka left sanctuaries and joined other celebrations, such as processions.The musical dynamic of thayambaka evolves around the leading percussionist, who improvises above the diverse rhythms the rest of the group plays during the holding of the ceremony. It normally lasts around ninety minutes and has a well defined scheme that allows the leading percussionist display their master of the rhythm and their ability for improvisation. At a thayambaka ceremony, chenda drums powerfully and spectacularly roar thanks to their enormous cylindric body (they are normally sixty centimetres high and their diameter is thirty centimetres) and to the number of percussionists it normally includes, especially on special days. The album we have chosen to introduce thayambaka to you includes a performance by the group led by Master Mattanur Shankarankutty, one of the most respected in Kerala. The physical limitations imposed by the format of the CD doesn’t allow us enjoy the visual part of the event (while the musicians play their instruments without stopping, around them decorated elephants are marching along and many spectators are brought together), but it doesn’t reduce the majesty and force of its sound.

India, tradition in transition

India, Folklore

If anyone asked us about the elements that remain in India after the long British colonial period, we could quote the use of English, the vast railway line, the architectonical style of some buildings and an excess of bureaucracy.

Mehbooba Band “Fanfare de Calcutta�

Signature, 2001

Not many of us would think about music, given the difference of registers that exist in both territories. However, there is an Indian musical genre that was born more than a century ago by British influence. These are the popular fanfares, powerful brass band that decades ago were essential at all kinds of ceremonies (especially weddings). This began at the beginning of the 19th century, when European military regiments added instruments such as trumpets, tubas or bugles to their music hands. The formal travelled from Great Britain and India fast, where it was used as a reflection of military and imperial power. However, Indian musicians didn’t take long in discovering the artistic possibilities and the sonorous volume of those orchestras, which came across traditional groups made with shehnais (instrument from the family of oboes) and dholak drums. From here on fanfares like this one from Calcutta we are referring to managed to become a common element of the musical landscape of Indian cities in a short period of time. To the point where in many cities have an area with establishments where a fanfare can be hired for whatever we need (it is calculated that almost a million people are devoted to this business in the country), the same way there are streets with spice or clothes trade. Mehbooba Band, the main band on this album, brings together clarinets, bugles, trumpets, saxophones and percussions (Indian and European) which are all directed by Master Majnu (this is how his name appears on the sign of his shop), play a repertoire that combines old popular Bengali or Rajasthani tones, Indian film successes, patriotic chants and the daring revision of a raga. The imperfections of the recording, directly carried out on a street of Calcutta in 2000 by the musicologist Deben Bhattacharya, give the album a very particular authenticity.

India, tradition in transition

India, Folklore

During the second third of the 20th century, different characters (who could be considered illuminated) went around the world with a very ambitious purpose. They took hundreds of kilos of material to very remote places. Their purpose was to leave a phonographic witness of the musical diversity that existed in our planet before the modernity made it disappear.

Several artists “Kashmir: Traditional Songs & Dances�

Nonesuch Records, 1974

Among these men Alan Lomax (probably the best known of this lineage) and Alain DaniĂŠlou (who gives name to the phonoteque of Casa Asia). Another great musical researcher was Daniel Lewinston, who for centuries linked his work to the US record company Nonesuch Records. Precisely, this recording carried out at the beginning of the seventies

by Lewinston, with the help with Mohantal Ainta in the city of Srinagar in the heart of Kashmir comes from the catalogue by this label. Placed in the north of the Indian subcontinent, surrounded by the snowy summits of the Himalayan, divided between Pakistan, China and India, the fertile valleys of Kashmir have attracted the attention of travelers and the wishes of conquerors for centuries. This strategic position as a crossroad on the ancient commercial and cultural routes has fed the most diverse artistic disciplines, especially poetry and music, which have integrated Persian, Arab or Central Asian elements, especially since Islam became the main religion after the 14th century. The ten songs collected in this album offer us a very basic and good quality approach to traditional repertoire of the region because it includes a couple of soofiana kalam (pieces of a mystic character with santoor as the main character), a piece by the band jeshna (very popular satirical musical theatre), the musical version of a chalant poem (similar to ghazal) and several traditional chants that serve to accompany moments of work such as the rice collecting or festive celebrations like weddings.

Beyond political and armed conflicts Kashmir is currently going through, its music transmits the serenity and beauty of its ancestral landscapes.

India, tradition in transition

India, Folklore

Of a Central Asian origin, ghazal is a lyric form that is defined by two elements: the strict rules of its rhyme and rhythm structures and the obvious romantic and philosophical character of its lyrics (mainly adaptations of poems by great mystic writers).

Ghulam Ali “Greatest Hits” Serengeti Sirocco, 1988

The difficulty of reciting its characteristic juxtaposed verses and to transmit the subtle references that rule them makes interpreters to carry out a severe artistic exercise that is normally distinguished by an exquisite elegance. Who power the nuances of ghazal can easily adapt the repertoire to any circumstance and can go from the most elevated aesthetic expression to a lighter and open interpretation using metrics and rhythmic to improve it and make it more beautiful.

All these elements turn ghazal into an appreciated art by the Indostanic public and its best interpreters, into respected characters. The Pakistani Ghulam Ali (Kakele, Punjab, 1940) is one of those artists who have the unconditional support of the audience. Son of a family with a long musical tradition, Ali was educated at the prestigious gharana Patiala, one of the most important vocal classical music schools of the country. During this learning period, Ghulam Ali was noticed by the expressivity of his voice that equally shined in the performance of a ghazal, thumri or a raga. During his career, which began in 1960 when he joined the team of the radio station Lahore as an interpreter of great classical poems, Ghulam Ali has always written his own compositions where he mixes elements of the diverse styles he masters and that have given him great popularity in Pakistan and in India. Although the summit of his success was “Chupke Chupke”, song included in the soundtrack of the film “Nikaah” (B.R. Chopra, 1982) and that we can enjoy together with another six pieces in this compilation of his main pieces. As well as this album, at the Media Library we can find other works by this great artist such as “Punjabi mehfil 2” (Oriental Star, 1996) that brings together several songs of his natal Punjab or “Mast Nazren” (Navras Records, 1999), a double album recording during a rehearsal where Ustad Sultan Khan, great sarangi master, accompanied him.

India, tradition in transition

India, Folklore

It seems hard to decide which Indian state seems attractive for western travelers.

Among other reasons because every one of us has different reasons to visit one place or another.

Rangpuhar Langa Group “Tribal Music from Rajasthan” Arc Music, 2006

In any case, if you travel to India in search for strong and varied emotions, a tour around the state of Rajasthan seems as almost unavoidable. The sight of its desert landscapes, the monumentality of its fortresses or the vitality of its inhabitants justify such a powerful attraction. Its exultant popular music, maybe the best preserved (and that means a lot) in such a musical civilization as India. In this sense, we must remind that Rajasthan was the area of the Indian subcontinent with the least western influence absorbed during the British domination. Maybe for this reason, in this small country inside another country you can still listen to music from practically anywhere and anytime: most of its restaurants have their own resident orchestra, ambulant artists that wonder around its streets and gremial areas where different format groups are available to be hired (for a wedding, an outing on a camel or a private party). Among these groups Rangpuhar Langa Group stands out, a numerous troupe made up of four musicians who, as well as singing, play the harmonium, dhol, dholak and chol and a dozen dancers who display (on the stage and of course in the photographs of the booklet) their colourful dresses and traditional choreographies. The girls also sing but very rarely in songs that always with the musical vitality of the gypsies talk about their first partners, of lost loves, of the arrival of the monsoon or of the beauty of the Rajasthani landscape. Among the songs we stand out the version of the classic “Kalbeliya”, a melody that has accompanied the sensual snake dance which is from the Langa for centuries, one of the most important communities of the Rajasthani society (linked to the city of Jodhpur, related to the trade of camels and spice, which all the members of the group belong to).

Recommendations

India, Folklore

> Asif Bhatti, “Folk Music from Pakistan / Songs from Punjab”, ARC Music, 2000 Thirteen songs of the Punjabi popular culture, songs that refer to everyday life, nature, romance… The sweet voice of Asif Bhatti, accompanied by the complete instrumental band, approaches the poetic beauty always present in this tradition. > Chhau & Nagpuri Group, “Folksongs & Dances from India”, ARC Music, 1999 Dances with masks and folkloric songs from the state of Bihar, to the east of India. Energetic music with fast rhythms, interpreted with traditional instruments such as shehnai (the traditional Indian conic oboe) and many percussions such as dhol or dholak. > Several artists, “Inde: rythmes et chants du Nord-Karnataka”, Buda Records, 2001 Attractive combination of music of the state of Karnataka (southwest India): percussion repertoire by a professional group, melodies for children recorded in two elementary schools and religious songs from the village of Hijra. > Several artists, “India: Religious Music from Gujarat”, Playa Sound, 1997 Devotional chants devoted to different divinities, Muslim or Hindu, and interpreted by different street artists that normally sing them at religious festivals or family celebrations of the state of Gujarat, to the west of India.

Musical Routes

> Several artists, “Religious Chants from India”, ARC Music, 1998 The ten songs of this compilation, recorded during different celebrations and rites by the musicologist Deben Bhattacharya allow us to go on a immersion in three of the numerous religious traditions present in India (in this case, Sikhism, Buddhism and Hinduism).

India, tradition in transition

India, traveling musicians

Music is an inherent part in Indian reality. And probably like in few places, it maintains its presence in several everyday actions: it accompanies those who go to a funeral, it serves to celebrate the course of seasons and gives colour to many religious rites.

Musical Routes

None of the encounters (social or devotional) that take place in the Indian territory can be understood without music, in the temples of the south –where the festivals are characterized by the presence of brass and drum groups, decorated elephants and evocating carriages– at the feet of the Himalayan –where they dominate the ascetic character of mantras– or in the routes where million pilgrams that go to some of the many saint places of the subcontinent. All this scenario is complete by a group of traveling artists that move from city to city and from celebration to celebration. Far from being a prisoner of the changes India experiences, these musicians, artists, snake charmers, dancers, fakirs and singers maintain the heritage left by their ancestors. It is probably in Rajasthan where the origin of the gypsy people is, where all this tradition that takes us to other times is best preserved. Linked to specific cities and grouped according to their commercial and artistic activity for centuries, the different families keep the secrets of their abilities. In another of the great states of the country is specifically Bengala, where we find people who seem from another time. They are the Baul, a fraternity of mystics who in search for the human and divine ideal are kept away from society. Mixing elements of different religious traditions, they use music to express their particular philosophy, as well as to earn a living. These two cultures (and the others we present in this chapter) represent a way of understanding the world that might question some of our priorities.

India, tradition in transition

India, traveling musicians

Divided between India and Bangladesh, the historical región of Bengala is the land that gave birth and still hosts to Baul, mystic singers and roaming monks that since immemorial times spend a part of their lives wandering around in search for Moner Manush, the mad heart man, the ideal that lives inside each one of us.

Paban das Baul “Inner Knowledge” Womad Select, 1997

A unique encounter between the Tantric, Sufi and Vaisnava traditions, the Baul make up a very particular culture that constantly shakes the basis of a traditional society like the Bengali where the strict caste system and the class differences are rigidly maintained. The arrival of a Baul tramp with his untidy look, tough character, simple instruments (among which the characteristic dotara and ektara lutes stand out) and his beautiful songs are an everyday event in the villages of the state of Rabindranath Tagore, but at the same time it awakes the suspicions of those who see subversive elements for the established order. This might be the reason why the word “baul” means “possessed by divinity”, “without limits” or simply “mad”. The truth, however, is that the Baul have turned this search for inside knowledge into a way of life (because, as they say, even if the ideal is very close to us, the trip to find it can be long) and into an artistic manifestation of exquisite beauty that is manifested through delicate melodies and evoking lyrics. An album such as “Inner knowledge”, signed by Paban das Baul (Mohammedpur, West Bengala, India, 1961), one of the most important Baul singers of our time cannot be contemplated any other way. Accompanied by other four outstanding representatives of this secular culture (among which Subal das Baul, historical master of our main character and Nitya Gopal Das, back then he was a young hope decided to continue in the philosophical and musical path of this tradition), Paban das Baul offers us an overwhelming spiritual evocation work that explains tells the usual stories of these inside travelers (stories of the earth, the heart, lovers and dreams) and that shows a current artist from the respect for ancestral heritage.

India, tradition in transition

India, traveling musicians

The first and beautiful minutes of the film “Latcho drom”, directed in 1993 by Tony Galif and that carries out a tour around the different music cultivated by the gypsy people, take place in Rajasthan.

Musafir “Barsaat” Blue Flame, 2002

It wasn’t a trivial choice, because legends and historians place the first ancestors of a human Diaspora that in the course of centuries has consolidated its presence in the world in the lands of North India. Despite this dispersion (a dispersion that makes a reliable calculation of the world gypsy population harder), the presence of this culture is still present in the Rajasthani land. In fact, they are receivers of a millennial tradition that links the musical practice with who are devoted to travelling traders. And Rajasthani gypsy musicians have organised themselves in different castes according to their profession and art. The best known is the Langa, who normally move around the city of Jodhpur and trade with camels and spice. On an inferior social level, we find the Manganiyar, itinerant musicians who serve Muslim or Hindu employers. Other travelling artists that move from village to village are the Sapera (the popular snake charmers), the Jogi (wandering mystics observed with suspicion by the sedentary population) or the Bhopa (epic storytellers that stage their performances). Each one of the castes moves in specific social coordinates, but Musafir, the group led by the percussionist Hameed Khan, has managed to overcome this system and brings together musicians, singers and dancers of the different gypsy communities of Rajasthan. Together they achieve a great diversity of musical colours that are transformed in songs of great energy (“Banna”), in pieces of contemplative character (“Barish”) or in melodies that evoke elements of the Indostanic Sufism (“Balamji”). Moving in a totally different territory we come across “Ali Mullah”, the famous song tribute to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (the great voice of qawwali, who died in 1997) made by the Rajasthani group together with the band Transglobal Underground and the singer Natacha Atlas, in 1998 and that was recovered to complete the repertoire of this album.

India, tradition in transition

India, traveling musicians

Like many other historical villages that haven’t achieved their own state to be represented and defended, the ten million current Baluch live distributed (and separated) in a vast and rough land that goes through Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan.

The Baluchi Ensemble of Karachi “Love Songs and Trance Hymns” Shanachie, 1999

The roots of its culture sink in time because the stories say that they lived in the north and centre of current Iran for hundreds of years, until in the 10th century they began to emigrate towards the southeast arriving to the north of the Indian subcontinent. On this route, the Baluch met and mixed with other nomad people, defining their cultural awareness from a common language, not an ethnic origin.With all these elements, Baluch music achieved an extraordinary development that was mostly responsibility of a caste of travelling artists and artisans, the ostâ (master), who placed their music at the service of the different nomad tribes to save their ancestral wisdom. Centuries have past and the caste of professional musicians is still a key element of the traditional Baluch culture, as the five artists who make up this group prove. They all belong to historical lineages of the music of this village, beginning with the leader Karimbakhsh Soruzi Nuri, a living encyclopaedia of the Baluch musical history.With the support of the most characteristic instruments of their culture, such as sorud (a strange violin whose body reminds us of a skull), the tanburang (from the family of Asian lutes) or the benju (a peculiar long zither), the female voice of Rahima imposes its category in festive songs (weddings, circumcision ceremonies) and in ecstatic chants. We highlight a lullaby with a mystic character devoted to the Sufi saint Shahbaz Qalandar, whose grave looks like a child’s cradle. As a last curiosity, we will tell you that the group was created in the Baluch neighbourhood of Karachi (province of Sindh), not in Quetta or another city of the province of Baluchisthan that, despite being the biggest in Pakistan, hardly has four million inhabitants, among which the Baluch are a minority.

India, tradition in transition

India, traveling musicians

Even though a few decades ago qawwali has become part of the programme of auditoriums and festivals all around the world, the followers of the prophet’s word (qaul in Urdu) define that qawwali can only be shown in all its dimension in sanctuaries (mehfil) devoted to Sufi masters, especially when the performance coincides with the anniversary of the death of the saint (yes, the Sufis celebrate the death of their saints because it means the definite union with Allah).

Several artists “Trance for Sufies, Dervishes & Qalandars” Parihon Music, 2002

It’s certain that on these special occasions or in a regular performance (like those that take place on Fridays, prayer day), the visit of a mehfil involves coming across a unique atmosphere that can only occur when musicians and singers begin their particular ceremony (la Mehfil-e-Sama) together with pilgrims. Every sanctuary has its own group of qawwals, people related in one way or another with a saint (due to a family bond or for being worships of its philosophy) that know the basic development of the ritual, on the one hand, and the complex protocol that rules the relationship between the resident and the invited qawwals on the other. Among the pilgrims that continuously visit sanctuaries (especially the most famous ones) there are also other interpreters of qawwali who must be invited by the usual group so they take part in the ceremony. As a reflection of this interesting pilgrimage and exchange environment, we have chosen this compilation double album that gathers six extensive topics (three in each album, the shortest lasts 15 minutes) by other essential names of qawwali (this is, M. Saeed Chisti, The Sabri Brothers, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Rizwam & Muazzam Ali Khan, Badar Miandad y Ghulam Frid & Maqbool Ahmed Sabri). Despite the fact that we must be sorry about the total absence of information of the recording and artists that take part, it must be highlighted that in the title the name of a group of travelling Sufis is included, the qalandar, who travel from sanctuary to sanctuary, rejecting the conventional behaviour rules and that loosen their passion until they reach trance (haal).

India, tradition in transition

India, traveling musicians

“An Indian wedding without its fanfare is not a real India wedding”. This is how firm the university professor Usha Shastry expresses herself in the text that accompanies this album, starred by two dozens of musicians selected among the best instrumentalists of the best Rajasthani fanfares.

Jaipur Kawa Brass Band “Fanfare du Rajasthan” Iris Musique, 1997

Is the role these brass orchestras play in the holding of a wedding as important as to make this affirmation? It seems so, if we think that there are gremial neighbourhoods devoted to choosing one band among a hundred for their wedding day. Once the economic conditions have been agreed on, on the indicated day the fanfare makes a wedding procession (barat, in Hindi) that begins at the house of the groom and takes all the guests to the bride’s house, where some guests give them their gifts. Now, the celebration is open to the entire neighbourhood because the route is among the crowded streets of the city and all those who would like to share the fun are welcome. So, friends, relatives and passers-by dance and sing to the rhythm of tubas, trombones, clarinets, trumpets and percussions, a group that manages to impose the noisy environment of the Indian streets with an impetuous and easy going sound (sometimes also out of tune) that turns on the mood of who took part in the party, combining the most recent successes from the Bollywood factory, the bride and groom’s favourite songs and of their relatives and some classics of filmi music. It consists of a repertoire that knows these musicians (bandwallahs) perfectly well, many of who arrive every year from different places to stay in a specific city during the wedding season, which lasts around five or six months during the winter. Without a doubt, in an album, even though it is as interesting as this one, we cannot make a complete idea of this entire socio-musical universe. But we will discover the musical part that accompanies this colourist processions through thirteen songs that are part of the Rajasthani wedding tradition. Moreover, what we lose in visual impact, we gain in the listening because the quality of the recording and the selection of the instrumentalists it offers, logically, is a more refined sound than the one that appears in the crowded streets of Jaipur, Calcutta or Bombay.

Recommendations

India, traveling musicians

> Paban das Baul & Sam Mills, “Real Sugar”, Real World, 1997 The Bengali musician shared this pleasant work with the English producer, where Baul songs (some composed by him, others created from traditional melodies) were decorated with elegant electronic elements. > Prahlad Brahmachari, “India: Songs of the Bauls”, Jvc World Sounds, 1990 Born in Bangladesh in 1940, Prahiad Brachmachari joined a Baul community to study its culture (together with the great Purna das Baul) and to get to know the essence of its way of life. In this album he leaves a witness of the influence these experiences have had in its art. > Several artists, “Bauls of Bengal: Mystic Songs from India”, ARCMusic, 2005 Another series of recordings made by the musicologist Deben Bhattacharya. On this occasion they are from 2001 and they were made in the region of Birbhum (West Bengala, India) during the festival these nomads celebrate every year in the city of Santiniketan. > Several artists, “Festivals of the Himalayas, volume II”, Nonesuch Records, 1978 Recording made four decades ago, making the most of the numerous celebrations that take place during the summer in the valleys of the state of Himachal Pradesh and that attract many musicians of the northern regions of India.

Musical Routes

> Shafqat Ali Khan, “Sufi Songs”, ARC Music, 2003 Current ustad (“master”) of a musical dynasty, whose origin goes back 500 years, is the maximum exponent of the prestigious vocal school Sham Chaurasia (founded in the 16th century) and a usual visitor of the different Sufi sanctuaries when he is in his natal Pakistan.

India, tradition in transition

India, bhangra

Everything has a beginning. An in the case of bhangra, the search for its roots take us to the lands of Punjab. There, the people of the rural areas celebrated (and in fact continues celebrates) the arrival of spring and the time of harvests with a repertoire of songs and dances marked by the rhythm of dhol, a large cylindric drum with two sides that generates a specific and recognizable syncope.

Musical Routes

The popularity of these festivals reach such dimensions that bhangra already made its first trip almost two centuries ago, when it jumped from villages to large Punjabi cities (Lahore, Amritsar, Jalandhar...).

When at the end of the 20th century the first wave of Indian emigration to Great Britain took place, the style landed in Europe. At the beginning it happened through the importation albums that arrived from India and that were sold together with the soundtracks of the great successes of Bollywood. At the end of the sixties the first bhangra groups appeared in Great Britain and more than giving concerts, they livened up all kinds of celebrations, cultural, social or religious aiming to maintain the greatest bond with the land of origin. But years went by and young Anglo-Indostanic people began an approach to music such as reggae or pop that connected to the traditional sounds of their ancestors, ended becoming a new and bubbly style. Artists such as Malkint Singh, Gurdas Maan or Alaap bĂŠcame great stars that, in addition, made their success to enter London nightclubs. After having conquered the capital of the ancient city and with a consolidated circuit, this new bhangra has been extended to other places (it is even successful in India) and it has mixed with hip hop (it is the case of Jazzy B), house (Bombay Talkie) or rock (Sahotas), offering a variety of styles that almost always counts on the outstanding presence of dhol as a sign of identity of this wild rhythm.

India, tradition in transition

India, bhangra

The title of this album says it very clearly: Malkit Singh is the King of Bhangra. And on this occasion, nobody dares to argue this honour. Born in the Punjabi city of Hussainpur in 1963, the qualities as a singer he proved since he was little turned him into a student of the prestigious Khalsa College (Jalandhar, Punjab, India) in 1980.

Malkit Singh “King of Bhangra!”

K Industria Cultural, 2004

The following year he won a famous music contest that brought together the best Punjabi students, even though nobody imagined that Singh’s talent would take our main character (and by extension, bhangra) to the level of popularity it now knows. After achieving the quoted award, Malkit Singh travelled to England in 1984. And landed just when the Anglo-Indostanic young people were consolidating the new musical references that appeared the previous decade (Alaap, Bhujungy) with which his particular cultural identity could be defined. Singh discovered that peasant music of his ancestors had crashed against synthesizers and that the traditional dhol drum shared space with electronic drums.

He dived into the scene of this new bhangra, premiering with the album “Nach gidde wich” (Oriental Star, 1986) and signing, after this premiere, success after success with his group Golden Star. In 1988 “Up front” (Oriental Star, also available at the Media Library) appeared, the album the definitely turned Malkint Singh into the king of bhangra thanks to the song “Tootak tootak thootian (Hey Jamalo)”. Since then, twenty years have gone by, around twenty albums, concerts in more than thirty countries and all kinds of acknowledgements (artistic, university and social). Far from adapting himself, Malkit Singh has known how to connect his music with new tendencies (reggae, house or hip hop), detail that reveals this compilation made in Barcelona (coinciding with his concert in 2004) and that brings together eight of the songs included in the compilation “Midas Touch II” (Big M, 2003), together with four of his numerous compositions for films (one included in “Monsoon Wedding”, Mira Nair, 2001, and three in “Bend it like Beckham”, Gurinder Chadha, 2002).

India, tradition in transition

India, bhangra

Far from being usual, female artists are an exception within the Anglo-Indostanic musical industry. If Najma Akhtar and Sheila Chandra have achieved certain repercussion, the truth is that they have done it from circuits different to bhangra.

Sangeeta “Flower in the Wind” Keda Records, 1992

So the apparition of Sangeeta, in the middle of the eighties, was a revelation. And also an artistic surprise, because her voice has its own clearness like classical singers, her songs search for melodic beauty before the rhythmical impact and the lyrics of her songs are written in Hindi (most texts of bhangra are sung in Punjabi). When she was only 12, Sangeeta won a radio contest in the town of Leicester, receiving the corresponding award by Lata Mangheshkar, the star of filmi music. The following year she won an award at a national Indian song contest held in Birmingham. The fame of that young girl began to grow and Kuljit Bhamra, musician, composer, owner of the record label Keda Records and producer of the first album of bhangra starred by a woman (her mother, Mohinder Kaur Bhamra), decided to believe in her. And his bet was the winner. “Flower in the Wind”, her second work, broke sales registers in the British market, simultaneously achieved the first position of bhangra charts and Hindi music, and placed Sangeeta at the top. It consists of an exquisite album that outlines a connection between delicate Hindi poetry and the insistent rhythm of dhol, where the artist accompanied the poems by Preet Nihal (verses that portray joy, passion or implicit separations in love), percussions of the aforementioned Kuljit Bhamra (who was also in charge of the production) and a string section led by Sonia Slany.

Moving in an intermediate land between bhangra, ghazal and Bollywood, “Flower in the Wind” includes the song “Pyar ka hai bairi” (“banned love”), probably the song we’d have to choose if we could only keep one of the many and beautiful songs the female most popular singer of the Anglo-Indostanic scene has sung (and still sings).

India, tradition in transition

India, bhangra

In the mid-eighties, coinciding with one of the worst crisis of Thatcher’s Great Britain, parties started being organised with the new bhangra as the plot and young AngloIndostanic as the stars. Especially active in cities such as London, Birmingham, Leicester or Conventry, the parties were almost always held during the day (for the Asian community evening events were not safe at the time), timetable that “motivated” school children to skip classes and take part.

Bally Sagoo “Wham Bam!” Oriental Star, 1990

In this environment DJs such as X-Executive Sounds or Hustlers Convention stand out, who in their sessions combined the great successes of bhangra with North American soul, disco music or hip hop. Slowly the stage won consistence until the apparition of figures such as Bally Sagoo (Ranjit Nagar, Delhi, India, 1971) took place, who shook the market in the change of the decade with the eclectic “Wham Bam!”. Almost immediately turned into a classic, it is a collection of remixes of bhangra classics (seven in total) that can now seem overcome, but that at the time surprised due to the high level of production it presented. Our star added elements of western dance music (such as samplers of the classics “Sex Machine” by James Brown or “The Power” by the German band Snap!) to songs well-known by the usual bhangra public such as until he developed versions that, obviously, were planned for the tracks of Anglo-Indostanic discos of the time “Mele wich ayee” by Shaan or “Tootak tootak thootian (Hey Jamalo)” by Malkit Singh. After this first success, Bally Sagoo consolidated a career that has opened way for subsequent artists (his album “Bollywood Flashback”, Sony Music, 1994, is still one of the references to understand the new sound of Indian pop) and turned him into the second Anglo-Indostanic artist who signed a contract with a multinational company. As a relevant piece of information, it must be said that Bally Sagoo was not brought up in an Indian environment, because the community in his neighbourhood in Birmingham was African origin and the musical styles that he most listened to during his teenage years was rap and the classics of the label Motown.

India, tradition in transition

India, bhangra

Above London, the English region known as The Midlands is considered the creative centre of bhangra. From the neighbourhoods of some of their cities (Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Leicester...) artists as relevant as Saqi, Bally Sagoo, Sahotas, Geet The Mega Band, Swami or Achanak have arouse, the band we are approaching.

Achanak “SigNACHure” Nachural Records, 1991

The first steps of this band of six musicians place us in autumn 1989, when Ninder Johal, tabla player, starts up a project that will bring two small revolutions: the possibilities of synthesizers will mark the sound of the band (until it will become one of its most characteristic elements) and its members will change shiny traditional Punjabi dresses for black jackets, white shirts and trousers. With this new attitude and catchy songs, Achanak became one of the main exponents of the new wave of bhangra that was developed in the nineties. Hardly two years had passed since its start up and “SigNACHure” was already their third album, recording that consolidated the pop character of a band that also was able to make the most of the promotion possibilities of videoclips. With all these elements, it might seem that Achanak is another of the young successful bands. However, its members have always been aware of the fact that, as well as being an excellent band, it is necessary to work on the collateral sides of all musical proposals. Moreover, its energetic concerts involve the public, through different songs and choreographies, until it is made part of the show. And they have always taken part in social events, great festivals against racism or little events in support of the Asian community.

An album of spiritual character (“Have faith”, Nachural Records, 1993; also available at the Media Library) that combines musical elements of different religions with contemporary sounds is even part of their discography. Achanak is a very special case within the bhangra scene that is worth getting to know beyond its songs.

India, tradition in transition

India, bhangra

Among all the compilations devoted to bhangra that are available in this market, this deserves special attention. This selection couldn’t have a better beginning and end because it begins with the classic “Bhabiye ni bhabiye” by Alaap (pioneer group of the new sound that was created in the seventies) and ends with the successful “Mundian to bach ke” by Labh Janjua & Panjabi Mc (yes, the song that the sampler by the rapper Busta Rhymes includes).

Several artists “The Rough Guide to Bhangra” World Music Network, 2000

Between both, another eleven songs detail the diversity bhangra can offer. Examples? Bally Sagoo dares with “Mera laung gawacha” and with “Pendha gidda”, two songs with an obvious Jamaican influence (called bhangramuffin) and respectively sung by the vocalists Rama and Satwinder Bitti. The band Bombay Talkie comes from Scotland and managed to find its space in the list of successes with the rocker “Chargiye”, essential piece in the suitcase of any DJ. Sangeeta’s apparitions are lighter (his classic “Pyar Ka Hai Bairi”) and by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (a special remix of “Piya re piya re”), where the brilliance of both voices stands out. The anthology will not miss Malkit Singh, the king of bhangra with the epic “Boliyan” (with the choir that has been sung a million times), or with the Safri Boys brothers, firm candidates to the crown of Singh and that sing an emotive love story in “Par linghade”. Another two outstanding stars are Mohinder Kaur Bhamra and Baldip Jabble, both protected by the composer and producer Kuljit Bhamra, who perform the festive songs: “Gidda pao haan deo”, the first (gidda is the dance practiced by Punjabi women), and “Janj mahi ley aya”, the second (a happy and irresistible wedding song). If you don’t know where to begin your immersion in music created in Great Britain by Indian emigrants, here you have an excellent starting point that can also be accompanied by the interesting texts by DJ Ritu, author of the compilation.

Recommendations

India, bhangra

> Geet The Mega Band, “No Problem”, Oriental Star, 1990 Debut album by another of the bands that, from the region of the Midlands, was able to collect the work made by the bhangra pioneers during the seventies and connect it to different Anglo-Saxon musical tendencies. > Golden Star, “The Best of ”, Oriental Star, 1988 Hardly four years after having arrived in England, Malkit Singh and his group had already published a compilation of greatest hits, thirteen songs through which he began to become a legend. > Saqi, “Driller Killer”, Nachural Records, 1994 Powerful group that in his compositions give dhol drums a leading role, without forgetting the sound of synthesizers or electric guitars. This rhythmical force has turned many of his songs into usuals of DJ sessions. > Several artists, “The Rough Guide to Bhangra Dance”, World Music Network, 2006 New compilation signed by DJ Ritu within the acknowledged collection of the English label. Ideal to complement the perspective its first edition offers, because as an artist the only one that appears more than once is great Malkit Singh and the booklet includes a lot of information.

Musical Routes

> Several artists, “Bhangra, the Best Asian Beats from the Streets”, Union Square Music, 2003 Selection of twelve songs that contributes current names (Surinder & Manjit, Anakhi, Sahara, Sameera, Ewc, Avtar Maniac...) and proposals that connect bhangra with r&b, ragga or rap from a contemporary character.

India, tradition in transition

India, Diaspora

“I’m Indian. Even though it seems more suitable to say that I grew up in England and that my parents arrived here from India. But what exactly does “being Indian“ mean, taking land, people, government or anything else?

Musical Routes

Right now, the Indian governmen is testing nuclear arms. Am I considered less Indian if I don’t condemn these things? Less Indian because I was born and grew in England? Or because I don’t speak Hindi? Can’t I be considered English because of my cultural heritage? Or because of the colour of my skin? Who decides this kind of details? History in capital letters explains that my heritage comes from a subcontinent, from a country of the Third World, from a developing nation, a colonised land… But what is History? For me, nothing else than another arrogant ethnocentric term”.This is what the musician Nitin Sawhney says.This text is in the booklet that accompanies the album “Beyond skin” (Outcaste Records, 1999) and collects the feeling of disconcert milion people face their everyday life with: to come from a place, but live in another (another place that, on most occasions, does not accept them very well). Before this situation, Indostanic origin English young people have managed to define, through music, a universo that has served them to place themselves and find their place in the British society. After the revolution that involved the modernization of the traditional Punjabi bhangra in the eighties, the following decade involved the apparition of bands that searched from other musical paths the following decade: from the radical strength of Asian Dub Foundation or Fun>Da<Mental to the delicate voice of Sheila Chandra or Najma Akthar, going through the electronic experiments proposed by Talvin Singh or the connection with the classic tradition represented by Anoushka Shankar. Most of these projects are still active, approaching us the anxieties of its main characters.

India, tradition in transition

India, Diaspora

In one of those strange coincidences of life, the sudden death of the qawwal Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (on Saturday, 16th of August 1997) took Michael Brook by surprise and all those who were working on the last details of the album that summer (only the remix by Nitin Sawhney was made after the death of the Pakistani musician).

Several artists “Star Rise / Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Michael Brook: Remixed” Real World Records, 1997

The project was born a few months before with the idea of connecting the voice of the master of qawwali and the musical pulse developed by the Indostanic origin young artists resident in Great Britain, an emergent creative movement that was known as Asian Underground for a while. In no case it consisted on joining unknown worlds because Ali Khan, as generous and open as usual, was pleased with the fact that his music could reach people who didn’t know about Sufi culture thanks to this kind of Works (one of the purposes of a qawwal was to transmit the world of Allah to as many people as possible) and artists such as Asian Dub Foundation, Joi, State of Bengal or Talvin Singh showed (and still do) their respect and devotion for the art of the Pakistani artist. Each one of them from their perspective (with arrangements full of rage and energy or moving in a more delicate field), none of the nine participating artists did not make efforts to take the spiritual voice of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan to a new field that shows an excellent cohesion thanks, without a doubt, to the production tasks of Michael Brook, who had worked with Ali Khan in albums such as “Mustt Mustt” (Real World, 1990) or “Night Song” (Real World, 1995) and perfectly knew the material he was working on.

The notes that accompanied the edition, even if they were short, show the enormous size of the figure of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, even for transgressor artists such as Aki Nawaz (Fun>Da<Mental).

India, tradition in transition

India, Diaspora

As she says in the interesting notes of the booklet that accompanies this retrospective, “for those who remember me in the period with the band Monsoon, the path from those days to my trilogy with Real World may think it’s a mortal jump”. Sheila Chandra, Londoner from 1965, daughter of Indian immigrants, began her professional career at the beginning of the decade of 1980 with a successful project (first with the quoted band Monsoon and then as a solo artist) that mixed western and Indian pop.

Sheila Chandra “Moonsung: a Real World Retrospective” Real World Records, 1999

After ten years living in the most usual dynamic of the music business (even though in this period of her artistic life she never gave concerts), Sheila Chandra decided to deepen into the research if expressive and creative possibilities of human voice, making the most of the qualities and talent she had always shown. This radical change of proposal and purpose in generously enjoyed with this compilation that summarises in twelve songs the three albums that Sheila Chandra made for Peter Gabriel’s label (this is, “Weaving my Ancestors’ Voice”, 1992, “The Zen Kiss”, 1994, and “ABoneCroneDrone”, 1996, all available at the Media Library). As a beginner’s example for listeners, you can try “Speaking in Tongues III”, a song built from onomatopeyas in a similar resource to the vocal games that Indian singers play going through the notes of their scale (sa, re, ga, ma, pa, da, ni). But it is the group of songs that allows to understand Sheila Chandra’s path, a path with which she has developed her own style from harmonic registers characteristic of capella singing. With an Indian raga as a base or revising work chants of the Anglosaxon tradition, her voice starts at the ancestral wisdom cultivated for centures in order to define a unique style that we can easily identify and that it seems to search for a vocal purity, taking into account that there is no instrument as complex and perfect as the human voice.

India, tradition in transition

India, Diaspora

Since she premiered on the musical scene with the album “Qareen” (Triple Earth, 1987), Najma Akhtar’s work (Chemsford, United Kingdom, 1962) has moved around different fields. An important part of her professional activity has been distinguished for an elegant combination of elements taken from western jazz and Indostanic classical ghazal.

Najma “Forbidden Kiss” Shanachie, 1996

In fact, she is usually considered a pioneer that has created a field in this way and has inspired young authors that have created compositions especially for her. This, however, has never avoided Najma (the artistic she is known with) to make approaches to genres such as Indian traditional music or Anglosaxon folk and to collaborate with outstanding characters of western music such as Robert Plant and Jimmy Page (members of the legendary band Led Zeppelin) or the guitarist Gary Lucas (together in 2009 they made the excellent album “Rishte”, edited by World Village). Within the framework of this work line we find “Forbidden Kiss”, a project that Najma made with Chris Rael, guitarist of the fusion Indo-psychodelic band Church of Betty, and Brian Woodbury, a New York composer with great interest in Indian films. Together they planned this tribute to S.D. Burman, one of the most important composers of the first period of Bollywood and who can be compared to George Gershwin or Irving Berlin in the west. The album, entirely made by North American musicians, seems surprisingly close to the sound of the time, without stopping to be new. An important part of the merit falls on the exquisite and delicate voice of Najma, excellent in the balance she has with the high pitched registers that characterize the Indian films’ songs. The different instrumentalists that took part in this adventure (a total of 13) who worked for two years to adapt their personal styles to a very specific aesthetic and that are displayed in songs such as “Piya tu ab to aaja”, “Aaj ki raat”, “Thandi hawaon ne” or “Piya tose”.

India, tradition in transition

India, Diaspora

During the years of the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st, the hunters of tendencies placed their look on the musical scene that the children of Asian emigrants had developed in cities such as London, Bristol or Birmingham.

Nitin Sawhney “Beyond Skin” Outcaste Records, 1999

Among all the artists we discovered, one of those who achieved a higher recognition was Nitin Sawhney (Dulwich, United Kingdom, 1964), thanks to the perfect equation of instrumental atmospheres of trip-hop or jazz, vocal flavours of evident Asian origin and texts that without being controversial, offered a clear political position. Sawhney managed to translate all this apparent puzzle into songs that are distinguished for the different layers it defines and overlaps as the minutes move on. After beginning as a composer for television and working as a musician together with James Taylor, Talvin Singh or Gilles Peterson, he premiered as a soloist in 1993 with “Spirit Dance”, a recording he published with his own label. But it was during his period with the record label Outcaste Records when he completely developed his musical ideas. Under the coverage of the London label he published three albums: “Migration” (1995), “Displacing the Priest” (1996) and “Beyond Skin” (1999). This last one is an exciting work that, as well as launching an explicit peaceful message in many of its lyrics (the poem “Now I'm Become Death” by J. Robert Oppenheimer is highlighted, creator of the atomic bomb, recited by Edward Murrow as the conclusion of the album) that breathes the particular concept of sonorous construction that Sawhney is identified with. Here the intense spiritual voices of the party Rizwan Muazam Qawwali Group in “Homelands” or Swati Natekar in “Nadia”, the suggestive trip-pop that is outlined in “Letting go” or the evident influence of sensual jazz marked in “Tides”, pieces that are sustained in nice and accessible melodies that come and go from the East to the West without losing its identity or clearness.

India, tradition in transition

India, Diaspora

London, summer of 1993. Like every year, the rooms of the youth centres of the city host many different kinds of workshops. In the neighbourhood of Farringdon one is organised especially addressed to Indostanic origin young people with musical technology as the purpose.

Asian Dub Foundation “Community Music” London Records, 2000

The tutours of this course are Aniruddha Das, an energic bass player and John Pandit, social worker and outstanding Dj. Among the students, a 14 year old stands out, Deeder Zaman, who surprises everyone for his powerful rapper flow. Soon after ending the course, the three of them decide to start up a sound system called Asian Dub Foundation.

In 1994 the trio becomes a complete band when Steve Chandra Savale joins, guitars, and Sanjay Gulabhai Tailor, programmes. Together they develop a surprising project that mixes guitar melodies inspired in the sound of the zither, bass lines that turn to darkest dub and funk, contundent electronic rhythms and traditional flavours captured from their parents’ albums.All this seasoned with an explicit socio-political commitment shown with their lyrics and public declarations. Six years later (Deeder Zaman leaves the band at the end of 2000 to go back to his work as a street educator), this quintet develops the most successful and consistent work of those who appear in the scene of Asian Underground, achieving a first creative summit with this “Community Music”. From the first rhythms of “Real Great Britain” to the contudent remix of “Taa Deem” (a classic of the great Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan), going through “New Way, New Life”, “Rebel Warrior” or “Collective Mode”, the album collects and transmits the energy that Asian Dub Foundation has always offered at its concerts. As a final curiosity, “community music” is the expression used in English to refer to social action projects developed through music, projects the members of Asian Dub Foundation are still linked to.

Recommendations

India, Diaspora

> Anoushka Shankar, “Live at Carnegie Hall”, Angel Records, 2001 The Shankar dynasty continues with the daughter of a master who with this recording made in the mythical New York venue, presented itself from the most classical format (zither, tabla and tanpura) before launching more contemporary proposals. > Dhol Foundation, “Big Drum, Small World”, Shakti, 2001 Johnny Kalsi, percussionist of Afro Celt Sound System and collaborator of an endless amount of projects of the British scene, started up this electro-organic bhangra project that combines the rhythm of dhol drums with samplers and programmes. > Talvin Singh, “Ok”, Island Records, 1998 Combining its classical formation as a table interpreter and its link to the scene of London electronics, Singh has developed an intense artistic career that adopts elements from both sides and finds in this album one of his most vibrant points. > Tapan Bhattacharya, “Traditional Music from North India”, Several Records, 1996 Settled in Spain since 1990, Tapan Bhattacharya is one of the main people in charge of spreading Indian music among us. Here he is accompanied by Shyamal Nath, one of the last masters of the most classical sarod.

Musical Routes

> Tj Rehmi, “Invisible Rain”, Shakti, 2001 In another version of fusion of Asian and western sounds, this well-known musician and producer proposes an encounter between the zither and keyboards, between Sufi chants and electronic rhythms to be danced to.

India, tradition in transition

India, compilations

In the broad scene of the music of the world, compilations always play an important role, for neophits, who search for approaching an artist, a style or a country and for beginners who want to deepen into a field that they start to get to know.

What is true is that so many things happen in the planet (and even more in music, an artistic discipline in constant and fortunate movement) that it is imposible to know about all of them. And it is never too much to listen to the advice of those who know about it, just as we do when we search for the best guide before going on a trip. But so the musical selection turns into a really useful tool, we must demand at least two elements that seen essential: certain coherence in the repertoire (not everything works) and broad information in the booklets included to go to the sources if we decide to move another step. Under this, in this section you will find discographic editions that will allow you to move around the broad waters of the music we now present.

Musical Routes

India, tradition in transition

India, compilations

Even though it consists of a historical compilation of different styles and artists, from north and south India, which back then (the original edition goes back to 1962) marked a point of inflection in the presence of Indian music in the west, the main character of this anthology is the ethno-musician Alain Daniélou, name given to this phonoteque of Casa Asia not by chance. He was born in 1907 (Neuilly-sur-Seine, France) in the bosom of a family with a strong artistic sensitivity, young Daniélou was soon interested in musical traditions of the different cultures of the planet.

Several artists “Anthology of Indian Classical Music / A tribute to Alain Daniélou” Auvidis, 1997

He travelled to Indoa for the first time in 1932, settling in Varanasi give years later to begin his veena studies (Carnatic tradition string instrument), Hindi and Sanskrit. For ten years he was the director of the Music School of the Hindu University of Varanasi, position that gave him access to many manuscripts about the theory of Indian classical music.

Daniélou, who always defended an approach to Asian music from the value of aesthetic beauty more than a scientific interest (often called “colonialist cultural attitude”), travelled all around the continent in the sixties making field recordings in countries such as Laos, Afghanistan or Japan. This giant process recollector, made with the support of Unesco, has initiated during the previous decade in his beloved India and this triple album (originally a box of six LP’s) could be considered his first contribution. The continuous improvements in the recording processes, the figure of the author as the star of the discographic work and the current facilities to approach us to these sonorities have taken this kind of editions to a second plan. But for many years this antology was an essential tool for those who wanted to approach Indian classical music, if they were musicians, academics or fans. And the reasons are several: first recordings published in Europe by artists such as Ravi Shankar or Ali Akbar Khan, apparition of unique characters of Indian music such as D.R. Parvatikar, interpretations of purity that suggest a trip in time and inside notes (in English and French) which are more that recommended. Alain Daniélou died in the Swiss city Lonay in 1994 and the reedition of its legendary anthology in CD served to vindicate and recover his work and memory.

India, tradition in transition

India, compilations

There was a time, before these times of economic globalisation, digital communication and air fares with amusing prices, when the task of ethno-musicians (and their fieldwork) was comparable to those of great discoverers.

Several artists “Ganga, les musiques du Gange” Virgin Classics, 1998

They travelled around the workd searching for people that kept the traditional repertoire that defined a culture in their heads. Challenging the technical and practical difficulties it involved, they carried kilos and kilos of material with which they carried out their recordings in situ. And they ran the risk of facing the political powers that many times didn’t like the presence of a foreigner in their lands. As a capital figure of those musical travellers we find Alan Lomax (19152002), maybe the best known and proliphic among all of them, essential character whose work has allowed us to get to know music that, in any other way, would be lost forever. Inheritor of the thought and practice of this kind of musical enthusiasts, the French Xavier Bellenger, established a challenge at the end of the 20th century: to record the music that can be listened to following the course of the Ganges reiver, from the Himalayas to the Gulf of Bengala. Stubborn and constant, Bellenger completed a project that was shaped in three CDs that suggest the different stages of the trip: from the Himalayas to Varanasi, from Varanasi to Jahangira and from Patna to Calcutta. Sacred river par excellence, the route of the Ganges is splashed with Buddhist mantras, Vedic chants or devotional rites. But the Ganges is also the river that accompanies the everyday life of millions of Indians and this is what the wedding or works songs transmit, as well as the melodies of the snake charmers or the energic rhythms of the dhol drums. The result is a very interesting and varied musical tryptic that reflects a sonorous universe of multiple faces and that, when focusing attention on the most popular, it complements the anthology of classical music made forty years before by Alain Daniélou.

India, tradition in transition

India, compilations

Much more interesting than its successful compilations linked to the Paris Buddha Bar, the French label Wagram proposed a risky exercise with this compilation that, in its subtitle (“Traditional & New vibes”), explained its intention: to offer the two sides of music made in India or inspired by its spirit.

Several artists “Spirit of India, vol. II” Wagram, 2000

As it normally happens in these cases, those most bothered could say that the purpose is too ambicious and that the selection presents some gaps (unavoidable, on the other hand, due to the physical limitations a CD involves). However, in favour of “Spirit of India” it can be highlighted that the achievement of a double album is great, with traditional proposals on one side and new tendencies on another. In total, thirty artists among which we find certain names already highlighted in the two musical guides Casa Asia Media Library has devoted to India (Ravi Shankar, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Sheila Chandra, Asian Dub Foundation...) and that serve so the selection has an interesting leven from the beginning. Among the proposals that can surprise we come across the percussionist Trilok Gurtu (who opens the repertoire of the traditional album with the song “Milo”), the singer Lakshmi Shankar (well known interpreter of the classical vocal repertoire) or the band Transglobal Underground (here the powerful remix of “Ali Mullah” is included, this particular tribute paid to Natacha Atlas and the Rajasthani Musafir). Those with a good auditive and televisive memory will find “Mathar (Discovery of India Mix)”, song of Indian Vibes that served as a soundtrack for a car advertisement and that thanks to that, archieved certain repercussion. With all these ingredients, beyond the disconcerting presence of certain songs (the Brasilian approach of Badmarsh in “Let it roll”, the pure drum and pass of Sangomas in “Siya Dengelela Kgonyama”), “Spirit of India” is a good opportunity to carry out an eclectic trip to Indian music.

India, tradition in transition

India, compilations

We all know that such a vast and populated place with so much history as India can only be the home of an enormous musical variety: of nice songs for Bollywood films to model systems of instrumental music, going through the energy of the most popular manifestations of the extreme sensitivity of the forms of classical singing.

Several artists “The Rough Guide to the Music of India” World Music Network, 2002

If we add productivity to the variety, we come across many possibilities that seem impossible to fit in one album. But this reference of the series “The Rough Guide” becomes another great work, especially recommended for those who already have a reference of Indian music. Because, surprise, among the thirteen chosen artists we will not find essential classics such as Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Hariprasad Chaurasia or Alla Rakha. It seems as if Ken Hunt, the author of the compilation, would have wanted to focus on young artists, despite the fact that two legendary voices of Indian films are Asha Boshle and Hemant Kumar who open and close respectively the album with “Aaj Ki Raat”, a song of the film “Anamika” (Raghunath Jalani, 1973), and “Sun Ja Dil Ki Dastaan”, from the long film “Jaal” (Guru Dutt, 1952). In a selection effort, Hunt offers us some surprises: a saxophonist, Kadri Gopalnath, revising a classic of the new carnatic repertoire (“Napali Srirama”); the brass energy of the fanfare New Bharat Brass-Band (“Chamil”); a master of percussion, Kamalesh Maitra, able to develop a raga with its table semicircle (“Dehati”); the evoking ability of the traditional culture that transmits Bapi das Baul (“Vhaba Pare”). And so the lovers of ragas are not disappointed, the compilation includes two sublime interpretations: “Soja Re”, with Sultan Khan in sarangi and Zakir Hussain on the tabla, and “Bhairav”, with Rais Khan on the zitherand again Sultan Khan on the sarangi.

India, tradition in transition

India, compilations

Following the story that says that the big fish eats the little one, the music from Pakistan (understanding it as the music from the state that is born in 1947) has always been covered by its great neighbour, India.

Several artists â&#x20AC;&#x153;The Rough Guide to the Music of Pakistanâ&#x20AC;?

World Music Network, 2003

And this is despite the fact that both countries share, on the one hand, a recognizable heritage, especially in what we know as classical music from north India and, on the other, a special sensitivity towards ghazal, the romantic musical poetries of Central Asian roots. Before the need to establish their own musical identity, inside and outside its borders, Pakistan has turned to qawwali, the music of the Indostanic Sufi mystics and to the several traditions of Sind, Punjab and Baluchistan, places with a culture that goes back many centuries in time. This way, the stage and artistic strength of the great qawwal Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan has darkened (especially abroad) to the rest of Pakistani artists, situation that nobody has achieved to change when more than ten years have past since the death of the genius from Lahore.

Abida Parveen hasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t achieved it either, present as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in this compilation that serves to discover that there is musical life beyond qawwali. There the gypsies of Sind stand, with the special flavour of their instrumental melodies and their vlocal games, whereas Vital Signs or Faakhir leave samples of an incipent Pakistani pop that comes and goes from Islamabad to London. And if the relevance of the Indian classical music in Pakistani land has been reduced since the partition, ghazal has good health thanks to voices such as Mehdi Hassam and Farida Khanum, which are included in this album with this poetic form of high interpretative difficulty. In total there are twelve artists who make up a selection that, despite the variety of styles, can be listened to in a fluid way, like a well established band that allows to get to know unknown proposals of Pakistani music.

Recommendations

India, compilations

> Several artists, “Chants de palais et de déserts”, Long Distance, 2001 Luxury edition double album (vertical format, inside booklet with photographs and texts in French and English) that allow to go through the beautiful musical art kept by poets, women and children of the Indian region of Rajasthan. > Several artists, “India”, Rounder Records, 2002 This album, which involves a musical trip in time, joins two of the most brilliant minds that world ethno-musicology has given: Alain Daniélou, author of the field recordings, and Alan Lomax, who included this volume in his historical series “World Library of Folk and Primitive Music”. > Several artists, “Instrumental India 2”, Navras Records, 2005 In the second stage of the series “Passage to India” we find this compilation where there are great names such as Vilayat Khan, Shivkumar Sharma, Sultan Khan or Hariprasad Chaurasia. “Traditional India 2”, “Vocal India 2” and “Fusion India 2” are also available at the Media Library. > Several artists, “North Indian Classical Music”, Rounder Records, 1998 Within the framework of the prestigious collection "Anthology of World Music", this volume is made up of four albums that allow to deepen, from the distance, into the basic fundaments of the modes and classical instruments from north India from a high level musical selection and essential texts.

Musical Routes

> Several artists, “The Rough Guide to the Asian underground”, World Music Network, 2003 With a repertoire selected by DJ Ritu, tireless activites of the most eclectic and rupturist London scene, this repertoire places in one album fifteen of the most outstanding stars of the Anglo-Indostanic musical movement (Black Star Liner, Asian Dub Foundation and Fun>Da<Mental, among others).