UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI August 1, 2006 Date:___________________ Lori Ann Kesner I, _________________________________________________________, hereby submit this work as part of the requirements for the degree of:
Doctor of Musical Arts in:
Flute Performance It is entitled:
Krishna Meets Pan: Indian-Western Fusion in Two Works for Flute and Harp
This work and its defense approved by:
bruce d. mcclung Chair: _______________________________ Bradley A. Garner _______________________________
Robert L. Zierolf _______________________________ _______________________________ _______________________________
Krishna Meets Pan: Indian-Western Fusion in Two Works for Flute and Harp by Ravi Shankar and John Mayer
A document submitted to the Division of Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati
in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS
in the Performance Studies Division of the College-Conservatory of Music
2006
by
Lori Ann Kesner
B.M., Ithaca College, 1998 M.M., University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, 2000
Committee Chair: bruce d. mcclung, Ph.D.
ABSTRACT
With a career spanning over six decades, Ravi Shankar has been the seminal figure in the dissemination of Indian classical music to the West. His presentation of Indian music to Western audiences has heightened American interest in and appreciation for Indian music and has resulted in the exportation of thousands of sitars to Western countries. His extensive training in Indian music, coupled with his exposure to Western society, has led to a compositional style that embraces elements of both cultures. Shankar is not the only Indian musician, however, to explore Indian-Western fusion. A less well-known Indian musician who has contributed extensively to this genre is John Mayer, a composer and violinist from Calcutta. More than a decade before the partnership between Yehudi Menuhin and Ravi Shankar at the 1966 Bath Festival, Mayer began composing works that combined these two distinct musics. Shankar’s and Mayer’s careers have many parallels with regard to Indian classical training and exposure to Western society. Both also created their own musical languages for compositions that combine elements of Indian and Western music. However, differences in their biographies have led to divergent approaches to Indian-Western fusion. While learning to compose effectively in this new genre, both composers were drawn to the combination of the flute and harp as a medium for this expression: Shankar composed L’aube enchantée (The enchanted dawn) in 1976, and Mayer followed with Nava Rasa (Nine moods) in 2003. This document provides a comparative study of L’aube enchantée and Nava Rasa and thereby illustrates the composers’ diverse approaches to Indian-Western fusion. First Indian aspects are explored, followed by Western influences, and finally elements shared by both traditions. In addition, biographical information about Shankar and Mayer demonstrates how the
ii
degree to which they borrowed from each tradition reflects their differences in background and training.
iii
COPYRIGHT NOTICES AND PERMISSIONS
L’AUBE ENCHANTÉE By Ravi Shankar Copyright © 1990 by Editions Henry Lemoine, Paris International Copyright Secured. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission of Theodore Presser Company. NAVA RASA By John Mayer Used by permission of Gillian Mayer. SARGAM FOR SOLO CLARINET By John Mayer Copyright © 1996 by N. Simrock, London In the public domain in the United States. MUSIC IN INDIA: THE CLASSICAL TRADITIONS By Bonnie C. Wade Copyright © 1979 by Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. Used by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ and Bonnie C. Wade.
iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my deepest gratitude to a number of people who have helped me along this journey: to my teacher and mentor Alberto Almarza for inspiring me with his passion for world music and flute, and to my doctoral flute teacher, Dr. Bradley A. Garner, for providing me with the tools to perform the music I love; to José-Luis, for his love, patience, wit, and encouraging words, and to my parents, Nina and Marvin, for their constant support and understanding; to my dear friends Shawn Fenton, Julie Schlafer, and James Jacobson, whose encouragement, humor, and guidance have proven invaluable; to Gillian Mayer, for her time, insight, and dedication to this endeavor; and finally, a special thanks to my advisor, Dr. bruce d. mcclung, whose strong commitment to excellence and dedication to this project have helped make it a reality.
v
CONTENTS
LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES...................................................................................
2
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS............................................................................................
4
INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................
6
Chapter 1.
RAVI SHANKAR AND JOHN MAYER..................................................
10
Family Background........................................................................
10
Musical Beginnings........................................................................
12
Early Career....................................................................................
15
Later Career: Success and Its Complications.................................
19
2.
L’AUBE ENCHANTÉE...............................................................................
35
3.
NAVA RASA................................................................................................
57
4.
CONCLUSION...........................................................................................
83
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY..........................................................................................
99
1
MUSICAL EXAMPLES Example
Page
1.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, 1.1………………………………………...…
37
2.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 9, m. 7 (flute part only)….….
38
3.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 8, m. 6….…...…………….....
38
4.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 24, mm. 5–7 (flute part only).
39
5.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 25, mm. 9–11 (flute part only)
39
6a.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, 1.4 (flute part only)…………………………
40
6b.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, 2.1 (harp part only)…………………………
40
6c.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 4, m. 4 (flute part only)……..
40
6d.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 12, m. 4 (flute part only)…....
40
6e.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 8, m. 4 (flute part only)……..
40
6f.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 13, m. 12 (harp part only)…..
40
6g.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 22, m. 8 (flute part only)……
41
7.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 8, m. 6……………………….
42
8.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 7, mm. 8–10…………………
42
9.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 8, m. 1 (harp part only)……...
44
10.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 11, m. 7……………………...
45
11.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 12, mm. 8–9…………………
45
12.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 4, m. 1 (harp part only)……..
46
13.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 24, mm. 4–5 (harp part only)
46
14.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 9, m. 1 (harp part only)……..
46
15.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 6, mm. 4–5 (harp part only)....
46
2
16a.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, 1.3 (harp part only)……..…………………..
47
16b.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, 3.1 (harp part only)……..…………………..
47
17.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 4, m. 1 (harp part only)……..
52
18.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal Nos. 19–20………………..……..
52
19.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 7, mm. 1–2………………..…
53
20.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 11, mm. 4–5…………...….…
53
21.
Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 14, mm. 9–12 (harp part only)
56
22.
Mayer, Nava Rasa, I. Adbhuta, mm. 11–12 (flute part only)……..…........
63
23.
Mayer, Nava Rasa, VII. Karuna, mm. 1–6….........................................…
66
24.
Mayer, Nava Rasa, II. Hasya, mm. 1–3 (harp part only)……..…..............
67
25.
Mayer, Nava Rasa, IX. Rudra, mm. 1–3 (harp part only)……..…….........
67
26a.
Mayer, Nava Rasa, I. Adbhuta, mm. 8–10 (flute part only)……................
72
26b.
Mayer, Nava Rasa, I. Adbhuta, mm. 13–15 (harp part only)……..…........
72
27.
Mayer, Nava Rasa, IV. Shanta, 10.1...................................................……
73
28.
Mayer, Nava Rasa, IX. Rudra, mm. 3–5…...........................................…..
74
29a.
Mayer, Nava Rasa, III. Shringar, mm. 1–3 (harp part only)……..………
77
29b.
Mayer, Nava Rasa, III. Shringar, mm. 7–9 (harp part only)……...............
77
30.
Mayer, Nava Rasa, VI. Vira, mm. 23–26…................................................
78
31.
Mayer, Nava Rasa, IX. Rudra, mm. 6–7 (flute part only)……..….............
80
32.
Mayer, Nava Rasa, IX. Rudra, mm. 1–3 (harp part only)……..…….........
81
33.
Mayer, Sargam for solo clarinet, IX. Raga Nata, mm. 1–9…....................
93
34.
Mayer, Nava Rasa, II. Hasya, mm. 1–12 (flute part only)……..……........
94
3
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure 1.
Page Wade, Music in India: The Classical Traditions, 51...................................
4
47
The harp and the flute, both in India and the West, often seem the most ethereal of instruments. In India, the god Krishna plays a flute, and Saraswati—goddess of the arts—plays the veena, India’s equivalent to the harp; in the West, we have Pan’s pipes, Apollo’s lyre, and the harps and trumpets of the angels. In all cultures, the flute and harp are two of the most ancient instruments, and the two most symbolic of art itself. William Radice, Art as a Bridge
INTRODUCTION
Combining elements of Indian and Western music has become quite common in the last quarter-century. Due in part to its relative isolation geographically, Indian music has maintained many of its characteristic traditions. At the same time, Indian music has also assimilated outside influences. For example, the prevalence of Islam in the north of India contributed secular vocal music, as well as instruments such as the santoor and shennai. In addition, the incorporation of the clarinet, saxophone, violin, and harmonium into Indian music can be attributed to the British colonial occupation. It has only been in more recent years, however, that composers have attempted to fuse elements of Indian and Western musical traditions beyond the adoption of new instruments. Any study of Indian-Western fusion of classical musics must necessarily involve a consideration of Ravi Shankar. Perhaps the seminal figure in the dissemination of Indian classical music to the West, Shankar’s career has spanned over six decades. His presentation of Indian music to Western audiences has heightened American interest in and appreciation for Indian music and has resulted in the exportation of thousands of sitars to Western countries. His extensive training in Indian music, coupled with his exposure to Western society, led to a compositional style that embraces elements of both cultures. Ravi Shankar is not the only Indian musician, however, to embrace the genre of IndianWestern fusion. Others, such as the classical tabla master Zakir Hussain, have collaborated with
6
Western artists and produced albums of East-West fusion. 1 A less well-known Indian musician who has contributed extensively to Indian-Western fusion is John Mayer, a composer and violinist from Calcutta. As explained in a memorial piece that appeared in the News Telegraph, the internet version of London’s Daily Telegraph: Mayer had been writing music that blended Western and Indian musical styles since the early 1950s, and his ideas for what is now known as “crossover” music were way ahead of say, the famous collaboration between Yehudi Menuhin and Ravi Shankar at the Bath Festival in 1966, and the wider exploration of Indian music led by the Beatles. 2 Shankar’s and Mayer’s careers have many parallels with regard to Indian classical training and exposure to Western society. Both also created their own musical languages for compositions that combine elements of Indian and Western music. However, differences in their biographies have led to divergent approaches to Indian-Western fusion in their compositions. Shankar and Mayer both experimented with various combinations of Indian and Western instruments in their compositions. Shankar’s Morning Love, for example, is scored for Boehm concert flute (henceforth, flute), sitar, and tabla, and Mayer’s Sri Krishna incorporates flute, alto flute, piano, harpsichord, and tanpura. Both composers scored a work for flute and harp: Shankar composed L’aube enchantée (The enchanted dawn) in 1976, and Mayer followed with Nava Rasa (Nine moods) in 2003. This document provides a comparative study of L’aube enchantée and Nava Rasa and thereby illustrates the composers’ diverse approaches to Indian-Western fusion. First the Indian influences will be explored, followed by the Western influences, and finally the elements shared by both traditions. In addition, biographical information on Shankar and Mayer will help 1
Zakir Hussain, Making Music, ECM Records 1349, 1987, compact disc.
2
Andrew McKeith, ed., “John Mayer,” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main. jhtml?xml=/news/2004/03/20/db2002.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/03/20/ixportal.html, accessed 29 August 2005. 7
illustrate how the degree to which they borrowed from each tradition reflects their differences in background and training. Literature on Ravi Shankar is abundant in the form of documentaries (Raga, 3 Pandit Ravi Shankar: The Man and His Music, 4 and In Portrait 5 ), biographies and autobiographies. Shankar wrote My Music, My Life in 1968, a Bengali-language autobiography titled Raag Anurag in 1978, and his most comprehensive life history, Raga Mala, in 1999. 6 More recently, his daughter Anoushka wrote Bapi: The Love of My Life. 7 Although Shankar’s career has been well-documented, scant information specifically about L’aube enchantée is available. In fact, Shankar devotes only a brief paragraph to the work in Raga Mala. Liner notes to recordings appear to provide the only published descriptions of this piece; however, Ruey Shyang Yen dedicated a chapter of his doctoral thesis, “Exoticism in Modern Guitar Music: Works of Carlo Domeniconi, Ravi Shankar, Benjamin Britten, and Dusan Bogdanovic,” to Aussel and Valade’s flute and guitar transcription of L’aube enchantée. 8
3
Raga, prod. and dir. Howard Worth, 96 min., Mystic Fire Video, 1971, videocassette.
4
Pandit Ravi Shankar: The Man and His Music, prods. Anne Schelcher and Pascal Bensoussan and dir. Nicolas Klotz, 60 min., Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1994, videocassette. 5
Ravi Shankar in Portrait, prod. and dir. Mark Kidel, 190 min., Opus Arte, 2002, DVD.
6
Ravi Shankar, My Music, My Life (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968); idem, Raag Anurag (Calcutta: Ananda, 1980); and idem, Raga Mala: The Autobiography of Ravi Shankar, edited and with an introduction by George Harrison (New York: Welcome Rain, 1999). 7
Anoushka Shankar, Bapi: The Love of My Life (New Delhi: Roli Books, 2002).
8
Ruey Shyang Yen, “Exoticism in Modern Guitar Music: Works of Carlo Domeniconi, Ravi Shankar, Benjamin Britten, and Dusan Bogdanovic” (D.M.A. thesis, Arizona State University, 1996), 31–49.
8
Biographical information about John Mayer is not as readily available as that for Shankar. John O. Robison, Associate Professor of Musicology at the University of Southern Florida, conducted interviews with Mayer in 1996, 1998, and 2000. James Methuen Campbell also interviewed Mayer, but no source or date of his interview records exist. 9 In spite of these interviews, many of the details of Mayer’s career remain undocumented. Sparser still is the information regarding Nava Rasa. Sadly, John Mayer died after being struck by a car a little more than a year after the première of this work. Nava Rasa has never been recorded, and a short review in the World Harp Congress Review along with the program notes from the première provide the only published information about the piece. As both L’aube enchantée and Nava Rasa draw upon elements of the Indian tradition, it is necessary to introduce the specific Indian tradition that is being fused with Western elements. There are two primary classical musical traditions that exist in India: the Hindustani tradition associated with the North, and the Karnatak tradition associated with the South. This geographical division, along with differing histories and religious associations, has created some differences in these relatively similar musical traditions. The Karnatak tradition is the older of the two and is allied closely with the tenets of Hinduism. Trade with and conquest by the Arab world led to the emergence of Hindustani music, with its strong Islamic influence, in the tenth century. Hindustani music encompasses a tradition in which lineages, or gharanas, protect the trade secrets of their musical heritage. As Ravi Shankar and John Mayer both belonged to gharanas from the North, the Indian elements in these two works are taken primarily from the Hindustani tradition and will serve as the basis for much of the analysis that follows.
9
John O. Robison, “The Music of John Mayer: An Intercultural Composer from India,” Intercultural Music 5 (2003): 182. 9
CHAPTER 1 RAVI SHANKAR AND JOHN MAYER
Family Background Born in the holy city of Varanasi on 7 April 1920, Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury (Ravi) was the youngest of five surviving sons of Hemangini Devi and Shyam Shankar. Growing up in a religious Hindu family, Ravi was constantly drawing pictures of Indian gods and goddesses in their various incarnations. The Shankars were Brahmins, members of the Hindu system’s highest caste; however, money was often tight. In fact, Hemangini, while estranged from her husband, was forced to pawn her jewelry and expensive saris to support her family. She charitably forfeited her meals when food was scarce so that her sons could eat. 1 As Ravi approached his eighth birthday he met his father, a former minister in service of the Maharaja of Jhalawar, for the first time at a hotel in Benares. Including this two-week meeting, father and son shared less than a month of their lives together. 2 A learned man, Shyam Shankar was a scholar in Sanskrit and philosophy as well as a musician of some proficiency who sang dhrupad (a grand vocal compositional style popular from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries) and hymns from the Vedas. When Shyam left the Maharaja’s service he went to London, taking his oldest son, Uday, with him. Twenty years Ravi’s senior, Uday was an aspiring young artist who left India in 1920 with his father to begin his studies in painting at the Royal College of Art in London. After
1
Anoushka Shankar, Bapi, 20.
2
Shankar, Raga Mala, 25 and 48. 10
famed ballerina Anna Pavlova discovered him dancing in an experimental production of Indian ballet that he also choreographed, Uday’s career took a sudden turn toward the stage. He returned to India in 1929 with the objective of assembling a troupe of Indian dancers and musicians to tour with him in the West. It was then that he and Ravi saw each other for the first time. 3 Uday was to have an undeniable influence on Ravi’s life. The last of four children, John Mayer was born on 28 October 1930 in the impoverished Chandni Chawk section of Calcutta. His father, Wilfred Mayer, was an Anglo-Indian dock worker whose ancestors emigrated from Germany in the middle of the eighteenth century. Though of German descent, several generations of intermarrying with Indian people resulted in the reduction of his German heritage to no more than 3%. John’s mother, Mary Michael, was a Tamil- and Telagu-speaking South Indian woman from Madras. 4 Raised a Roman Catholic, John’s strong religious convictions influenced him throughout his life. He often composed with pictures of the Virgin Mary and the Last Supper hanging over his desk. In contrast to the priestly caste to which the Shankars belonged, the Mayers’ was much lower. At the age of six, John began studying at St. George’s Free Catholic School for boys from poorer classes of Indian society. The threat of starvation was often grave, and John frequently waited for food parcels at local churches. These dire circumstances inspired John to excel so that he could escape from his surroundings. Music was to become his salvation.
3
Ibid., 30.
4
Robison, “The Music of John Mayer,” 147–48. 11
Musical Beginnings Fulfilling his dream of bringing an Indian dance troupe to the West, Uday uprooted Ravi; his other brothers Rajendra and Debendra; their mother, Hemangini; and a number of other family members in 1930 and moved them to Paris, Europe’s cultural capital at the time. According to Shankar’s disciple Stephen Slawek, “There and in extensive world tours until 1938 he [Ravi] came to know and hear many of the great composers and musicians of the time, experiences which would help him to bridge cultural gaps between India and other nations in his adult years.” 5 The troupe started performing in 1931, and the following year, at the age of twelve, Ravi left his childhood behind and began touring with them. The reputation of the troupe spread as they traveled throughout Europe, performing in France, Switzerland, Italy, England, and a number of other countries. In 1932 the troupe embarked on a concert tour of the United States. They returned there three times, often performing in significant venues such as Carnegie Hall. Ravi’s early contributions to the troupe consisted of singing, dancing, and playing Indian instruments such as the sitar, esraj, sarod, sarangi, and various types of drums. He learned to play these instruments by observation alone as no one took an interest in instructing him at the time. Ravi quickly discovered that, like his eldest brother, he also had a talent for dancing. In 1932 John Martin of the New York Times commended the “little Robindra” on his “fine performance” at the International Dance Festival at the New Yorker Theatre, 6 and at the age of sixteen, Ravi choreographed his first dance, Chitra Sena, in the North Indian Kathak style. For this latter performance, Martin critiqued, “It was characterized by the same sense of personal 5
Stephen Slawek, “Ravi Shankar,” in Grove Music Online, ed. L Macy (Accessed 29 August 2005), . 6
John Martin, “Hindu Dancers Win Plaudits in Debut,” review of Uday Shankar’s Dance Company, New York Times, 27 December 1932, 11. 12
style which has distinguished his roles in the larger numbers, and gave indication that in this young man the company has a highly promising soloist in the making.” 7 The eminent sarod player Ustad Allaudin Khan joined the troupe in 1934, and Ravi began studying sitar and voice with him shortly thereafter. While studying with Khan, the troupe promoted Ravi to the rank of solo dancer, thus sparking his uncertainty in choosing between a concentration in sitar or dance. In May 1938, with Europe preparing for war, the troupe returned to India, no longer able to continue touring. It was then that Shankar decided to abandon his materialistic lifestyle and concentrate on his study of the sitar. He moved into a house adjacent to that of Ustad Allaudin Khan in the town of Maihar and became the revered teacher’s disciple. “Taking a guru was the biggest decision of my life,” Shankar reflected. “It demanded absolute surrender, years of fanatical dedication and discipline.” 8 Sometimes playing as many as eighteen hours per day, Shankar studied with Khan for nearly seven years. During that time he not only learned the techniques of the sitar, but also those of other Indian stringed instruments, including the surbahar, bin, and rebab. Although Khan treated Shankar with more kindness than he afforded his own son, the legendary Ali Akbar, Shankar was often terrified by the hot-tempered man. “He was a tyrant absolutely, and I was frightened of him. Now I thank God for bringing me to Baba [Khan]. What he gave me is all my life.” 9 While Shankar’s concert life immersed him in music at a young age, Mayer grew up in a family where musical training was unprecedented. Working as a servant for an English family,
7
John Martin, “Shankar Dancers Open Season Here,” review of Uday Shankar’s Dance Company, New York Times, 16 December 1937, 35. 8
Howard Worth, Raga, videocassette.
9
Ibid.
13
John’s great aunt one day came across an unstrung violin that the family was not using. After she offered to pay for the instrument by having money deducted from her salary, the family gave the violin to her free of charge, along with a set of strings that she otherwise could not afford. The great aunt then presented the instrument to John, who had showed interest in music from a young age. 10 At seven Mayer began studying the violin with a man he referred to as Uncle Henry. 11 Although Henry was an Indian man, the lessons he gave Mayer were in the Western style. Within two years Mayer tapped all of Uncle Henry’s musical resources and began looking for another teacher. Owing to his mother’s insistence, Mayer finally played for the French violinist Philippe Sandre, founder of the Calcutta School of Music. Sandre accepted Mayer, but his status remained that of an unofficial student, as he could not afford the tuition. Mayer began his study of Indian music at the age of thirteen or fourteen with the Bengali violinist Sanathan Mukerjee. In contrast to Shankar’s traditional gurukula training with Khan, Mayer’s lessons with Mukerjee were more akin to Western private instruction. Although he studied ragas and talas with Mukerjee, Mayer never fully concerned himself with the emotional aspect of the ragas. After several interviews with Mayer, John Robison attributed this impersonal approach to the ragas to his upbringing: “Mayer, having been born into an impoverished caste in Indian society, never felt the same emotional attachment to a raga that an upper-caste classical Indian musician might.” 12
10
Robison, “The Music of John Mayer,” 148.
11
Gillian Mayer, interview by author, telephone interview, 14 January 2006. According to Gillian, if Uncle Henry was actually John’s relative, he was a distant one. In India it is common to use the title “aunt” and “uncle” for close friends as well as for blood relatives. 12
Robison, “The Music of John Mayer,” 168. 14
Like Shankar, Mayer was also forced to grow up quickly. He left St. George’s Free Catholic School at fifteen to support his family. With his father temporarily unable to work due to the Japanese blockade in the Bay of Bengal, Mayer took odd jobs with his violin. In nightclubs, churches, and theaters, he played solo violin, and at the Grand Hotel he performed with a string quartet. In response to his mother’s complaint about him playing for Protestant churches, he once countered that for fifty rupees he would play for the devil. 13 Whereas an Indian dance troupe first brought Shankar to Europe, for Mayer it was his Western classical training that bought him his ticket out of the slums of Calcutta and eventually to the West. Upon Sandre’s insistence, Mayer left the Calcutta School of Music at seventeen and continued his Western musical studies on the violin with Mehli Mehta in Bombay. Encouraged by Mehta to compete in a young artists’ competition sponsored by the Bombay Madrigal Singers, Mayer won with his performance of Brahms’s Violin Concerto. The prize was a scholarship to study violin at the Royal Academy of Music in London. 14
Early Career In December 1939, only a year-and-a-half after his arrival in Maihar, Shankar performed his debut sitar recital at the Allahabad Music Conference. The success of this early performance paved the road for a solo career that has spanned nearly seven decades. In 1940 Shankar, who at this time began going by the name Ravi, started traveling to Lucknow to play shows over AllIndia Radio that helped to bolster his career. He decided to leave All-India Radio and Khan in 13
Ken Hunt, “John Mayer: Composer Who Creatively Fused Indian and Western Music,” http://www.guardian .co.uk/arts/news/obituary/0,12723,1168517,00.html, accessed 10 November 2005. 14
Robison, “The Music of John Mayer,” 149–50.
15
1944 to pursue new professional activities in Bombay. Joining the Indian Communist Party’s Indian People’s Theatre Association the following year, Shankar had his first experience with stage production and film work, a setting in which he felt at ease due to his early apprenticeship in stagecraft, set design, and showmanship with Uday. In this environment Shankar began scoring music for ballets, his first being India Immortal, and films such as Children of the Earth and The City Below. With his film scoring Shankar moved beyond the typical Indian style of the day that relied heavily on Western instrumentation. The sitar virtuoso’s compositions for the stage at this time primarily incorporated Indian instruments (another byproduct of his association with Uday) with the occasional addition of clarinet, violin, and ’cello. As the IPTA gradually fell prey to Communist propaganda, Shankar felt suffocated artistically and left in 1946. He moved to Borivli, a suburb of Bombay, and formed an intimate group of artists backed by the Indian National Theatre. He worked on a production of The Discovery of India, based on Pandit Nehru’s book, until support for it eventually ended. Just as circumstances often forced Mayer to use his violin as a vehicle to make money, Shankar also found it necessary at this point in his career to play the sitar to generate more income. Though he preferred to play for music circles comprised of an educated audience, Shankar also agreed to play background music at private functions of the wealthy, which, although less enjoyable, were more profitable. Working long hours while barely making ends meet, Shankar felt desperate enough at this time to formulate a suicide plan. 15 Just days before he was to throw himself under a train, the great yogi Tat Baba stopped by Shankar’s home. Passing up a lucrative performance to entertain the spiritual master, Tat Baba assured Shankar
15
Shankar, My Music, My Life, 77. 16
that he would be compensated many times over for missing this engagement, words that were to prove prophetic. Within months of his encounter with Tat Baba, All-India Radio offered the twenty-eightyear-old Shankar the prestigious position of Director of Music for the External Services Division of All-India Radio. Shankar accepted and moved to Delhi where he worked from 1949 until 1956, switching after three years to the Home Services Division. It was during this second post that Shankar founded the chamber orchestra Vādya Vrinda and became the group’s composerconductor. Moving beyond Uday’s preference for Indian instruments, Shankar mixed some Western instruments into his ensemble. He also infused elements of Western classical music, jazz, and flamenco into his compositions, combining them with traditional Indian music. During his tenure with All-India Radio, Shankar continued concertizing throughout India and composing film music. His scores for Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali and Tapan Sinha’s Kabuliwala established his reputation as a composer, the latter earning him the title Best Film Music Director of the Year at the Berlin Film Festival in 1957. 16 Accompanied by forty dancers and musicians, Shankar embarked on his first tour of Russia. It was during this two-month tour with the Indian cultural delegation that Shankar had the opportunities to meet Dmitry Shostakovich and Aram Khachaturian. While performing one day for a largely Western audience at his friend Louis de San’s house, Shankar decided to explain the basic concepts of Indian music to the group before proceeding with his recital. The audience, grateful for his introduction to this “foreign” music, encouraged Shankar to share these traditions with other Westerners. Optimistic about this possibility and driven by a desire to change the negative image of Indian music as repetitive and
16
Shankar, Raga Mala, 126. 17
uninteresting, Shankar longed for the chance to take his music to the West. This opportunity finally presented itself in 1956. With his scholarship from the Indian government, Mayer began his violin studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1952. Not long after his arrival there, he began forging a new career path in composition, immediately becoming aware of the difficulties of promoting himself as an Indian composer in the West. This obstacle did not quell Mayer’s ambition to compose, instead motivating him to study composition more seriously. In addition to his curriculum at the Royal Academy of Music, Mayer studied composition privately with Mátyás Seiber, a former student of Béla Bartók. It was Seiber’s objective to bring Mayer’s knowledge of Western music up that of his native Indian music. In five years as Mayer’s teacher, the Hungarian composer guided his pupil in a comparative study of Eastern and Western musical cultures and also introduced him to the twelve-tone compositional technique. This training culminated in Mayer’s creation of a musical language for Indian-Western fusion. Features of this style included the melding of Indian instruments and techniques with Western form and orchestration. One of the first pieces to utilize this new style was his Raga Music for Solo Clarinet, which combined Hindustani ragas with Western performance techniques. In 1954 after only two years of study, the Royal Academy of Music dismissed Mayer because of financial issues. He had already depleted his scholarship money, which was intended to cover the full four years of study. Typically, parents provide for travel between India and the Academy, however Mayer’s parents could not afford this expense, and he was forced to deduct it from his scholarship funds. Once again, Mayer’s social class and economic circumstances
18
returned to plague him. Fortunately, the young violinist auditioned successfully for the London Philharmonic Orchestra, thereby beginning his professional career as an orchestral musician. Not only did the London Philharmonic employ Mayer as a member of the string section, they ended up commissioning a few of his compositions, including Concerto for Orchestra. Despite his dual contribution, the LPO asked Mayer to leave after five years. The exact reasons for his dismissal are somewhat uncertain. Record producer Robin Broadbank attributed it to the fact that the orchestra was uncomfortable with a composer in its midst; however, his third wife, Gillian, later admitted that Mayer was dedicating most of his energy at the time to composing rather than practicing. Ironically, the week after he was released Sir Adrian Boult led the orchestra in a performance of one of Mayer’s pieces. In the same year as his departure from the LPO, Mayer began a successful association as composer with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Under the baton of Charles Groves, the orchestra premièred his Dance Suite, which united the Indian sitar, tabla, and tambura with flute and orchestra. This pivotal composition helped boost his compositional career, sparking subsequent commissions with such venerated ensembles as the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields and the London Symphony Orchestra. Later that year Sir Thomas Beecham hired Mayer as a violinist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. After seven years Mayer left the RPO in 1965, relieved to finally forgo orchestral playing in favor of composing.
Later Career: Success and Its Complications Eager to introduce his native music to the West, Shankar’s opportunity presented itself when his first wife, Annapurna, left him in 1956. 17 He quickly resigned from his position with
17
Ibid., 139–40. 19
All-India Radio and set off for his first Western solo tour in October of that year. Accompanied by Chatur Lal on tabla and Nodu Mullick on tambura, Shankar traveled first to London and then to Germany. These early performances generated very little revenue and attracted only a modest audience. He returned to London in November to make his first Western recording, Ravi Shankar Plays Three Classical Ragas, for EMI. 18 The group then initiated their first concert tour of the United States, performing in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and San Francisco before returning to New York to make another recording, this time for Columbia Records. 19 Before returning home to Delhi, the group traveled to Europe in May 1957 for another three-month tour of the Continent. This tour of the West, although not lucrative, provided great exposure and inspired him to further pursue his dream of communicating Indian music to the rest of the world. After taking a delegation of musicians and dancers to Japan in 1958, he toured constantly throughout the United States and Europe, even organizing an eighteen-day tour of China. When not on the road Shankar kept busy with a wide variety of projects. After his first Western tour, for example, he worked on a musical production titled Melody and Rhythm, a large-scale work for orchestra, chorus, and soloists that portrayed the entire history of Hindustani music. In 1964 he produced an even larger show titled Nava Rasa Ranga (Entertaining Through the Nine Moods), which additionally included dance, magic, and a puppet show. In June 1966 Shankar met a figure who was to change his life and catapult his career into stardom: George Harrison. They met at a friend’s house in London, at which time Harrison spoke with Shankar of his interest in Indian music. With only a superficial knowledge of the 18
Ravi Shankar, Ravi Shankar Plays Three Classical Ragas, EMI Records, 1957, LP
19
Ravi Shankar, The Sounds of India, Columbia WL 119, 1958, LP album.
album.
20
sitar, Harrison expressed his desire to develop some technical proficiency on the instrument. Shankar, wary of Harrison’s intentions, was not initially enthusiastic about teaching the pop star, but grew fond of him after realizing his dedication to the music. They arranged a number of meetings in London, India, and California; however, Harrison’s commitments with the Beatles prevented him from ever gaining a true mastery of the sitar. Shankar’s association with the famous Beatle elevated him to celebrity status. Capitalizing on this he launched an extensive tour of the United States, performing for wild audiences in packed stadiums. His fan base expanded to include pop aficionados, and especially hippies. Nicknamed “hippy-guru,” Shankar was like a saint to these aberrant followers. Of his popularity among hippies, Bengali novelist Monishankar Mukhopadhyay wrote: There is a class of young people who worship Ravishankar [sic]. They have posters with his face on them in their rooms and they wear special buttons with his face etched on it. They carry Ravishankar’s photographs in their pockets. And their most cherished desire is to save enough money to buy a Sitar. 20 Shankar developed a liking for the hippies but opposed their association of drugs with Indian music, going so far as to launch an anti-drug campaign. Initially Shankar was elated by the success garnered by his involvement with Harrison, stating in a documentary on his life: “I never knew our meeting would cause such an explosion. That Indian music would suddenly appear on the pop scene is peculiar, but out of this a real interest is growing.” 21 Enjoying his fame, Shankar performed alongside legendary figures including Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, and Joan Baez at the Monterey Pop Festival in June of 1967. He continued playing at similar festivals until Woodstock in August 1969. This performance for half million marked the end of a musical era for Shankar. Disgusted by the 20
Monishankar Mukhopadhyay, “Bengal’s Sun Ravishankar,” in The Great Shankars: Uday, Ravi, ed. Dibyendu Ghosh (Calcutta: Agee Prakashani, 1983), 63. 21
Nicolas Klotz, Pandit Ravi Shankar, videocassette. 21
drugs, theft, and violence at the festival, and insulted by the insignificance afforded his music in the midst of all the confusion, Shankar thereafter ceased performing in the United States for almost a year and a half. Turning his back on his pop agents and audiences, the Indian sitarist strove to regain his reputation as a classical musician. He did, however, continue working with Harrison into the early 1970s. In 1971 Shankar requested his help in organizing benefit concerts for the refugees of Bangladesh. They both performed on these concerts, as did a number of other well-known musicians including Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan. The performances were made into a film as well as a triple album that won a Grammy. A few years later Harrison collaborated with Shankar and produced the albums Shankar Family and Friends and Ravi Shankar’s Music Festival from India. 22 The two friends also toured Europe and the United States together in 1974, each performing one half of the concert and joining forces in a closing song. Anxious about how his association with pop culture might influence his career as a classical Indian musician, Shankar pulled away from Harrison in the mid-1970s. In the early eighties, he finally regained his reputation as a traditional classical performer. Though never rising to the same level of popularity as Shankar, Mayer also enjoyed his big career break in the mid-1960s. In 1964, after hearing of his venture into Indian-Western fusion, EMI record producer Dennis Preston contacted Mayer about contributing a short jazzbased composition to complete one of his projects. This inspired Mayer to create his first Indojazz composition, working late into the night so as to have the piece completed for the recording session scheduled for the following day. Scored for winds, brass, and percussion, “Nine for
22
Ravi Shankar, Shankar Family and Friends, Dark Horse Records SP 22002, 1974, LP album; idem, Ravi Shankar’s Music Festival from India, Dark Horse Records SP 22007, 1976, LP album. 22
Bacon” opened the door to further exploration in this new musical genre. Impressed by the piece, the producer presented it to the president of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun, who subsequently offered Mayer the opportunity to compose an entire album in this style. Ertegun conceived the idea of combining Mayer’s current ensemble with the jazz quintet of the legendary Jamaican alto saxophonist Joe Harriott. Mayer had been playing violin and harpsichord in an experimental Indian ensemble that also included flute, sitar, tanpura, and tabla. The resulting ensemble initially called itself the Joe Harriott and John Mayer Double Quintet, but later evolved into Indo-Jazz Fusions. Mayer composed the entire album in under a month, after which the group recorded Indo-Jazz Suite in two days at the Lansdowne Studios in London. 23 Released in both the United States and United Kingdom in 1966, the album was wellreceived. Of the newly formed group, Robin Broadbank wrote: Indo-jazz was something of a first. It was certainly the first ensemble to successfully introduce jazz, classical, and Indian musicians to each other, and it was the first band to use the term “fusions” in its name. It was the first time some of the structures and sonic patterns of Indian music was used as a framework for jazz musicians to improvise on. 24 Mayer scored all of the music employing traditional Western notation, but left room for the musicians to improvise within a prescribed framework. In terms of Indian influence, Mayer relied heavily on ragas, sometimes utilizing their actual notes while other times suggesting only ideas from them. He also incorporated the complex rhythmic cycles found in Indian music known as talas. From Western music Mayer drew mainly from its traditional harmonic
23
Joe Harriott and John Mayer Double Quintet, Indo-Jazz Suite, Atlantic ST-1465, 1966, LP album. 24
Robin Broadbank, notes to Asian Airs, Nimbus Records NI 5499, 1996, compact disc. 23
language, explaining, “What I’m doing is taking the raga and making a harmonic structure out of it, but never adding to the notes that are already there.” 25 Until Harriott’s death in January 1973, Indo-Jazz Fusions performed at high profile venues throughout Europe and recorded two more albums on the Atlantic label, Indo-Jazz Fusions I (1967) and Indo-Jazz Fusions II (1968). 26 Not only saddened by Harriott’s death, but also frustrated by his jazz musicians’ inability to master the Indian techniques, Mayer disbanded the group at that time, turning his focus next to rock fusion. He had already joined the progressive Indian rock band Cosmic Eye in 1972, playing violin on their album Dream Sequence. 27 He also became associated with another British progressive rock band, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, for whom he arranged, coached, and conducted. Mayer continued to work as a violinist and composer throughout this period, scoring for film and accepting other commissions. After a few failed attempts, Mayer successfully reformed Indo-Jazz Fusions in 1995. Renaming the band John Mayer’s Indo-Jazz Fusions, the new group included saxophone, flute, trumpet, piano, bass, and drums from the Western realm, tabla, sitar, violin, and tanpura from the Indian, as well as Cuban hand drums. At least as successful as Mayer’s first ensemble, the band toured the United Kingdom, India, and Bangladesh, again receiving favorable reviews. They made two recordings with Nimbus Records, Asian Airs and Ragatal, 28 and two more with
25
Alyn Shipton, “Indo-Jazz Fusions,” http://www.indojazz.f9.co.uk/indojazz.htm, accessed 20 January 2006. 26
Joe Harriott and John Mayer Double Quintet, Indo-Jazz Fusions I, Atlantic ST-1482, 1967, LP album; idem, Indo-Jazz Fusions II, Columbia SX 6215, 1968, LP album. 27
Cosmic Eye, Dream Sequence, EMI SLRZ 1030, 1972, LP album.
28
John Mayer’s Indo-Jazz Fusions, Asian Airs, Nimbus Records NI 5499, 1996, compact disc; idem, Ragatal, Nimbus Records NI 5569, 1998, compact disc. 24
FMR Records, Inja and Shiva Nataraj. 29 In The Guardian Ken Hunt wrote, “The ensemble outperformed the Harriott-era ensemble because of its familiarity and facility with Hindustani improvisational techniques.” 30 The group remained together until Mayer’s death in 2004. Beginning in 1961 Shankar also ventured into the Indo-jazz idiom. For his first collaboration in this style he contributed the main melody for one of the pieces on an East-West recording scored for the guitar, bass, drums, and flute in addition to the Indian tabla, dholak, kartal, tanpura, and manjira. Shankar based the melody of “Fire Night” on raga Dhani, which resembled the blues scale by the lowered third and seventh scale degrees. Although he did not play on the work, he conducted and guided the musicians as they improvised. The next year he followed with “Improvisation on the Theme Music from Pather Panchali” to complete his own album titled Improvisations. 31 For this score Shankar led an improvisation in three different rhythmic cycles that seamlessly combined Indian and Western jazz instruments. Well-respected in serious jazz circles, Shankar has, over the years, befriended such prominent figures as John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, and Bud Shank. He has even given lessons in Indian music to saxophonist John Handy and big band leader Don Ellis. In 1969 he arranged and conducted a piece for tabla master Alla Rakha and jazz drummer Buddy Rich in which the snare drum imitates the tones of the Indian tabla drum in the six-beat rhythmic cycle called Dadra Taal. Another Indo-jazz creation of his, titled Jazzmine (My jazz), consists of a series of linked pieces for twenty-two Indian musicians, Western jazz musicians, and vocalists. Composed in 1980 for a jazz festival in Bombay, Shankar explained: 29
John Mayer’s Indo-Jazz Fusions, Inja, FMR Records CD69 V0400, 2000, compact disc; idem, Shiva Nataraj, FMR Records CD86 0601, 2001, compact disc. 30
Hunt, “John Mayer,” accessed 10 November 2005.
31
Ravi Shankar, Improvisations, World Pacific Records WP 1416, 1962, LP album. 25
In this composition, I have tried to explore the meeting ground and the interaction between the classical and folk music of India on the one hand, and jazz on the other. I have named it “Jazzmine.” My aim in these pieces has been to extract, that is to say “mine,” the spirit of jazz and wrap it in the fragrance of the jasmine flower, which is uniquely Indian. The result is “My Jazz” or “Jazzmine.” 32 Most recently, for his 1987 release Tana Mana (Body and mind), Shankar’s jazz-inspired improvisations on the synthesizer resulted in a piece that his friend Frank Serafine titled “West Eats Meet.” 33 In addition to his collaborations with the aforementioned jazz musicians and pop stars, Shankar worked with a number of Western classical musicians including Philip Glass, JeanPierre Rampal, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Zubin Mehta; however, no partnership was more legendary than that with Yehudi Menuhin. Shankar met the violin prodigy when the latter was only a young boy studying with Georges Enesco in Paris. Officially introduced in 1952 at a musical soirée in Delhi, the two remained close friends over the years, though they did not begin playing together until 1966. In addition to performing at the 1966 Bath Festival and the 1967 Human Rights Day Concert at the United Nations, they recorded three albums for EMI. 34 Shankar composed the entire collection of violin-sitar duets that they performed and based them on ragas, sometimes writing out cadenzas for the violin that sounded like free improvisation. Through his affiliation with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, John Mayer also came into contact with a number of prominent Western classical musicians, among them Menuhin and 32
Ravi Shankar, notes to Jazzmine, Music of India CDNF040, 1980, LP album.
33
Ravi Shankar, Tana Mana, Private Music 2016-2-P, 1987, compact disc.
34
Ravi Shankar, West Meets East: The Historic Shankar/Menuhin Sessions, Yehudi Menuhin and Alla Rakha, Angel Records 67180, 1967, LP album; idem, West Meets East, album 2, Kamala Chakravarti, Nell Gotkovsky, Yehudi Menuhin, Nodu Mullick, Alla Rakha, and Ravi Shankar, Angel Records S 36026 1968, LP album; and idem, Improvisations: West Meets East, album 3: The Historic Shankar Menuhin Collection, Martine Géliot, Alla Rakha, Jean-Pierre Rampal and Ravi Shankar, Angel Records SFO–37200, 1976, LP album. 26
James Galway. More than eleven years before Shankar’s famous collaborations with Menuhin, Mayer had already visited the esteemed musician in a London hotel room to discuss his ideas for a new violin composition. Menuhin premièred the resulting Violin Sonata in 1955. Mayer also composed two pieces for flutist James Galway: Sri Krishna and the flute concerto Mandala ki Raga Sangeet, both of which Galway recorded in 1982 on an album titled James Galway Plays Mayer. 35 Through his long composing career, Shankar has created a vast number of works. Combining instruments and traditions from both Indian and Western music, as well as occasionally borrowing from other cultures, the multi-faceted composer has delved into a myriad of established genres while also creating new ones. Over the years he has composed music for dozens of film soundtracks, including the twenty-two million dollar epic Gandhi, which earned him an Academy Award nomination. In the theatrical realm he has contributed music for a number of musical shows and ballets, as well as a BBC Television production of Alice in Wonderland. Shankar’s compositions for solo instruments and small ensembles alone number in the thousands. 36 He has also composed a handful of well-known melodies, among them his popular arrangement of “Sare Jahan Se Accha Hindustan Hamara,” which gradually became treated as the Indian national song. Significantly, Shankar was also the first to compose concertos based on Indian music, completing his groundbreaking first sitar concerto in 1970 and the second, Raga Mala, in 1981. These two works, commissioned by the London Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic respectively, challenged the orchestral musicians with their unfamiliar ragas and time cycles. 35
James Galway Plays Mayer, John Mayer, James Galway, Phillip Moll, and Hiroyuki Iwaki, RCA RL 25389, 1982, LP album. 36
Slawek, “Ravi Shankar,” Grove Music Online. 27
John Mayer’s oeuvre is also quite substantial and diverse. Aside from compositions for his Indo-jazz groups, he composed a number of choral pieces, solo, chamber, and orchestral works, as well as music for a BBC Radio production of the Jungle Book. According to John Robison, Mayer’s most significant works include two compositions for piano, six chamber works, six orchestral pieces, and two choral works. 37 Like Shankar, Mayer demonstrated his versatility by drawing from both the Indian and Western musical traditions, at times infusing elements of jazz, thereby creating a synthesis. Through his constant activity as performer, composer, and teacher, Shankar has effectively educated not only his students in the subtleties of Indian classical music, but also the general public. He has regularly appeared on television and radio talk shows, provided interviews for various print media, and written a number of books on the subject. In the early 1960s with the help of Dr. Penelope Estabrook, Shankar published his first booklet, Music Memory, which provided information on both Indian and Western music. 38 He followed this publication with chapters describing the history, fundamentals, instruments, and musicians in Indian music in two of his autobiographies, My Music, My Life and Raag Anurag. Combining educational recordings with books, Shankar created the Anthology of Indian Music, a double album that includes a spoken history of Indian music with supplemental musical examples and a
37
Robison, “The Music of John Mayer,” 152.
38
Ravi Shankar and Penelope Esterbrook, Music Memory (Bombay: Kinnara School of Music, 1967).
28
book with artwork. 39 The book-and-triple-cassette set titled Learning Indian Music: A Systematic Approach followed later. 40 Targeting students who already had a special interest in Indian music, Shankar has also affiliated himself with a number of educational institutions. In addition to providing frequent lectures, performances, and workshops at colleges and universities, Shankar chaired the department of Indian music at the California Institute of Art and held a one-semester appointment as Visiting Professor at City College in New York. With dreams of opening an ashram-like institution, Shankar founded the Kinnara School of Music in Bombay in 1962. Not entirely traditional, the school combined gurukula training in the style of Khan’s gharana with a modern approach. Shankar supervised and taught special classes there until the institution’s closing in the late 1960s. Attempting to reproduce the format of the Kinnara School, Shankar opened another branch in Los Angeles in May 1967. Unfortunately, it too had a short lifespan, closing after only two and one-half years. While living in Delhi in the early 1950s, Shankar began training students in the gurukula style. In over a half century as a guru, Shankar has had a number of disciples, including his sister-in-law Lakshmi Shankar and his daughter Anoushka. Teaching not only sitar, he has often provided instruction in sarod, shennai, santoor, tabla, flute, guitar, violin, and voice. Although he has continued a rigorous concert schedule that has prevented him from seeing his students on a regular basis, they have maintained strong connections. Of his relationship with his students, Anoushka commented: “His disciples are really like his children to him. He just dotes on them
39
Ravi Shankar, Anthology of Indian Music, World Pacific Records WDS-26200, 1967, LP album. 40
Ravi Shankar, Learning Indian Music: A Systematic Approach (Fort Lauderdale: Onomatopoeia, 1979). 29
and loves them so much. They really give him the respect of a guru but at the same time they just love him like a father.” 41 Dating from his early days in London, Mayer was also active as a teacher, often giving lecture demonstrations on Indian classical music. He joined the faculty of the Birmingham Conservatoire as Composer-in-Residence in 1989 and later became a full Professor of Composition, positions which he held until his retirement in 1999. During his tenure with the Conservatoire, Mayer composed several works, including two pieces for the school’s chorus and orchestra titled Flames of Lanka (1990) and Pawitra Naukari (1991). He also established the school’s first baccalaureate degree program in Indian music in 1997. In addition to providing individualized instruction to composition students at the Conservatoire, Mayer also taught a handful of private students. Shankar has been a pioneer in many respects throughout the course of his career. Claiming to be the first Indian musician to tour extensively in the West, Shankar has also served to elevate the status of Indian musicians abroad. He has also demanded a certain respect from his audience that was unprecedented in the Indian classical concert setting, insisting on a proper dais on which to sit and imploring his listeners to arrive promptly and refrain from eating, drinking, or smoking during his performances. Drawing from the South Indian Karnatak tradition in which the percussion instrument is typically featured in a solo, Shankar most likely was the first North Indian musician to allow his accompanying tabla player a more prominent role in performance, often setting down his sitar to feature him. Shankar also popularized the use of sawal-jawab passages in which two instrumentalists alternate technically dazzling improvisations.
41
Mark Kidel, Ravi Shankar in Portrait, DVD. 30
In addition to his innovations on stage, Shankar has modernized the traditional method of sitar playing and contributed subtle modifications to the Hindustani tradition. Equally important were the physical alterations he made to the sitar by working closely with instrument-maker Nodu Mullick. His influence led to advancements in the areas of tuning, stringing, color, and sound production. Over the course of his career, Shankar has created about thirty ragas, including Nat Bhairav, Ahir Lalit, and Rasiya, and has also helped to popularize a number of Karnatak ragas among North Indian musicians. While bringing several less common Hindustani talas back into fashion, Shankar also introduced complex Karnatak rhythms into North Indian music. Shankar has been honored numerous times for his plentiful musical contributions. In addition to his Academy Award nomination for the film Gandhi, he has received three Grammy awards: the first for his collaborative album with Menuhin, West Meets East; the second for his Concert for Bangladesh triple album; 42 and most recently for his album Full Circle/Carnegie Hall 2000. 43 At present, seventeen universities have conferred him honorary doctorates, including Harvard University and the New England Conservatory. He was named regent’s professor at the University of California in 1997, and that same year received the prestigious Praemium Imperiale, Japan’s highest award for an individual. From his own government Shankar was nominated to the Rajya Sabha of the Parliament, Government of India, in 1986. He was also the recipient of the Padma Vibhusan, the highest award the government of India bestows on an artist.
42
The Concert for Bangladesh, Apple Records, 1971, LP album.
43
Ravi Shankar, Full Circle/Carnegie Hall 2000, Angel 57106, 2001, compact disc. 31
Mayer was also a pioneer in his own right, not only as a composer, but also as an orchestral musician. When he joined the LPO in 1953, he claimed to be the first Indian musician in a symphony orchestra. Only a few years later Mayer began composing works that blended ideas from Indian and Western music together, possibly being the first composer to create such a fusion. Although Shankar was the first to write concertos based on Indian music, Mayer’s Dance Suite from 1958 was the first composition to join Indian soloists and musical influences with a Western orchestra. The music he composed for his group Indo-Jazz Fusions was also groundbreaking. Aware of the depth of Mayer’s contributions to the music world, the Royal Academy of Music named him an honorary alumnus in 1990. He was also given an honorary fellowship from the Birmingham Conservatoire in 1999. Despite the fact that Shankar and Mayer were both seminal figures in disseminating their native music to the West and in the shaping of the genre of Indian-Western fusion, the two often faced harsh criticism for their progressive ideas. As Shankar became more popular in the United States, Indian disapproval of his music and practices grew, with his detractors criticizing him sharply for commercializing, cheapening, Americanizing, and “jazzifying” Indian music. Mayer faced similar condemnation. In fact, Imrat Khan, a sitarist for whom Mayer often composed, complained that playing Mayer’s music was damaging to his career because he found himself attacked for changing the Indian culture. Gillian Mayer’s anecdote highlights Mayer’s plight: One day while John was giving a lecture on his music in Bombay, an Indian gentleman clad in a Western suit with a guru-style shirt underneath, said to him, “You should get permission from our government before you change our music.” John wittily responded, “Just a minute sir, could you just stand up?” and indicating his wardrobe, continued, “It seems that you are changing our culture as well.” 44
44
Gillian Mayer, interview, 14 January 2006. 32
Fortunately, as more composers explored the possibilities of uniting the music of Indian and Western cultures, Shankar and Mayer eventually received recognition from their native India. Still active at eighty-five, Shankar continues to maintain the Ravi Shankar Foundation with the help of his second wife, Sukanya. Dedicated to the preservation and performance of classical Indian music, the Foundation houses an auditorium, a recording studio, and space for Shankar’s archives. Remarkably, the octogenarian continues to concertize throughout North America and India. “He has to play,” claims Anoushka. “I’m convinced that performing for people and playing his music is what keeps him alive.” 45 When not busy performing, Shankar continues to compose and teach at his New Delhi home. John Mayer passed away on 9 March 2004 at the age of seventy-three, one day after being struck by an automobile near his home. He is survived by his daughters Lesli and Toni, his third wife, Gillian, and their sons Jonathan and Jahan. On her website, harpist Helen Radice shared her fond recollections of Mayer: “John was kind, tolerant, inquisitive, passionate and often hilarious. I am blessed to have known him and to have played his music.” 46 In memory of the Indian musician, Helen’s father, who was also Mayer’s personal friend, penned the following poem titled “The Tenth Rasa”:
45
Mark Kidel, Ravi Shankar in Portrait, DVD.
46
Helen Radice, “John Mayer,” http://harpist.typepad.com/twangtwangtwang/2004/07/ john_mayer.html, accessed 3 February 2005. 33
The god Apollo (dream a myth that’s new, not old), In his dark-skinned, Kolkata dockworker-fathered avatar, was judged by nobody As grand as the Nine Muses when he matched violin, Not lyre, against the flute not of ass-eared, blundering Marsyas But milkmaid-delighting Krishna! The Nine Rasas listened; pronounced them equal. No triumph; no flaying; just joy at each other’s music. Apollo crossed the dark water; the radiant coat that Krishna Gave him, stitched from the notes of ragas, felt thin In England. Jazz filled out the notes. The tenth Rasa, Hope, burst out in applause, exploding like an all-seeing star. 47 William Radice
47
William Radice quoted in ibid. 34
CHAPTER 2 L’AUBE ENCHANTÉE
Although Ravi Shankar and Yehudi Menuhin first met as children, it was not until 1966 that these two extraordinary musicians began collaborating. EMI quickly recorded the ensuing duets under the title West Meets East, and two more albums under the same name followed shortly. Prior to recording the third album in the trilogy, Shankar met flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal while in Los Angeles. Consequently, he decided to compose two works for Rampal for the third album to complement the other two pieces, Twilight Mood and Tenderness, which featured Menuhin and himself. Shankar scored L’aube enchantée for flute and harp and Morning Love for flute, sitar, tabla, and tanpura. Of the two works, Rampal said, “One day he [Shankar] said we could record something, so we played two ragas . . . that he composed for me in a Western style so to say, and the flute has been used as an Eastern instrument.” 1 A number of transcriptions of L’aube enchantée followed. Rampal and Alexandre Lagoya arranged the work for flute and guitar (unpublished), as did flutist Pierre-André Valade and Argentinean guitarist Roberto Aussel. 2 For a live performance of L’aube enchantée with Rampal in 1998 in which no harpist was available, Anoushka Shankar transcribed the harp part
1
Nicolas Klotz, Pandit Ravi Shankar, videocassette.
2
Ravi Shankar, L’aube enchantée: sur le raga “Todi”: pour flûte et guitare, arr. Roberto Aussel and Pierre-André Valade (Paris: Editions Henry Lemoine, 1990).
35
for piano. Most recently, Marc Grauwels and Marie-Josée Simard recorded the piece for flute and marimba on the Naxos label. 3 Heavily steeped in the Hindustani tradition, the most prominent Indian element in L’aube enchantée is a raga. L’aube enchantée has a tonic note, or sruti, of D that remains constant throughout the piece. D, E-flat, F, G-sharp, A, B-flat, and C-sharp are the seven pitches that Shankar drew upon in this piece; he never deviated from these. They are common to the Hindustani raga Miyan ki todi, or as it is commonly known, “Todi.” The creation of this raga is credited to Miyan Tansen, a sixteenth-century court musician for Emperor Akbar, who reportedly sang this raga for the death of his son; however, not enough evidence exists to substantiate this attribution. Todi is inspired by the vision of the world being renewed after the night. As a late morning raga, Todi should only be performed between 9:00 A.M. and 12:00 P.M. Indians would consider the performance of Todi at any other time to be inauspicious. 4 Although Shankar professes to follow the time theory as much as possible, he maintains that adherence to this theory is slackening among Hindustani musicians. 5 Perhaps Shankar chose this raga because its character reminded him of Rampal. Alternately, he may have assumed that the recording for his third West Meets East album would be scheduled for a morning session. As in Western music where a note might be referred to in relatives terms by a solfège syllable, so too does the Hindustani system employ a similar method to denote their svaras, or pitches. These seven syllables, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha and Ni, indicate no precise pitch, as there
3
Music for Flute and Percussion, Marc Grauwels and Marie-Josée Simard, Naxos 8.557782, 2005, compact disc. 4
Joep Bor, ed., The Raga Guide: A Survey of 74 Hindustani Ragas (Monmouth, U.K.: Nimbus Records, 1999), 120. 5
Shankar, My Music, My Life, 24. 36
is no standardized concert pitch in the Hindustani tradition. Raga Todi is a sampoorna raga, or complete raga, meaning that there are seven notes in both the ascending and descending forms of the scale. Todi is characterized by a strong, very flat Dha on which the ascent usually begins, a strong very flat Re and the distinctive motif Re Ga Re Sa in which Re (and sometimes Ga) may be subtly oscillated. Pa is omitted in ascent, although some musicians approach Pa obliquely from Dha while ascending. Others, however, insist that Pa can be reached directly from Ma. Todi is also characterized by a flat Ga and raised Ma. 6 Shankar adhered strictly to the stereotypical form of Todi. In Example 1, all seven pitches of Todi are present in the descending harp scale marked off by parenthesis.
Example 1: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, 1.1 7 There are several examples of Shankar omitting Pa in ascending phrases and including it in descending ones. In Example 1, Shankar presented every pitch of the raga in ascending order, with the exception of the pitch A, Pa, which he then included in the following descending run. There are only a handful of occurrences where Shankar deviated from this pattern. In Example 2 he included the A in an ascending passage; in Example 3 he omitted the A from a descending one.
6
Bor, Raga Guide, 120.
7
Due to the unmeasured beginning of L’aube enchantée, a system of identifying the page number followed by the system number will be employed. When the piece becomes measured, rehearsal numbers will be used. 37
Example 2: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 9, m. 7 (flute part only)
Example 3: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 8, m. 6 Although pitch hierarchy in Hindustani ragas is a topic of debate, at the end of the nineteenth century Indian musicologist V. N. Bhatkhande coined two terms that refer to pitch predominance. He termed the note “which, compared with other notes in the raga, is sounded most often with clarity” as vadi, and the second most predominant note as samvadi. 8 According to French musicologist Alain Daniélou, Dha is the vadi and Ga is the samvadi in raga Todi. 9 Shankar, in fact, sustained these two notes, B-flat and F, often, particularly in the opening of the piece where the raga is first being explored. Pa (A) is also often sustained in this piece as is characteristic of Todi, as well as the tonic pitch D. There are two times in L’aube enchantée in which Shankar incorporated the distinctive motif Re Ga Re Sa. In Example 4 Shankar employed this motif four times within three measures. He also used this motif at the end of a tihai, a device to be discussed in more detail 8
V. N. Bhatkande, Kramik Pustak Malika, vol. 2 (Hathras: Sangeeta Karyalaya, 1954–59), 14. 9
Alain Daniélou, Northern Indian Music (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969), 61–62. 38
below. In Example 5 Shankar repeated the same group of pitches three times; however, the last time he ended with the Re Ga Re Sa motif. This pattern is repeated two more times.
Example 4: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 24, mm. 5–7 (flute part only)
Example 5: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 25, mm. 9–11 (flute part only) Each raga has its own set of ornaments, or gamakas, which may include oscillations, portamentos, grace notes, pitch bends, turns, and glissandi. 10 In Hindustani music gamakas are not as essential to the melodic structure of the raga, whereas in Karnatak music the composer utilizes them to communicate a personal message. 11 L’aube enchantée is full of gamakas, a few of which are illustrated in Examples 6a–g. 6a and 6b are examples of flickering grace notes in both the flute and harp parts; 6c illustrates a portamento from C-sharp to B-flat in the flute part; 6d includes quick turns in the flute part; 6e is an example of an oscillation by the flute; 6f illustrates a glissando for the harp; and 6g exemplifies a pitch bend, or a quarter tone below Eflat.
10
David B. Reck, “India/South India,” in Worlds of Music, 3d ed., ed. Jeff Todd Titon, (New York: Schirmer Books, 1996), 275–76. 11
Raghava R. Menon, “Gamaka,” in The Penguin Dictionary of Indian Classical Music,
1995 ed. 39
Examples 6a–g
Example 6a: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, 1.4 (flute part only)
Example 6b: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, 2.1 (harp part only)
Example 6c: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 4, m. 4 (flute part only)
Example 6d: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 12, m. 4 (flute part only)
Example 6e: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 8, m. 4 (flute part only)
Example 6f: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 13, m. 12 (harp part only)
40
Example 6g: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 22, m. 8 (flute part only) The form of L’aube enchantée is adapted from the Hindustani tradition and is in four parts: alap-jor-gat-jhala. The alap, literally “conversation,” is a slow, unmetered section in which the melody instrument or instruments explore the raga. The drone is also present during this section, but never the percussion. Shankar’s tempo indication at the top of the score, “slowly and freely, senza misura,” suggests his intention for the interpretation of the beginning of the piece. The omission of a time signature and barlines confirms his desire for a section free of meter and pulse. Rehearsal No. 4 marks the arrival of the jor section—jor, meaning “momentum.” This section is similar to the alap in its absence of percussion and its exploratory, improvisatory nature. The jor, however, is rhythmically oriented. The harp provides a sense of pulse, and the tempo accelerates as well. The tempo indication of quarter note=60 along with the introduction of steady sixteenth notes in the harp signal the beginning of the jor. It progresses through three different laya, or speeds. It begins in slow speed, or vilambit laya, with quarter note=60. It then accelerates to medium speed, or madhya laya, at quarter note=64 (four measures before Rehearsal No. 7). The jor ends in fast speed, or drut laya, accelerating to quarter note=104 (five measures after Rehearsal No. 7). The gat section of the performance begins when the percussion instrument or instruments enter and the tala, or rhythmic cycle, begins. Shankar employed the sixteen-beat cycle, tin taal, throughout the gat section. He did not include a percussion instrument in his score, giving the
41
percussive role instead to the harpist. Some musicians choose to include a tabla (the primary Hindustani percussion instrument consisting of two separate single-headed drums) in their performance, as flutist Rie Schmidt and harpist Benjamin Verdery did on their album Enchanted Dawn. 12 The gat section is characterized by a theme that keeps recurring, referred to as the gat theme (Example 7). The gat theme is foreshadowed in the final three measures of the jor, as shown in Example 8.
Example 7: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 8, m. 6
Example 8: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 7, mm. 8–10
12
Enchanted Dawn, Rie Schmidt and Benjamin Verdery, GRI Music GRICD 005, 1998, compact disc.
42
The notes in the foreshadowed theme are identical to the gat theme; however, the values are augmented. The gat theme is first heard six measures into the gat section and returns seven more times. The flute melody remains constant in the first seven statements, with the harp doubling the first two beats at the octave and omitting the grace notes. Each statement of the gat is followed by a scalar figure by the harp. The flute melody is varied rhythmically in the final statement of the gat. Following the gat section there is a jhala which concludes the instrumental performance. Jhala, which means “sparkling,” is a fast-paced section of an instrumental composition that is typically played on the sitar or sarod. 13 When present, the sitar or sarod player will rhythmically strum the tonic, or drone strings of his instrument during this section. On a wind instrument this section is characterized by a rapid, constant pulsation, executed by tonguing each note separately. 14 Regardless of the instrument employed, the jhala is distinguished by its reiterated tonic, with the melody being devised around it and always returning to it. Marked half note=132, the jhala section of L’aube enchantée (Rehearsal No. 14) is virtuosic for the flutist. The rhythmic aspects of L’aube enchantée are also characteristic of Indian music. In addition to the unmetered rhythm of the alap and jor, the tala is a traditional element. Tin taal, literally “three claps,” is the most prevalent tala in Hindustani music. This tala begins in the gat section and continues through the remainder of the piece. Tin taal is a sixteen-beat cycle that contains four sections, or vibhag, which each consist of four counts, or matras. Tin taal can thus be illustrated: 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 with beats 1, 5, 9, and 13 being the most significant. Of those, 1, 5, and 13 are clapped—hence the name “three claps.” These claps are referred to as tali. Beat 9 is 13
Menon, “Jhala,” Penguin Dictionary.
14
Bonnie Wade, Music in India: The Classical Traditions (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1979), 184. 43
shown by a wave and is referred to as khali, which literally means empty. 15 Example 9 illustrates the beats of tin taal as they apply to the beginning of the gat section.
1 2 3 4
clap
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
clap
wave
clap
Example 9: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 8, m. 1 (harp part only) Indian musicians relate to the talas through their commonly known drum strokes, which have syllabic names. The signature pattern of drum strokes for tin taal as it would be performed on a tabla is as follows:
clap clap wave clap dha dhin dhin dha I dha dhin dhin dha I dha tin tin ta I ta dhin dhin dha 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
The “t” sounds are produced with the right hand alone striking the drum while the “dh” sounds are produced by striking both drums simultaneously. Beats 10–13 begin with the consonant “t” whereas the rest of the beats begin with “dh.” These four beats do not fit squarely into one of the four sections (vibhag), which is a peculiarity characteristic of tin taal. 16 Another Indian element in L’aube enchantée is the presence of a technique in which a phrase is repeated three times in succession, known as tihai. Shankar employed them in L’aube
15
Ibid., 117–19.
16
George E. Ruckert, Music in North India: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 42–43. 44
enchantée to set up significant events. For example, two of the occurrences set up the returning gat motive. In Example 10 the flute and harp both play a tihai, but in contrary motion. In Example 11 the flute plays the tihai alone.
Example 10: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 11, m. 7
Example 11: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 12, mm. 8–9 In another instance the tihai in the harp functions to set up a new section within the jhala. To signal the end of the piece, Shankar composed a specific type of tihai referred to as a chakradar in which the tihai itself is repeated three times. To a certain extent, the texture of L’aube enchantée is traditionally Indian. The harp, although a Western instrument, fills the role of both a drone and percussion instrument. Thus, between the flute and the harp the three layers common to an Indian piece—melody, percussion, and drone—are present. As a drone instrument the harp in L’aube enchantée emphasizes the pitch Sa and plays patterns typical of the tanpura. Examples 12–15 illustrate four different techniques that Shankar employed to emphasize the pitch D. In the first example he interspersed 45
Ds between other notes. In the second the harp plays repeated Ds while other notes move above them. In Examples 14 and 15 he varied the rhythm and register of the repeated Ds to create melodic interest.
Example 12: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 4, m. 1 (harp part only)
Example 13: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 24, mm. 4–5 (harp part only)
Example 14: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 9, m. 1 (harp part only)
Example 15: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 6, mm. 4–5 (harp part only)
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Throughout much of the alap, the harp plays figures that resemble typical Indian drone patterns as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Wade, Music in India: The Classical Traditions, 51
In terms of rhythm, Shankar employed the pattern of three eighth notes followed by a half note, which closely approximates one of three typical rhythmic patterns for the drone: three quarter notes followed by a half note. To this rhythm Shankar set two different melodic motifs as illustrated in Examples 16a and 16b.
Dha Sa Sa Sa
Dha Sa Sa
Sa
Example 16a: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, 1.3 (harp part only)
Sa Ga Ga
Ga
Sa Ga Ga
Ga
Example 16b: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, 3.1 (harp part only)
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In the first two-thirds of the alap he introduced the motif Dha-Sa-Sa-Sạ (B-flat-D-D-D, doubled at the octave), 17 which closely resembles the most common drone pattern, Pa-Sa-Sa-Sạ. In the last third of the alap, Shankar included the motif Sa-Ga-Ga-Gạ (D-F-F-F). Although this is not a common drone pattern, the motif still includes Sa. In addition to supplying the drone, the harp fills the role of a percussion instrument by marking time, duplicating the rhythm of the flute, changing meter, and providing transitions into new sections. In Example 12, for example, while the harp is playing a drone pattern it is also providing a sense of pulse. At Rehearsal No. 12 the harp creates rhythmic interest typical of a Hindustani percussion instrument by shifting the beat through the use of accents and rests. L’aube enchantée also borrows from the Indian tradition by lacking functional harmony. Harmony plays such a vital role in Western music, but it is given little importance in L’aube enchantée, even from the harp, a traditional chordal instrument. The closest approximation to a sense of harmony is the feeling of tension and release that the melodic notes create against the drone. Although the harp contributes a few B-flat major triads, their role is for color rather than harmonic function. L’aube enchantée, although heavily influenced by the traditions of Indian classical music, draws upon elements of Western art music as well. The most obvious Western influence is the choice of instrumentation. Scored for flute and harp, L’aube enchantée is one of the few compositions that Shankar composed for Western instruments alone. The flute is used here to emulate the sounds of the Hindustani bamboo flute. The latter consists of a cylindrical tube of uniform bore that is closed at one end. It is made from a straight piece of bamboo that is free of
17
Following Indian notational practice, a solfège name without any dots indicates the middle octave. The addition of a dot above the syllable raises the pitch by an octave; a dot below the syllable lowers the pitch by an octave. 48
notches and other flaws. The Hindustani flute typically has a round embouchure hole plus seven finger holes that are burned into the bamboo with a hot metal rod. By closing six of the holes and then opening them in succession from right to left toward the embouchure hole, one can achieve the seven notes of a scale. Historically, the flutist would use a different flute for each scale. However, it is now common practice to produce semitones by partially covering the finger holes and adjusting the angle of the air stream. 18 In contrast, the Boehm flute is typically made out of silver, gold, or platinum. The embouchure hole is larger and has more of a rectangular shape, but with rounded edges. The use of metal together with the larger-sized embouchure hole makes for a sound that projects more than the Hindustani flute. Another fundamental difference is the addition of keys that enable the flutist to achieve every semitone, and therefore to play in any key. The difficulty of using the flute to fill the role of the Hindustani flute is in the execution of gamakas, as slides and pitch bends are significantly more difficult to achieve on a flute with keys than one without. The flutist must raise and lower the keys slowly and with a great deal of control to create these effects. On the bamboo flute the player simply slides the finger(s) gradually on and off of the hole(s). It is not possible to slide to and from all notes on the (Boehm) flute, requiring the flutist to substitute harmonic fingerings for regular fingerings. The harp in L’aube enchantée emulates the tanpura and the tabla, the primary Hindustani drone and percussion instruments, respectively. The tanpura is a lute that ranges from three-anda-half to five feet in length. The hollow neck is attached to a large gourd, which is covered by a convex piece of wood. The instrument typically has four strings that extend from the tuning
18
Ruckert, Music in North India, 108; Reck, “India/South India,” 270.
49
pegs at the top, along the long neck, over the bridge, and attach to the underside of the gourd. Three of the strings are made of steel, and the lowest-pitched string is brass. 19 The tabla consists of two separate drums, one played by each hand, but it is considered one drum with two heads. The right drum, or dahina, is higher and more precisely pitched and is typically tuned to the Sa or Pa of the solo instrument. The left drum, or bayan, is tuned to a general note approximately an octave below the dahina. 20 Combining different hand and finger strokes on the two drums creates a variety of timbres and pitches. According to Bonnie Wade, “the index, third, and fourth fingers of the right hand are used, and one stroke calls for the hand to be almost flattened and the fingers to be straight and rocked sideways on the head.” 21 The harp, with its forty-seven strings and pedals capable of raising each string two semitones, lends itself more readily to an emulation of the tanpura rather than the tabla. Its role as a percussionist is strictly limited to its rhythmic contribution, as the unique sounds of the tabla would not be possible on the harp. The length and pacing of this composition are influenced by Western taste. L’aube enchantée is much shorter than the typical Indian composition, and it unfolds at a much quicker rate. (Shankar, in fact, was often criticized by Indian musicians for the rapid pacing of ragas in his own sitar performances. 22 ) The alap in L’aube enchantée takes about two minutes to perform, whereas an alap in Indian music may be up to twenty minutes in length. The jor is also quite brief, lasting under three minutes. An entire Indian composition may last forty-five minutes or more. L’aube enchantée, in contrast, takes less than fourteen minutes to perform. 19
Wade, Music in India, 49–51.
20
Ibid., 135–38.
21
Ibid., 139.
22
Shankar, Raga Mala, 208. 50
Despite the fact that Shankar is not well-versed in Western notation, L’aube enchantée is transmitted through the use of a score that utilizes it. Shankar often employs assistants to transcribe his music into Western notation. Although Western tradition relies heavily on musical notation, Indian classical music is passed down through oral tradition. Each Hindustani musician belongs to a gharana, and through the aid of a teacher, or guru, the student learns by hearing certain elements repeated over and over, the ragas, talas, instrumental techniques, then compositions. Scores are therefore unnecessary in both the learning process and performance. Moreover, the gharanas are protective of their own traditions. Hindustani musicians would not consider writing down their music to share with others. In fact, some musicians are so protective of their tradition that they may alter passages of music in performance to keep secrets from the public. Therefore, notating an entire composition with specific performers in mind—here JeanPierre Rampal and Martine Géliot—is not in keeping with the tradition. Another reason for Indian musicians’ non-reliance on scores is that it is a highly improvisatory art with each piece varying from performance to performance. The different sections of a composition, such as the alap or the jor, might be lengthened or shortened, or ornamented in different ways. Therefore, a score would prove too restrictive. Western music has also influenced the textures employed in L’aube enchantée. There are sections of the composition that clearly employ the typical Indian monophonic texture, where the flute functions as the melody instrument and the harp provides a drone, and sometimes a sense of pulse as well. However, there are also examples where the harp’s role may be interpreted as being more accompanimental than drone- or percussion-like, giving these sections a feeling of homophony. At the beginning of both the jor and the gat, for example, the harp plays a motif, illustrated in Example 17, which resembles Alberti bass.
51
Example 17: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 4, m. 1 (harp part only)
While the ostinato is limited in pitch content, it is more active than a typical drone and has enough melodic significance that the flute later borrows it in the gat in a slightly altered form. Another example of homophony is illustrated in Example 18, where the harp provides a ground bass. This six-measure motif is heard first without any melody and then twice more with a new flute melody.
Example 18: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal Nos. 19–20 52
There are other occasions in L’aube enchantée where the texture suggests polyphony. In Example 19, the harp imitates the flute in inversion exactly two beats later.
Example 19: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 7, mm. 1–2
The harpist plays the same notes as the ascending notes in the flute part, but in descent instead. Imitation is employed in the following measure as well, but it is not exact. While it is common for accompanying melodic instruments to shadow the soloist in Indian music, the notes are typically the same, and they would never intentionally imitate the soloist in inversion. As there is no real harmony that arises out of these statements of inversion, this example is more contrapuntal in the melodic sense than the harmonic. Another example of polyphony is illustrated in Example 20.
Example 20: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 11, mm. 4–5
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In this section the flute and harp are performing note-against-note counterpoint—like first species, but without the harmonic implications. Shankar planned this passage so that there is an accent each time that the flute and harp share the same pitch. He also created a sequence with the pitches D, E-flat, and B-flat. Although Indian and Western classical music are disparate traditions, they do have some similar or shared elements. A number of these are present in L’aube enchantée as well. Unity is one shared element that plays an important role in L’aube enchantée. The gat section, which features the gat motive, provides the best example. This gat motive is repeated eight times, and the flute melody in all but the last statement is identical. In addition there is a rhythmically altered version of the gat theme at the end of the jor, which serves to foreshadow the gat motive. This altered motive then helps to bring unity to the piece as a whole. Variation technique is another common element. Shankar varied the ostinato that is first heard in the harp part at the beginning of the jor in a number of ways. He restated the ostinato in identical form at the beginning of the gat section. It then undergoes a number of transformations, but retains the same melodic outline. The motive is passed back and forth between the flute and the harp throughout the gat and the jhala. Shankar gradually altered the notes of these statements, either by displacing the octaves or by substituting one new note at a time. He also varied the rhythm of the ostinato, at times repeating the motive in augmentation. The gat theme employs variation technique as well. For example, the eighth, and final statement of the gat theme features a subtle variation in the flute part. This last statement, located three measures before Rehearsal No. 14, features more repeated Ds, strengthening the feeling of tonic at the end of the gat section.
54
The harp contributes even more significant variations to the gat theme. At the end of each recurrence of the gat motive, the harp plays a scalar passage that functions as a cadential figure. This is identical in the first three statements of the gat motive, consisting of five notes of a descending scale. Shankar varied this by adding more notes to the scale in some of the statements and by reversing the contour of the scale in others. He also varied the rhythm, employing triplets in one of the cadential figures. The last statement is the longest and most dramatic, featuring syncopation followed by an upward sweep. B-flat major triads make several appearances in the piece, most of them occurring in first inversion at significant junctions. One such first-inversion triad provides the final sonority of the piece, while another is included to mark the end of the gat section. The piece also opens with a diad—B-flat and D. At first blush this might not appear to be a shared element, as triads are not common to Indian music. Furthermore, the triads do not appear to serve a harmonic purpose. With a “tonic” of D, a D-minor triad would seem to make more sense than a B-flat major triad. Perhaps Shankar believed that adding major triads would give the piece a Western orientation. Inspecting the pitches of Todi (D, E-flat, F, G-sharp, A, B-flat, C-sharp), it is obvious that the only possible major triad without altering any notes is B-flat. In addition, the pitches B-flat, D, and F are the vadi, tonic, and samvadi, respectively, of Todi. Therefore, Shankar took the most significant pitches from an Indian raga to create a Western triad. Syncopation, employed in abundance in L’aube enchantée, is another device that is shared by both traditions. Three measures before Rehearsal No. 6 illustrates one of the numerous examples of syncopation in this work. The flute part emphasizes the offbeats in these measures. Four measures after Rehearsal No. 8 the harp breaks away from its preceding pattern
55
to help bring out the syncopation in the flute part. Finally, in Example 21 the tihai by the harp temporarily shifts the feeling of the meter from 4/4 to 5/4.
Example 21: Shankar, L’aube enchantée, Rehearsal No. 14, mm. 9–12 (harp part only)
A final feature shared by both traditions is an emphasis on beat one. Although commonplace in Western music, not all cultures share this aesthetic. For example, in Indonesian gamelan music the last beat of the phrase, or gongan, is always the most critical. This beat is always played by the instruments held in the highest regard. In tin taal, the tala employed in the gat section of the piece, the emphasis of the cycle is always on sam, or beat one. L’aube enchantée, although heavily steeped in the Indian tradition, borrows a number of influences from Western music as well as sharing elements that are common to both traditions. Shankar’s classical Indian training combined with his strong connection with the West has enabled him to successfully create this fusion.
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CHAPTER 3 NAVA RASA
On 24 January 2003 at the Nehru Centre of the High Commission of India in London, Duo Herodis, together with poet and Bengali translator William Radice, presented a recital titled Rasa! in which they fused Indian and Western words and music. The duo, consisting of flutist Catherine Goodman and harpist Helen Radice (daughter of William Radice), performed three Indian-Western fusion works for flute and harp: Shankar’s L’aube enchantée, Michael Jerome Davis’s Lyrics, and the world première of John Mayer’s Nava Rasa. In addition, William Radice read his poem “Rasa—Rasa is the dough,” his translation of Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore’s “Deception,” and finally, interspersed between movements of Mayer’s Nava Rasa, he included excerpts from his own poem titled Nava Rasas. The entire concept of the program, including the commission of Mayer’s work, was the brainchild of Goodman and Helen Radice. Helen felt drawn towards Indian music as a result of her father’s close connection with the culture, and therefore Goodman, familiar with Mayer’s work from her student years at the Birmingham Conservatoire, suggested he compose a piece for the duo. After accepting the commission, Mayer decided to base his work on the nine Indian rasas (moods) and to link the piece with William Radice’s poems. Seeking continuity and striving to create a recital program that would be not only musically enriching but interesting for the audience as well, Goodman and Helen Radice developed the whole program around the concept of rasa.
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Duo Herodis has performed Nava Rasa a number of times both with and without the excerpted poems read between the movements. In addition to its première at the Nehru Centre, Goodman and Radice have also played the piece various times at the Stratford-upon-Avon International Flute Festival, including a poignant performance of the work on a memorial concert for Mayer in July 2004 that featured six of his flute pieces. Because of Mayer’s death, the work remains unpublished. The most prevalent Indian influence in Nava Rasa is the concept of setting the nine rasas to music. In the ancient Indian theory of aesthetics there are nine principal emotions: shringar (love), hasya (laughter, comic), karuna (sad), rudra (furious), vira (heroic or glorious), bhayanaka (frightened), bibhatsa (grotesque, disgust), adbhuta (wonder, amazement), and shanta (peace, tranquility). Expression of these emotions is integral to the performing arts in India, and according to Shankar, “every artistic creation should express one of the nine rasas.” 1 Through the use of facial expressions, hand movements, and body language, Indian dance forms more readily portray the rasas than pure instrumental performances. In fact, the concept of the nine rasas first appeared in a fine arts treatise focused primarily on dance, the Natya Sastra, dating from sometime between the second century B.C. and the sixth century A.D. 2 However, Mayer creatively depicted each of the rasas in its own short movement utilizing only harp and flute or alto flute. Mayer altered the tradition of the rasas slightly to remain consistent with his beliefs. Shringar, for example, typically insinuates sexual love, as does Radice’s poem on Shringar. Disturbed by this connotation and by Radice’s poetic setting alike, Mayer, a devout Roman
1
Shankar, Raga Mala, 76–77.
2
Wade, Music in India, 12–14. 58
Catholic, decided to portray this movement without sexual implication. He also altered the customary sequence of the rasas “in order not to end with ‘peace,’ but with ‘anger,’— a comment on the world today.” 3 Indian musicians often utilize particular ragas to help portray rasas. The late evening raga Malkauns, for example, is often associated with rasa vira (heroism). Similarly, ragas that employ a flat Re (scale degree two) and flat Dha (scale degree six) are typically called upon to represent shanta (peace) and karuna (sad), while shringar (love) is often depicted by ragas characterized by a natural Re and natural Dha. Although Mayer employed some basic structural elements of specific ragas in a few movements of Nava Rasa, he avoided those traditionally tied to the rasas, relying instead on other means to evoke the moods. According to John Robison, Mayer “uses ragas in an abstract and impersonal way, without concern for the emotions that are traditionally evoked by these scale patterns.” 4 As mentioned in Chapter 1, Robison attributes Mayer’s detachment to his humble upbringing. In addition to associating rasas with particular ragas, Indian musicians traditionally manipulate musical elements such as dynamics, rhythm, tempo, timbre, and ornamentation in order to better evoke the mood of each rasa. Mayer used some of these devices, as well as other creative means, to portray the mood of each of the nine movements. Helen Radice, who became intimately acquainted with the work, claimed “each of the moods was very clearly depicted by the music.” 5
3
William Radice and Helen Radice, Rasa!, Nehru Centre, London, 24 January 2003.
4
Robison, “The Music of John Mayer,” 168.
5
Helen Radice, interview by author, telephone interview, 10 November 2005. 59
Although Mayer chose not to include dynamic markings, he did indicate precise tempo markings for seven of the nine movements. He employed a fast tempo (quarter note=192) to depict laughter in Hasya, and an even faster tempo (quarter note=200) in Vira to create a technically challenging flute melody requiring virtuosic finger work and articulation. Crossrhythms produced by the triplets in the flute melody juxtaposed against the eighth notes for the harp accompaniment contribute to the heroic character of this movement by creating an active texture, therefore giving the impression that the tempo is faster than it actually is. To capture the romantic character of Shringar, Mayer used the slowest tempo marking of all the movements, quarter note=66. Mayer scored six of the movements for the flute and three of them for the alto flute, thereby utilizing the differing timbres of these instruments to help illustrate the variety of moods. The alto flute, which is pitched a fourth below the flute, produces a “slightly melancholy, haunting tone,” 6 and Mayer drew upon this timbre to portray Adbhuta (wonder), Shanta (peace), and Karuna (pathos, sadness). In addition, Hindustani musicians regard lower-pitched instruments more seriously than higher-pitched ones, 7 and Mayer may have employed the alto flute in these movements to provide a sense of gravity or seriousness, thus taking advantage of this association. Range and register are other elements that Mayer explored in his portrayal of the rasas. In his depiction of laughter in Haysa, for example, Mayer exploited the upper register of the flute, scoring the majority of the movement for the instrument’s highest octave. He focused
6
Jeremy Montagu and others, “Flute,” in Grove Music Online, ed. L Macy (Accessed 7 March 2006), . 7
Peter Westbrook, “The Bansuri and Pulangoil: Bamboo Flutes of India,” The Flutist Quarterly 28, no. 3 (2003): 31–32. 60
primarily on the notes between b'' and g''', although the melody extends as low as f-sharp'. 8 The melodies of both Karuna (pathos, sadness) and Shringar (love) encompass a narrow range and feature the low register of the flute. With a narrow range of an octave plus a perfect fourth, Shringar extends from the flute’s lowest note, c', up to f''. 9 Karuna calls for the slightly larger range of an octave plus a perfect fifth, with the alto flute playing all the way down to a-flat, underscoring the mournful nature of this rasa. In contrast to the narrow ranges of Karuna and Shringar, Mayer made use of significantly larger ranges to portray fear in Bhayanaka and heroism in Vira. Employing a range of two octaves plus a perfect fifth and two octaves plus a minor sixth, respectively, in these movements, he likely used the low register of the flute in Bhayanaka to illustrate timidity and the high register to mimic the sound of screaming. Mayer also relied on the contrast between consonance and dissonance, major and minor, and staccato versus slurred note lengths to evoke the rasas. He illustrated the simplicity of laughter in Hasya with entirely consonant harmonies, while including a high degree of dissonance to portray disgust in Bibhatsa, fear in Bhayanka, and to a lesser extent, poignancy in Karuna. In addition, Mayer made use of the common Western association of major scales with joy and minor scales with sadness. He set Haysa (laughter) in the key of G major, while utilizing the minor third in Karuna to convey sadness. Additionally, Mayer depicted laughter with staccato notes in the flute melody, while evoking love with a primarily slurred flute melody and peace with slurs for both the flute and harp.
8
In this study, octave designation of pitch is as follows: middle C is indicated as c', the octave above middle C as c'' and so on, the octave below middle C as c, two octaves below as C, three octaves below as C1, and so on. 9
Although most professional flutes include an additional key that extends the range of the flute down to b, most composers score their flute works only as low as c'. 61
Another Indian influence in Nava Rasa is the incorporation of scale structures from ragas. The clearest example of raga structure occurs in the first movement, Adbhuta, in which Mayer made use of the intervallic structure of raga Pilu. The Raga Guide describes Pilu as a “highly imaginative and complex raga in which both varieties of Ga [scale degree three] and Ni [scale degree seven] are used.” 10 Pilu is a folk raga, often associated with lighter classical vocal genres such as thumri, rarely present in more serious Indian classical genres. As such, Pilu allows for much variation, frequently assimilating notes and passages from other ragas. In The Ragas of North India, Walter Kaufmann writes, “As Pilu is a light raga, its performance rules are so loose that nearly all notes of the chromatic scale may be used.” 11 With a tonic, or Sa, of C, Mayer composed Adbhuta with the following pitches: C, D, E-flat, E, F, G, A, B-flat, and B. Pilu allows for a great deal of flexibility regarding the use of the natural or lowered forms of the third and seventh scale degrees in ascent and descent. Kaufmann continues, “Shuddha [natural] notes may appear in ascent and their komal [lowered] forms in descent, but it is equally possible that komal notes may be used in ascent and their shuddha forms in descent.” 12 Mayer took advantage of the versatility of these scale degrees, using both the natural and lowered forms freely in both ascending and descending scalar passages. In Example 22 the seventh scale degree is presented first in its lowered form in a descending figure, followed by its lowered form in an ascending figure, and finally in its natural form as a lower neighbor to the tonic C.
10
Bor, Raga Guide, 128.
11
Walter Kaufmann, The Ragas of North India (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1968), 389. 12
Ibid., 390. 62
Example 22: Mayer, Nava Rasa, I. Adbhuta, mm. 11–12 13 (flute part only)
In addition to the pitches, a number of other parameters are fundamental in defining a raga, including expression, the time of day at which it is performed, characteristic motifs and gamakas, as well as the vadi and samvadi. In the Ragas of Northern Indian Music, Alain Daniélou describes the whimsical nature of Pilu, “She does not know herself what she wants, she is satisfied yet longing for something else, sometimes gay and sometimes sad, ever changing.” 14 Pilu’s variable use of the natural and lowered third and seventh scale degrees underscores this capriciousness. Indian music scholars disagree about the appropriate time of day at which to perform Pilu. In his book Nad: Understanding Raga Music, Sandeep Bagchee claims that the correct time to play Pilu is between noon and 3:00 P.M. 15 Daniélou, on the other hand, contends that Pilu is played during the fourth quarter of the day: late afternoon, before sunset. 16 Kaufmann suggests an even later performance time, while also mentioning that some Indian musicians view the time association of this particular raga with more flexibility: “This raga is generally performed in the evening, although the majority of musicians state that Pilu may be performed at
13
All scores in this chapter are presented at concert pitch.
14
Daniélou, Northern Indian Music, 240.
15
Sandeep Bagchee, Nad: Understanding Raga Music (Mumbai: Eeshwar, 1998), 88.
16
Daniélou, Northern Indian Music, 240.
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any time.” 17 Although the première of Nava Rasa took place in the evening, it is unlikely that Mayer considered this association, evidenced by the fact that he incorporated hints of other ragas with differing performance-time connotations in the nine-movement suite. The motif Ga komal-Re-Sa-Ni-Sa (E-flat-D-C-B-C) is characteristic of raga Pilu, although Mayer made no reference to it in Adbhuta. The vadi of Pilu is Ga komal (E-flat) while the samvadi is Ni shuddha (B); however, these notes play a much less important role in Pilu than in other ragas. Mayer emphasized neither E-flat nor B in Adbhuta, instead presenting the tonic note C with the most frequency and duration. It is therefore clear that Mayer borrowed little else from Pilu than its intervallic structure. From the Indian tradition, Mayer also borrowed the three-layered texture of melody, drone, and percussion for three of the movements of Nava Rasa. In Adbhuta the alto flute fills the role of melody instrument, while the harp presents a drone with an ostinato pattern, emulating the Indian tabla and tanpura. The alto flute begins unaccompanied for the first sevenand-a-quarter measures, after which the drone joins in for the remainder of the movement. The harp plays the pitches of the most common Indian drone pattern: Pa-Sa-Sa-Sạ (G-c-c-C), while reinforcing Sạ by doubling it in octaves. The rhythmic nature of the drone, however, is more akin to Indian folk music than Indian classical music. In the folk tradition, a one-stringed instrument is often used to provide both the drone and a constant pulse. Although it is customary to play the drone with a sense of evenness in Indian classical music, no strict rhythm is employed. As is typical of Indian classical music, Mayer created a rhythmic independence between the alto flute melody and the drone; however, the majority of the Pa-Sa-Sa-Sạ patterns last exactly four beats. In measures 7–12 these four-beat drone patterns begin on beat two, and 17
Kaufmann, Ragas of North India, 389.
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in measures 15–22 they begin on beat four. Ironically, when the texture becomes more Western toward the middle of the movement due to the addition of counterpoint, the drone breaks away from its four-beat pattern, giving it a more Indian character. In Shringar Mayer created a similar texture in measures 9–13. In these five measures the flute provides the melody, while the harp contributes a drone-like figure as well as four unIndian-sounding diads. At this point in the movement the tonal center of the flute melody is Csharp. Mayer paired this melody with a Pa-Sa-Sa-Sạ drone, utilizing the enharmonic spelling Aflat-d-flat-d-flat-D-flat. In this movement Mayer gave the drone figure more prominence by reducing the flute activity to a sustained note each time the drone sounds. The flute melody and drone therefore do not exhibit their typical independence; however, Mayer did break away from the rhythmic rigidity of the drone figure, compressing it from four beats to three, then down to two. Of all nine movements, Karuna exhibits the most traditional Indian sound, in part due to its texture. The movement begins with quick interlocking upward and downward glissandi by the harp that emulate the sound of a sitarist sweeping the nail of his little finger across the tarab, or sympathetic strings, at the opening of an alap. The harp then begins a Pa-Sa-Sa-Sạ drone pattern (A-flat-d-flat-d-flat-D-flat), which continues throughout the entire movement. Of the three drone figures in Nava Rasa, this one is the most consistent rhythmically, never deviating from its three-beat duration. The melody is shared alternately by the alto flute and harp. The melody and the drone are rhythmically independent, but the moving notes of the melody sound during the sustained drone note (the last Sa of the drone figure) and the moving notes of the drone sound while the melody notes are sustained. The former makes it possible for the harp to
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play both a melodic line and a drone, and the latter gives the drone a more prominent role, slightly detracting from its Indian character (Example 23).
Example 23: Mayer, Nava Rasa, VII. Karuna, mm. 1–6 Although the texture in measures 1–14 and 33–46 of Hasya resembles the traditional Western style of flute melody with harp accompaniment, the ostinato-like figures for the harp are actually drone-like in their repetition. During these measures the harp alternates between two arpeggiated figures: one includes the pitches G, D, and B, while the other utilizes A, D, and C as
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illustrated in Example 24. Despite the fact that the first figure outlines a G-major triad, and the second a dominant seventh chord, the frequency with which these two figures alternate belies any true harmonic function.
Example 24: Mayer, Nava Rasa, II. Hasya, mm. 1–3 (harp part only)
Another instance of a drone-like figure occurs in measures 15–18 in which the harp’s repeated Gs on beats one and three resemble the rhythmic strumming of a one-stringed Indian folk instrument. In the ninth movement, Rudra, Mayer employed jhala-like effects (quick alternations between melody notes and rapidly repeated drone notes). In measures 1–3 the harp provides a jhala effect, emulating the sound of an Indian stringed instrument such as the sitar, sarod, or santoor. Here, Mayer interspersed the drone note Pa (C) between lower melody notes, creating a tonality resembling F minor, as illustrated in Example 25.
Example 25: Mayer, Nava Rasa, IX. Rudra, mm. 1–3 (harp part only) 67
The flute then continues this jhala effect in measures 5–6, also emphasizing the note C. A jhala performed on a wind instrument is typically characterized by separately tongued notes, but in this instance Mayer called upon the flutist to slur between the melody notes and the reiterated Cs. The harp provides the last clear jhala effect in measures 12–13. The tonality here resembles G minor, and this time the harp intersperses the drone note Sa (G) between its lower melody notes. Also noteworthy are the two instances (measure 5, beat 3 and measure 6, beat 3) in which the harp brings back the first five notes of the flute’s jhala-like figure. Also characteristic of Indian music is the lack of functional harmony. Although a few of the movements such as Shanta, Vira, and Rudra include recognizable key areas and cadences, the majority of the harmony in Nava Rasa is nonfunctional. The piece abounds with diads, triads, and tetrachords; however, most of these lack any type of chord progression, or the motion remains static as in the outer sections of Hasya. In addition to the Indian influences, Nava Rasa draws heavily from the Western classical tradition. The three instruments employed, flute, alto flute, and harp, are all Western, even though Mayer called upon them to emulate the sounds of Indian instruments. As Shankar did in L’aube enchantée, Mayer used the flute to imitate the sound of the Hindustani bamboo flute. Varying in size from eight inches to two-and-a-half feet, the Hindustani flute may feature either a bright, high-pitched sound or a rich, deep and mellow tone depending on its length. 18 Interested in this contrast in range and timbre, Mayer asked the flutist, Catherine Goodman, before composing the piece, if she had access to an alto flute, explaining that it was a sound that he wanted to employ.
18
S. Krishnaswamy, Musical Instruments of India (Boston: Crescendo Publishing, 1967),
61.
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The harp plays a versatile role in Nava Rasa, at various points emulating the sitar, sarod, and santoor, as in the jhala and tarab techniques in Rudra and Karuna, as well as the drone and percussive effects of the tanpura, and tabla in Adbhuta, Shringar, and Karuna. The most popular Hindustani stringed instrument, the sitar consists of a half gourd attached to a long fingerboard with nineteen to twenty-three silver or brass frets. Typically crafted from teakwood, the sitar has four melody strings, two or three chikari, or rhythm and drone strings, and between nine and thirteen sympathetic strings made of steel and bronze wire. Most sitars also have an extra resonating gourd. The sitar player plucks the main strings with a mizrab, or plectrum, worn on the index finger of the right hand, while the little finger of the same hand occasionally plucks the sympathetic strings. 19 Second in popularity to the sitar, the sarod is another variety of lute that has a metal, fretless fingerboard and two resonating chambers, one made of teak, and the smaller one of metal. The ten main strings and fifteen sympathetic strings are all metallic and fastened to pegs at the neck end of the instrument. 20 While the player’s right hand plucks the strings with a plectrum made of coconut shell, the left-hand fingers stop the strings and play the notes. The illustrious sarod player, Ali Akbar Khan, son of Ravi Shankar’s guru, Ustad Allaudin Khan, helped to popularize this instrument in the West. Originating in the Middle East, the santoor is a trapezoidal stringed instrument. The strings, which number over one hundred and vary in length, are arranged in double or triple courses stretched over two bridges. The musician strikes the strings with two curved sticks, one held in each hand. For descriptions of the tanpura and tabla, see Chapter 2.
19
Shankar, My Music, My Life, 100; Wade, Music in India, 95–96.
20
Shankar, Raga Mala, 321. 69
With regard to form, Mayer drew more inspiration from the Western tradition than the Indian when composing Nava Rasa. The large-scale form of the work resembles that of a ninemovement suite, with the concept of the Indian rasas unifying the movements. Because of the extramusical basis as well as the internal forms of some of the movements, one could also argue that Nava Rasa is a collection of character pieces in the style of a Robert Schumann piano cycle. Irrespective of whether Nava Rasa is a suite or piano cycle, this type of collection of short pieces or movements is absent from Hindustani music, whereas this model exists in Western music. The individual forms of four of the movements also draw inspiration from the Western tradition. Supporting the piano cycle point of view, the forms of three of the movements resemble Western ABA form in that they consist of an opening section followed by a contrasting section and conclude with a return of the opening section. Hasya exhibits the clearest example of song form with an arpeggiated flute melody accompanied by the aforementioned ostinato pattern by the harp characterizing the A sections, and an arpeggiated drone figure by the harp followed by in improvisatory-sounding conjunct flute melody distinguishing the B section. A two-beat rest sets up the literal return of A. Shanta and Vira also approximate the form ABA; however, in both cases the B sections are significantly shorter than the A sections, possibly warranting the label “transition” rather than “B section.” In Shanta Mayer created the distinction between the two sections not only by varying the melodic material, but also by including a meter (3/4) on the middle section, contrasting with the unmetered outer sections. The A sections of Vira give a moto perpetuo effect with eighth-note triplets for the flute against continuous eighth notes for the harp at the rapid tempo of quarter note=200. The middle section slows to half that tempo, and the flute and harp are featured separately in cadenza-like passages, which change meter every measure. The
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A sections of Vira also further subdivide into an “aba” form based on the contrast and return of melodic material. The eighth movement, Bhayanaka, has a form that is also Western in orientation. The movement alternates between two themes: the first one is four measures long, with the flute melody consisting of seven thirty-second notes on the first beat of each measure accompanied by two alternating eighth-note non-tertian chords by the harp in the first two measures, followed by two distinct alternating non-tertian chords in the third and fourth measures. The second theme consists of three measures of more sustained, primarily quartal harmonies while the flute is tacet. Although the melodic notes by the flute and the chords by the harp vary in the subsequent appearances of both themes, the format of each remains consistent. Labeling the first theme A, and the second, B, the form of the movement could thus read ABA'B'A''B''A'''B''', similar to the Western formal concept of alternating variations in which two themes are set forth and then varied in turn. 21 Although Mayer employed Indian textures in three of the movements of Nava Rasa, he also incorporated elements of Western polyphony and homophony. The texture of Adbhuta is primarily Indian in concept, but measures 13–16 exhibit polyphony. To the flute melody and harp drone in this section, Mayer added another independent melody for the harp, doubled in octaves. Mayer composed these melodies in a way so that each time the flute features moving notes, the harp plays notes of longer duration, and vice versa, keeping the two melodies well demarcated by avoiding any overlap. Mayer evidently designed the main melody of this movement with this polyphonic idea in mind, as the flute melody he employed from measures 12–18 is primarily a restatement with a few modifications of the flute melody in measures 5–10,
21
Elaine Sisman, “Variation,” in The New Harvard Dictionary of Music, 1986 ed. 71
which also includes several sustained notes. The harp melody also borrows heavily from the flute melody. For example, in measure 13, beats 2–3, it directly quotes the flute from measure 8, beats 1–2. In addition, the harp in measure 15, beats 2–4 restates (with one altered note) the flute melody from measure 9, beat 4 to measure 10, beat 3 (Example 26a and b)
Example 26a: Mayer, Nava Rasa, I. Adbhuta, mm. 8–10 (flute part only)
Example 26b: Mayer, Nava Rasa, I. Adbhuta, mm. 13–15 (harp part only) Shanta and Rudra are also primarily polyphonic. The texture in Shanta is highly contrapuntal, with the flute and harp playing either two or three simultaneous independent melodies throughout the movement. Mayer frequently created parallel motion between the flute and one of the harp melodies as illustrated in Example 27.
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Example 27: Mayer, Nava Rasa, IV. Shanta, 10.1 22
He also doubled the harp melody in octaves, sometimes moving the two melodies together in parallel motion and other times alternating between parallel motion and contrary motion, writing some of the melody notes two octaves apart. In Rudra Mayer juxtaposed an independent melody against the melody notes of the jhala. In measures 5–6 the harp melody, which is doubled in octaves, is rhythmically aligned with the flute melody notes, moving in oblique motion for the first two beats of the figure followed by parallel motion. In measures 12–13 the flute melody and melody notes of the harp exhibit a high degree of independence both melodically and rhythmically. In measures 8–9 and 14 where the jhala is absent, Mayer also created two simultaneous independent melodies for the flute and harp. Mayer also created a contrapuntal texture in the A section (and its return) in Vira. The harp melody, which features constant eighth notes moving primarily in disjunct motion, gives the impression of a walking bass line common to bebop, perhaps reflecting Mayer’s interest in jazz. As is characteristic of a walking bass, he avoided pitch repetition in this harp melody. The flute melody, comprised entirely of triplets, creates counterpoint with the eighth-note harp melody at the ratio of three notes to two, while also demonstrating an independence of melodic motion.
22
Due to the unmeasured sections of Shanta, a system of identifying the page number followed by the system number will be employed for this movement. 73
Hasya and Bhayanaka both feature the Western homophonic texture of melody with accompaniment. The A section of Hasya, as well as its return, consists of a flute melody accompanied by an irregular ostinato in the harp. In the A sections of Bhayanaka (measures 2–5, 10–13, 18–21, and 25–28), the alternating non-tertian chords by the harp create an accompaniment against the prominent flute melody. Characterized primarily by nonfunctional harmony, Nava Rasa nonetheless borrows elements of Western harmony. In the A sections of Hasya, the flute and harp together outline tonic and dominant chords, moving back and forth between G-major and D-major seventh chords at the rate of every one or two measures. Although the harp ostinato produces very little directed motion, the exploration of these two different tonal areas gives the A sections a tonic-dominant polarity foreign to Indian music. The B section of Hasya also alternates between these two chords. Key areas and cadences are further present in sections of Shanta, Vira, and Rudra. In the A section of Vira, for example, the chords implied by the flute and harp create a tonality of F minor in spite of the numerous passing and neighbor tones in the flute melody. In Rudra, cadences establish a tonality of F minor at the beginning of the movement, followed by G minor at measure 12. The voice leading is not always typical of Western harmony, however, as in the implied V7–i harmonic progression in measures 4–5 (Example 28).
Example 28: Mayer, Nava Rasa, IX. Rudra, mm. 3–5 74
The concept of modulating to different tonal areas, as just illustrated in the shift from F minor to G minor in Rudra, is more akin to Western music than Indian music, where only one “tonality” is typically employed throughout a piece. In Shringar a tonal shift also takes place. The flute melody in measures 9–14, which has a tonic of C-sharp, is restated with slight rhythmic alternation in measures 18–23, transposed a major third higher with a new tonic of F. Bibhatsa offers another such example. Beginning with octave D-flats, the movement touches upon a number of tonalities before ending in C major. From the Western tradition Mayer also borrowed the major scale. In Hasya he employed the tonality of G major throughout the entire movement, using only pitches from that scale. Although the Hindustani raga Bilaval uses the same pitches as a major scale, Mayer did not follow any of the traditions of the raga. Instead, he used the scale in a Western manner, frequently writing arpeggiated figures in the flute melody that outline G-major and D-major triads. The meter in Nava Rasa is more Western in its orientation than Indian, with Adbhuta, Hasya, Vira, and Rudra all containing large stretches of Western 4/4 meter. Although common time resembles the Hindustani tala tin taal in its emphasis on four-beat groupings, these instances of 4/4 lack the internal pattern of stresses distinctive of this popular tala. Instead, the hierarchy of beats characteristic of 4/4 (in which one is the strongest, three follows second in importance, and two and four are the weakest) is evident in both Hasya and the opening four measures of Adbhuta. The fermata at the end of the fourth measure of Adbhuta provides further evidence that no type of Indian tala is in place. Shringar, Bibhatsa, Vira, and Bhayanaka employ a variety of time signatures, ranging from 1/4 to 5/4. As the changes in meter occur without regularity, there is no implication of a tala. However, the rapidity with which the meter
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changes, often at the rate of every one to two measures, is a feature of many Western twentiethcentury compositions. Even in Karuna, the movement exhibiting the most Indian sound, Mayer imposed a 4/4 time signature. The flute and harp melodies in this movement exhibit an improvisatory quality due to their irregular phrase lengths, variety of rhythmic figurations, and generally unmetrical character. Coupled with the steady pulse provided by the harp drone, the movement gives the sense of an improvisatory jor. Mayer, however, still found it necessary to include a time signature, perhaps for no other reason than to make the score accessible to Western musicians. In Shringar Mayer drew upon the Western technique of retrograde. In the first three measures of the movement, Mayer presented five consecutive non-tertian chords for the harp (Example 29a). After the ensuing flute melody, the harp returns to play alone, this time restating the non-tertian chords in reverse order in measures 7–9 (Example 29b). Mayer preserved the pitches and octave placement of each chord; however, he lengthened the duration of the fifth chord (formerly a quarter note) to a half note during the retrograde statement, no longer needing the short note value to aid in the transition to the flute melody.
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Example 29a: Mayer, Nava Rasa, III. Shringar, mm. 1–3 (harp part only)
Example 29b: Mayer, Nava Rasa, III. Shringar, mm. 7–9 (harp part only)
Perhaps influenced by the military marches of John Philip Sousa, Mayer utilized a device akin to a stinger in three of the movements of Nava Rasa. Typically, a stinger is a tonic chord that occurs on the upbeat after a quarter rest; however, Mayer primarily adopted the concept of the delayed resolution, placing the last sonority of the movement on the downbeat instead. In Hasya Mayer included two beats of rest before the final octave Gs for comedic effect. In Bibhatsa he delayed the final C-major chord by two beats, while in Vira he inserted a 1/4 measure with a quarter rest before the F-minor chord at the end of the movement (Example 30).
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Example 30: Mayer, Nava Rasa, VI. Vira, mm. 23–26 Like L’aube enchantée, Nava Rasa is also transmitted through the use of a score that utilizes entirely Western notation. Mayer, whose musical training grounded him more in notated music than in oral tradition, created the score on his personal computer using the music-notating software Sibelius. Goodman and Radice, both Western musicians with no training in Indian music, required this type of notation to learn the work. The frequent meter changes, variety of forms, intricate relationship between the flute and harp, numerous scale-types employed, and above all the expectation of the piece being performed exactly as originally composed, also necessitated the creation of a score.
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In addition to his reliance on Western classical music traditions and incorporation of features of Indian classical music, Mayer also took advantage of elements common to both traditions. The most striking instance of this is exemplified by his choice of scale structures in Shringar, Vira, and Rudra. Mayer composed each of these movements using scale structures that resemble those of both Indian ragas and Western minor scales, although not always adhering strictly to either one. In Shringar, for example, he primarily utilized the harmonic minor scale, which has the same intervallic construction as the night raga Kirvani. With a tonic, or Sa, of F, the flute melody in measures 3–6 uses pitches exclusive to F harmonic minor/Kirvani; however the melody has a modal character due to the fact that the pitch C is emphasized more than the tonic note. Typical of Kirvani, the pitches Re (G), Ga (A-flat) and Dha (D-flat) play a prominent role in the melody, sustaining longer than others and occurring frequently. Mayer also constructed the melody in measures 9–13 based on the harmonic minor scale/Kirvani using C-sharp/D-flat as the tonic and liberally switching between enharmonic spellings of the melody notes. The lowered seventh scale degree (B-natural) in the descending figure in measure 11 provides the only digression from the harmonic minor/Kirvani, giving the melody in this measure a brief character of natural or melodic minor. Kirvani, with roots in Pilu, allows for the inclusion of pitches foreign to the raga, possibly explaining this short detour. 23 As the melody in measures 18–23 is merely a restatement of the one in measures 9–13 transposed up a major third, the scale is the same, with a tonal shift to F. Vira is also based on a type of minor scale/raga, this time resembling more closely the melodic minor. With a tonic of F, this movement utilizes both the lowered and natural seventh scale degrees. Aside from the E-natural present in a descending figure in the flute melody in
23
Bor, Raga Guide, 102. 79
measure 6, Mayer followed the conventions of melodic minor by using the natural seventh in ascending passages and the lowered form in descending ones. Atypical of this scale, he used only the lowered form of the sixth scale degree regardless of the direction of the passage in which he included it. Also foreign to melodic minor is the presence of B-naturals, although most of them function as lower neighbor tones. The melodic structure of Vira again resembles Kirvani with the exception of the lowered seventh scale degree and the inclusion of the Bnaturals. With the exception of a few foreign notes, the melodic content of measures 1–10 of Rudra can be attributed to either the Western melodic minor and Dorian modes or to the Indian raga Patdip. Mayer, however, did not adhere strictly to any of these. The afternoon raga Patdip, in its most widely used form, uses the natural sixth and seventh scale degrees in descent (it uses the same form in the ascent as well, but omits the sixth scale degree). In other words, Patdip resembles the ascending form of a melodic minor scale in both its ascent and descent. An older form of Patdip allows for the inclusion of the lowered seventh scale degree in descent along with the natural sixth scale degree, like Dorian; however, only the natural seventh scale degree is permitted in ascent. 24 With a tonic of F, measures 1–10 of Rudra use the natural sixth scale degree (D), while including both the lowered and natural form of the seventh scale degree (E-flat and E). The lowered seventh scale degree, which always appears adjacent to the natural sixth scale degree, gives the melody a Dorian/older Patdip flavor (Example 31).
Example 31: Mayer, Nava Rasa, IX. Rudra, mm. 6–7 (flute part only) 24
Kaufmann, Ragas of North India, 368. 80
Uncharacteristic of the melodic minor, but typical of Patdip, the natural seventh scale degree appears in descent as well as ascent (Example 32).
Example 32: Mayer, Nava Rasa, IX. Rudra, mm. 1–3 (harp part only) The A-natural in Example 32 may also stem from an older form of Patdip that includes the natural third in ascent. In this movement, Mayer therefore combined scale structures of both Indian and Western traditions. There are two instances in Nava Rasa in which Mayer included a pedal point, or single sustained drone pitch. In Shringar the harp sustains the tonic note F for ten beats while the flute plays a minor-sounding melody above it. Also based in a tonality reminiscent of F minor, the B section of Vira incorporates a pedal on F. The tonic pedal in this occurrence sustains for nearly the entire duration of the B section under cadenza-like passages shared by the flute and harp. As the Western pedal point closely resembles the Indian drone in its use of a sustained tone sounding beneath a moving melody, Mayer again drew upon an element shared by both traditions. Syncopation, a rhythmic device common to Indian and Western music alike, is also present in Nava Rasa. Bibhatsa offers several instances of syncopation in which the flute plays
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the figure eighth-quarter-eighth in the midst of a 2/4, 3/4, or 4/4 meter. The jhala pattern in Rudra also lends itself to syncopated rhythms. Although the harp plays continuous sixteenth notes at the beginning of the movement as illustrated in Example 32, the melody notes themselves often fall on the weak part of the beat, such as the last sixteenth of beat one or the second sixteenth of beat three. The harp reproduces a similar pattern of off-beat accents, only this time with ties across the beat, when the flute enters with the jhala figure in measure 5. Nava Rasa is a work that is based heavily on Western music traditions. At the same time it draws influences from the Indian musical tradition and incorporates elements common to both. Mayer’s strong background in Western music resulted in a work that is firmly rooted in Western tradition, while his training in Indian classical music helped him to complete this fusion.
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CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSION Although both L’aube enchantée and Nava Rasa are works for flute and harp that fuse elements of Indian and Western music, the extent to which they draw from each tradition varies significantly. L’aube enchantée is essentially an Indian composition with hints of Western influence. Nava Rasa, by contrast, is more Western in its orientation, borrowing to a lesser extent from Indian music. The degree to which Shankar and Mayer represent these two traditions in their flute and harp works, however, remains consistent with their biographies. Shankar’s training and career provide him with a stronger foundation in the Indian classical tradition than in the Western. From the folk songs his mother sang to him as a child to myriad performances with Uday’s dance troupe, members of his family exposed him to their native music from an early age. Shankar also received intense Indian musical training from his guru, Ustad Allaudin Khan, electing the Indian sitar as his primary instrument of study. Now in his sixty-sixth year on the concert platform, the sitar continues to be his main vehicle for solo performance. The international nature of Shankar’s career has also provided him with exposure to Western music, along with some of its leading composers and performers. During his youth, it was not unusual for a famous musician like Andrés Segovia or Georges Enesco to make an appearance at the Shankar home. In addition to listening to his diverse collection of Western classical records, Shankar frequently attended concerts, ballets, and operas with his brothers,
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enjoying the talents of Igor Stravinsky, Pablo Casals, and Arturo Toscanini. Tours of the United States with Uday’s dance troupe acquainted him with jazz through the live performances of Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, while his Russian tour with the Indian cultural delegation introduced him to Dmitry Shostakovich and Aram Khachaturian. In spite of his strong introduction to and appreciation for Western classical music, Shankar’s formal knowledge of this tradition is quite limited. Aside from taking a few piano lessons while at school in Paris, he never received any specialized instruction. Shankar is familiar enough with Western notation to be able to read it in slow passages. He is unable to write it, however, instead relying on the aid of an assistant when composing for Western musicians. 1 Zubin Mehta remarked on this limitation in relation to the composition of the second sitar concerto in a 1981 interview: “His problem is that he cannot read our notation, and I cannot read his—I mean, there is hardly any Indian notation. We have a catalyst between us who writes down what Ravi plays and who understands Indian music.” 2 As Shankar has relied on the aid of an assistant for notation, he has also enlisted the help of Western musicians to become familiar with the capabilities and properties of Western instruments. His numerous collaborations with such musicians as Philip Glass, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Yehudi Menuhin are a testament to his success in this domain. As exemplified by Nava Rasa, Mayer’s training and career embrace the Western tradition more than the Indian. Born to non-musical parents and into a low caste in Indian society, Mayer lacked the typical exposure to his country’s classical music. Through his studies with Uncle Henry, Sandre, Mehta, and at the Royal Academy of Music, he dedicated a large part of his 1
Shankar, Raga Mala, 216.
2
Zubin Mehta, quoted in Sorab Modi, “Ravi Shankar: Master of the Sitar,” Ovation 2 (April 1981): 17. 84
training to Western music and the violin. His professional performance endeavors as a violinist drew him towards Western music as well, playing minimum-wage gigs before joining the string sections of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Mayer’s Indian classical training, although not on par with his knowledge of Western music, gave him a foothold in this tradition as well. While Shankar’s training was essentially exclusive to Indian music, Mayer received formal instruction in the musics of both cultures. His lessons with Mukerjee, while not conventionally Indian in format, provided him with the fundamentals of Indian music, concepts he further explored while studying in London with Seiber. Mayer’s fluency in the two musical idioms ultimately led to his success with his Indojazz fusions and enabled him to compose classical fusion works such as Nava Rasa. From the time Shankar joined the Indian People’s Theatre Association in 1945, commissions for film and ballet music gave him the opportunity to explore the combination of Indian and Western musics. Conservative at first with his inclusion of Western instruments and elements, Shankar gradually began adding them into his new chamber ensemble Vādya Vrinda. By 1961 he was experimenting with jazz musicians, and subsequent to making George Harrison’s acquaintance in 1966 he even wrote a few songs with English lyrics. At roughly the same time as his encounter with Harrison, Shankar also began collaborating with well-known Western classical musicians. These associations resulted in five works for Yehudi Menuhin, two for Jean-Pierre Rampal, two for Mstislav Rostropovich, and a pair of concertos for sitar and orchestra. L’aube enchantée, one of the two commissions by Rampal, fits within the context of these collaborative works. The four pieces in which Shankar and Glass joined forces for the album Passages bare little resemblance to Shankar’s other collaborations with Western classical composers.
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According to Anoushka Shankar, “Menuhin, Rostropovich and other musicians always played Bapi’s [Shankar’s] compositions, so even though instrumentally they were duets, musically Bapi was teaching them to play Indian music. But with Philip Glass, he approached the collaboration in a novel way.” 3 For this revolutionary album on the New Age label Private Music, Shankar and Glass each wrote two themes, which they then exchanged and arranged to their own taste. Shankar based both of his improvisatory themes on ragas, while Glass contributed a pair of sixteen-measure passages that he played on the piano. Perhaps due to poor marketing, the album never achieved the distribution Shankar believed it deserved. 4 While the compositions on Passages remain exceptional in Shankar’s oeuvre, L’aube enchantée shares a number of similarities with Shankar’s other compositions for Western classical musicians. For example, in each of the works he composed for Menuhin and Rampal along with his two sitar concertos (Sitar Concerto and Raga Mala, respectively), Shankar employed a raga as the melodic basis. Prabhati, scored for violin and tabla, utilizes the morning raga Gunkali, while the violin-sitar duet Sawara-Kakali is based on the evening raga Tilang. Shankar used a different raga for each of the four movements of his Sitar Concerto and an astounding thirty ragas for Raga Mala, 5 with some of them making only brief eight-measure appearances. However, Shankar did not always adhere as strictly to the raga as he did in L’aube enchantée. In another violin-sitar duet titled Tenderness, Shankar adapted raga Nata-Bhairav to his own liking, while including a few notes foreign to the raga Sindhi Bhairavi in the second 3
Anoushka Shankar, Bapi, 83.
4
Shankar, Raga Mala, 250.
5
Shankar composed his second sitar concerto, Raga Mala, in the form of a ragamala. Inspired by the miniature paintings of gods and mortals by Rajput artists, ragamala, literally garland of ragas, when applied to music, refers to a piece that consists of a series of ragas all linked together to form one composition like a garland of melodies. 86
movement of his Sitar Concerto. Morning Love, Shankar’s only other composition for the Western flute, is primarily based on the Karnatak morning raga Nata Bhairavi (although the spelling of this raga is almost identical to that of Nata-Bhairav, the two ragas are quite different). As this work is written in the light classical style, it also includes brief excursions to other ragas. Shankar’s inclusion of tala in the gat sections of this body of compositions is as pervasive as his use of raga. Sawara-Kakali, along with another violin-sitar duet titled Raga Piloo, share the same tala as L’aube enchantée, tin taal. Perhaps for its resemblance to Western 6/8 meter, Shankar chose the six-beat cycle (3+3) Dadra taal for the opening of Morning Love, following it with the eight-beat cycle (4+4) Kaharwa. Shankar created talas in his concertos by displacing accents across the barline, thereby challenging the players of the New York Philharmonic with the eight distinct talas he included in Raga Mala, some consisting of cycles of 7½ and 13½ beats. Also present in a number of these fusions are the North Indian rhythmic devices tihai and chakradar tihai. The violin-sitar duets Tenderness, Twilight Mood, and Sawara-Kakali all include tihais, with the last featuring the rhythmic device spanning four full cycles of tin taal. Shankar’s first sitar concerto additionally includes chakradar tihais, while Raga Piloo exhibits a concluding chakradar tihai analogous to the one at the end of L’aube enchantée. Shankar opted for Indian forms in these collaborative works, frequently adhering to the strict classical alap-jor-gat scheme. Twilight Mood adopts this traditional form, and like L’aube enchantée, concludes with a virtuosic jhala. Some of his works, such as Raga Piloo, feature a short tabla solo that introduces the gat section as well as the tala. Due to the restrictive instrumentation, this is an element that Shankar could not explore in L’aube enchantée. At other
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times he called upon the semi-classical form known as thumri by evoking a sensuous and somber tone, as in the openings of the Sitar Concerto’s second and fourth movements. Regardless of instrumentation, Shankar has adhered primarily to the three-layered texture native to Indian music. The two sitar concertos presented a great challenge in this domain, as long stretches of monophony are extremely uncharacteristic of orchestral music, and the inclusion of an Indian drone to the texture was unprecedented. Shankar created the Indian texture by writing solo and unison melodies and then alternating them with themes presented by the sitar. He called upon the two harps to produce a drone at the outset of his Sitar Concerto, followed by bowed or pizzicato string accompaniment. Bongos, along with tom-toms and timpani, fill the rhythmic role of the tabla. Shankar has included a drone in all of his works, most often provided by one or two tanpuras, as in each of his compositions for Menuhin. When this instrument is absent, as in L’aube enchantée or the ’cello pieces for Rostropovich, Shankar instead gives the responsibility of the drone to the harp. With the traditional Indian performance lasting upwards of forty-five minutes, the majority of the collaborative pieces that Shankar composed are quite short, with the average lasting ten to twelve minutes. Raga Piloo is longer at about twenty-one minutes, while Raga Mala exceeds fifty-two. As the overall length of his compositions tends to fall short of Indian standard practice, so too do the component parts. With the typical alap in Indian music lasting twenty minutes, Shankar’s extremely concise alaps appear nontraditional as well. The use of notation, although also a rarity in Indian music, proved necessary in the transmission of much of this music to Western musicians. For many of these works, Shankar enlisted the aid of his students to transcribe the music. In the case of the concertos, his assistant
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transcribed music from Shankar’s Indian notation as well as from his improvisations. 6 In order to compensate for Menuhin’s relative unfamiliarity with Indian music, Shankar composed notated cadenzas that were intended to sound like free improvisation in both Sawara-Kakali and Tenderness. Morning Love provides one of the few exceptions in that it was never notated. In the video Pandit Ravi Shankar: The Man and His Music, Shankar can be seen teaching this spontaneous composition to Rampal both vocally and through the aid of his sitar. L’aube enchantée, by comparison, is currently his only published chamber work. Brief instances of Western harmony and counterpoint, like those found in L’aube enchantée, are present in Morning Love as well as in the two sitar concertos. In the liner notes to Shankar’s third West Meets East album, Frederick Teague writes, “Fleeting Western touches are heard in Ravi Shankar’s simple harmonic passages in Morning Love and in the slight chromaticisms in the same composition.” 7 Of his inclusion of Western harmony in Raga Mala, Shankar says the following: “My roots are in India, so this work will naturally be more Indian than Western. There will be elements of harmony and counterpoint, but the harmonic and contrapuntal structure will not be . . . so dense and heavy as to blur or kill the beauty of the ragas.” 8 Additional elements that Shankar explored in these fusion works, but did not incorporate into L’aube enchantée, include the semi-classical practice of modulation and the quotation of folk tunes. In the gat section of Morning Love, Shankar periodically inserted folk melodies prior to the return of the gat motive. The tonic shifts in a few of these instances, emulating the 6
Shankar, Raga Mala, 215.
7
Frederick Teague, notes to Improvisations: West Meets East, album 3, Angel Records SFO–37200, 1977, LP album. 8
Shankar, quoted in Modi, “Ravi Shankar,” 17. 89
Western system of modulation. The four-movement Sitar Concerto also features modulation, with the establishment of a new tonic in each movement requiring a second sitar. L’aube enchantée is also distinct from Shankar’s other compositions in terms of its instrumentation. The only one of his works composed for flute and harp, L’aube enchantée is one of only two pieces Shankar scored for Western instruments alone, the other being his ’cello and harp duet for Rostropovich. The remainder of his collaborative works combine instruments in varying ratios from both traditions. The fact that Shankar elected to use exclusively Western instruments in this work and then decided to publish it might suggest that he was seeking additional performance venues unavailable to his other compositions. In the context of Shankar’s substantial and diverse oeuvre, L’aube enchantée is representative of the handful of collaborative works that he composed for Western classical musicians. Nava Rasa, however, is characteristic of Mayer’s compositional output as a whole, with all of his works—whether scored for solo instruments, chamber group, orchestra, chorus, or jazz ensemble—sharing the common thread of uniting Indian music with Western. Both the large-scale and internal forms of Nava Rasa are consistent with many of Mayer’s other works. Favoring the Western multi-movement approach to overall form, Mayer tended to unify his compositions with an Indian concept, in some cases taken from religious epics. Trimurti, a work for flute, piano, and tanpura, for example, consists of three movements, with each musically depicting one of the three main Hindu gods, Brahma, Shiva, and Vishnu. Similar to Shankar’s approach in his second sitar concerto, Mayer composed several works in the form of a ragamala, with each movement utilizing a different raga, but united by a common idea. His flute work Sri Krishna implements this ragamala concept. In seven movements, the story of Vishnu’s best-loved incarnation, the flute-playing Krishna, serves to unify this piece.
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Featuring the same format of nine short movements as Nava Rasa, Mayer’s solo clarinet works Raga Music and Sargam also adopt the ragamala principle, the latter completing a four-day cycle with the times of day of each raga. With regard to internal formal structure, Mayer demonstrates a predilection for the Western ABA form. In addition to its appearance in three movements of Nava Rasa, Mayer utilized this form in many other works, including the second movement of his Violin Sonata, the sixth movement of Sri Krishna, and the eighth movement of Prahbanda for ’cello and piano. In this last example, the A sections further subdivide into an “aba” identical to the construction of Hasya. Although Nava Rasa is his only work for flute and harp, Mayer composed a number of solo and chamber pieces for Western forces alone. Notable among these are a violin sonata, two piano compositions, Sangit Alamkara and Calcutta-Nagar, Kriti for piano and woodwind quintet, and Sangit Adbut for oboe and piano. Evidently comfortable with the intricacies of both Indian and Western instruments, he also scored a substantial number of works for combinations of instruments from both cultures. Shanta Quintet, for example, unites the sitar with a Western string quartet, and Ragamalika and Six Ragamalas pair the violin and ’cello respectively with the tanpura. Mayer did not compose any works for Indian instruments exclusively. One can also hear the manipulation of timbre and register displayed in Nava Rasa in other works by Mayer. The extremes of register employed in Bhayanaka echo those found in both Sri Krishna and the flute concerto Mandala ki Raga Sangeet. These latter works, commissioned by James Galway, encompass an even broader range, extending from b to an unusually high E-flat'''' and E'''', respectively. Mayer’s choice to switch between the flute and alto flute in Nava Rasa has precedence in Sri Krishna as well. In the third movement of Sri
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Krishna, which includes a devotional song, or bhajan, Mayer capitalized on the serious connotations of the alto flute by scoring the entire movement for this instrument. As exemplified by Nava Rasa, Mayer’s compositions feature a variety of textures. While Partita for his Indo-Jazz Fusions group includes three-part counterpoint for the flute, saxophone, and trumpet, the fifth movement of Sri Krishna displays a homophonic texture between alto flute and piano. The accompaniment of this latter example resembles that of Hasya in that a short motif is repeated in an ostinato-like manner, creating a drone effect. The Indian drone, in fact, does play a significant role in Mayer’s works, contributing to the melody-drone or melodydrone-percussion textures inherent in much of his music. Mayer therefore called for the use of the tanpura in a number of his works, including Mandala ki Raga Sangeet, Sri Krishna, Trimurti, and Six Ragamalas, along with the majority of his Indo-jazz compositions. When the tanpura is not playing, Mayer often created Pa-Sa-Sa-Sạ drone patterns with other instruments. Moreover, the opening movement of his flute concerto is reminiscent of an alap, as the flute plays improvisatory-sounding passages over the drone of the tanpura. When the orchestra finally enters, the tanpura drops out, and the drone pattern is taken over first by the double basses (playing harmonics) followed by the marimba. The practice of recycling compositional material for use in later works typical of many prolific composers is one that Mayer commonly engaged in as well. The main melodies of the fourth movement of his Violin Sonata, for example, form the basis of the first movement of Sri Krishna. Excluding the improvisatory-sounding opening, the third movement of Trimurti is taken directly from the second movement of Prabhanda. Similarly, Mayer quoted verbatim the first half of his flute composition Alaap and Kirtan in the opening of his flute concerto. He also
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reused the last seventeen measures of this same piece for a literal quotation in the opening of the fourth movement of the concerto. Nava Rasa provides a further example of this trend. Mayer clearly used Sargam’s ninth movement, titled Raga Nata, as inspiration for Nava Rasa’s second movement, Hasya. Both movements feature some variation of the ABA form; however, the B sections of each utilize distinct melodic material. The most evident similarity between these two movements is the melodic structure of the A sections. Largely retaining the integrity of the intervallic relationship, Mayer reworked it to fit the comic character of Hasya. He converted some slurred articulations to staccato; simplified the meter from one that changes every measure between 3/4, 1/4, 2/4, and 4/4 to a consistent 4/4; and transposed the clarinet’s melody up a fifth (Examples 33 and 34).
Example 33: Mayer, Sargam for solo clarinet, IX. Raga Nata, mm. 1–9
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Example 34: Mayer, Nava Rasa, II. Hasya, mm. 1–12 (flute part only) Mayer included Indian jhala techniques, like those depicted in the ninth movement (Rudra) of Nava Rasa, in several of his other compositions. In the fifth movement of Prabhanda, appropriately titled Jhalla, the ’cello plays a number of rapidly repeated notes interspersed with melody notes, emphasizing a number of different pitches in addition to the tonic and dominant. Mayer also called upon the ’cello to play jhala figures in Six Ragamalas. At first reiterating the tonic note D, the ’cello later employs double stops to simultaneously repeat both drone notes D (Sa) and G (Pa). Other instances of jhala-like figures appear in the piano in the fourteenth movement of Calcutta-Nagar (Hooghley nadi) and for the flute at the end of the second movement of Sri Krishna. Mayer’s compositions exist primarily in score format. Unlike Shankar, Mayer composed his own music using Western notation. The only instances in which he left room for improvisation were in the arrangements for his Indo-Jazz Fusion groups, and even then he
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restricted the players to a prescribed collection of pitches. 9 Nava Rasa, like all of Mayer’s classical fusion works, is scored in traditional Western notation with no place for improvisation. Although Nava Rasa shares many similarities with Mayer’s other compositions, he drew upon elements of Indian music to a lesser extent than in his other works. His Western approach to meter throughout Nava Rasa provides a good example of this contrast, as he based numerous other works on talas or some derivative. According to John Robison, “Mayer does not limit himself exclusively to Indian tala patterns, but he still uses them quite often, possibly in an altered form.” 10 The opening of the sixteenth movement (The Ghora-Gharis) of Calcutta-Nagar provides an example of Mayer’s literal usage of a tala. Employing a 7/8 time signature resembling the seven-beat Rupak taal, he emphasized the start of each cycle by outlining a perfect fifth at the beginning of each measure on the strongest beat, or sam, of the cycle. He further delineated the cycle by adding the internal subdivision 3+2+2 characteristic of Rupak taal. In the eighth movement of Prabhanda, Mayer took the fifteen-beat internal pattern of subdivisions of Adapann taal (2+2+2+4+3+2) and reorganized it into 4+4+3+4. 11 In a recent interview, Gillian Mayer claimed that John always employed raga as a melodic basis for his music. 12 In the case of Nava Rasa, however, he used this Indian element in a more restricted manner than in his other works. While Mayer based each of the nine movements of Sargam and Raga Music on separate ragas, he only included one clear raga (Pilu) and vestiges of a few others in Nava Rasa. Furthermore, while Mayer ignored the importance of 9
Shipton, “Indo-Jazz Fusions,” accessed 20 January 2006.
10
Robison, “The Music of John Mayer,” 176.
11
Ibid., 164–66.
12
Gillian Mayer, interview, 14 January 2006.
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the vadi and samvadi in these raga appearances, he often emphasized them in his other works. For example, in his Indo-jazz composition Multani, based on the raga of the same name, Mayer effectively called attention to these important pitches by placing them on metrically significant beats of the tala Ektal. 13 As is typical of his other works, Sargam and Sri Krishna additionally use the specific pakad, or catch phrase, appropriate to each piece’s raga. In Nava Rasa, however, Mayer disregarded this subtlety. Melodic ornaments, or gamaka, appear frequently in Mayer’s compositions. Sometimes he used embellishments distinctive to the raga, while other times he included ones not derived from the raga, employing them as special effects to enhance the mood. The solo flute in Mayer’s flute concerto executes flutter tonguing, meends (slow moving glissandi), grace notes, turns, and trills. The strings in the same concerto play harmonics and pizzicato, while the violin in his solo sonata additionally executes glissandi and spiccati. Nava Rasa, however, makes little use of such embellishments. The occasional glissandi, trills, and turns that do appear have little connection to the specific ragas used. A final Indian influence that factors into several of Mayer’s pieces is the use of both secular and religious Indian folk song styles. Mayer included the extremely sentimental Bengali devotional song kirtan following the alap of his flute work Alaap and Kirtan, and later reused it in the fourth movement of the flute concerto. In the tradition of singing kirtan, a soloist sings the hymn first, followed by the congregation. Mayer attempted to create this distinction in both works by stating the eight-measure melody first in the flute’s low register, followed immediately by a literal restatement an octave higher. Sri Krishna includes two different types of folk songs as they become pertinent to the story of Krishna. The third movement, Murali (The flute-
13
Robison, “The Music of John Mayer,” 159. 96
player), depicts a scene from the Mahabharata in which the mischievous Krishna steals the clothes of the village milkmaids while they bathe in the river. The devotional bhajans, which occur twice in this movement, represent the girls pleading, hands folded in an attitude of prayer, for the return of their garments. In the fifth movement Gopala-Gita (Song of the cowherd), the milkmaids (now clothed) dance in a circle clapping their hands, while Krishna stands in the center and plays a simple five-note melody in the style of a Garba song. 14 The Indian-Western fusion works of Shankar and Mayer present a number of potential drawbacks to Indian music. As the classical music of India is a highly improvisatory art form, the introduction of a printed score tends to stifle the creativity and spontaneity of the performers. Any notation imposed on these works also tends to restrain the melodic decoration or gamakas so characteristic of Indian music. Western instruments are often limited in their execution of these melodic ornaments and are incapable of expressing the subtleties possible on Indian instruments. The raga, a fundamental element of Indian music, may also suffer from this type of fusion. As illustrated in Nava Rasa, composers often overlook the extra-musical associations of the ragas, instead employing only the scale structure as a mode in order to elicit an exotic sound. So, too, may the composer compromise the alap during which the musician explores the raga at the beginning of a performance by compressing its length. The two-minute alap in L’aube enchantée exemplifies this point. Not only compromising aspects of Indian music, these fusions impose limitations on traditional Western elements as well. Harmony, a cornerstone of Western classical music, plays a restricted role in these compositions as it is virtually absent from Indian music. Modulation, another incompatible element, is also generally absent. This is especially true of compositions
14
John Mayer, notes to James Galway Plays Mayer, RCA RL 25389, 1982, LP album. 97
that utilize Indian instruments that were not designed to modulate, such as the sitar or bamboo flute. Moreover, composers often default to the monophonic or heterophonic textures common to Indian music, rather than taking advantage of the variety of textures that arise from Western harmony. In spite of the potential challenges of melding these two musical traditions, this genre has made a valuable contribution to the world of music. The flute and harp works of Mayer and Shankar are a welcome addition to the repertoire. Although the flute and harp duo is an established medium with a significant body of literature attached to it, there is a dearth of highquality music written for it. Goodman and Radice were obviously aware of this deficiency when they approached Mayer with their commission. From a pedagogical standpoint these fusion works help to educate both audience members and performers about music that would otherwise be alien to them. Supplementing performances of this music with lectures and/or program notes, of which Shankar and Mayer were both champions, furthers the didactic quality of these works. In the early part of the twentieth century, two influential musicians were born ten years apart in the North of India. Ravi Shankar and John Mayer both embraced music from an early age and pursued careers as composers and performers. Although their musical paths took considerably different turns, both felt compelled to unite music from their native India with that of the West. In the midst of establishing their own musical languages for communicating in this new genre, Shankar and Mayer were both drawn to the combination of the flute and harp as a medium for this expression. Versatile in its ability to perform Western harmony as well as Indian drone patterns, the harp provides the perfect complement to the ethereal sounds of the flute. Through L’aube enchantée and Nava Rasa, Shankar and Mayer successfully introduced Krishna to Pan and Saraswati to Apollo.
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SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books Bagchee, Sandeep. Nad: Understanding Raga Music. Mumbai: Eeshwar, 1998. Bandyopadhyaya, Shripada. The Origin of Raga: A Concise History of the Evolution, Growth, and the Treatment of Raga from the Age of Bharatamuni to Bhatkhande, 2d ed. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 1977. Bhatkande, V. N. Kramik Pustak Malika. Vol. 2. Hathras: Sangeeta Karyalaya, 1954–59. Bor, Joep, ed. The Raga Guide: A Survey of 74 Hindustani Ragas. Monmouth, U.K.: Nimbus Records, 1999. Bose, Narendra Kumar. Melodic Types of Hindusthan: A Scientific Interpretation of the Raga System of Northern India. Bombay: Jaico Publishing House, 1960. Bose, Sunil. Indian Classical Music. New Delhi: Vikas Paperbacks, 1993. Brown, Robert E. “India’s Music.” In Readings in Ethnomusicology, edited by David McAllester, 192–329. New York: Johnson Reprint, 1971. Clayton, Martin. Time in Indian Music: Rhythm, Meter, and Form in North Indian Rag Performance. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. Clements, Ernest. Introduction to the Study of Indian Music. London: Longmans and Green, 1913. Daniélou, Alain. Northern Indian Music. New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1969. ________. Northern Indian Music: Theory and Technique. Vol. 1. Calcutta: Visva Bharati, 1949. ________. Northern Indian Music: The Main Ragas. Vol. 2. London: Halcyon Press, 1954. ________. The Ragas of Northern Indian Music, 2d ed. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1991.
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Deshpande, Vamanrao H. Indian Musical Traditions: An Aesthetic Study of the Gharanas in Hindustani Music. Translated by S. H. Deshpande. Bombay: Popular Prakashan Private, 1973. Farrell, Gerry. Indian Music and the West. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. Floyd, Leela. Indian Music. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1980. Fox-Strangways, A. H. The Music of Hindostan. London: Oxford University Press, 1914. Gautam, Madura R. The Musical Heritage of India. New Delhi: Abhinav, 1980. Ghosh, Nikhil. Fundamentals of Raga and Tala with a New System of Notation. Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1968. Holroyde, Peggy. The Music of India. With a forward by Ravi Shankar. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1972. Jairazbhoy, Nazir Ali. The Rags of Northern Indian Music: Their Structure and Evolution. Middletown, Conn.: Wesleyan University Press, 1971. Joshi, G. N. Down Melody Lane. Bombay: Orient Longman, 1984. ________. Understanding Indian Classical Music. Bombay: Taraporevala, 1977. Kaufmann, Walter. The Ragas of North India. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1968. Kippen, James. Gurudev’s Drumming Legacy: Music, Theoary and Nationalism in the Mrdang aur Tabla Vandanpaddhati of Gurudev Patwardhan. Williston, Vt.: Ashgate Publishing, 2006. Krishnaswamy, S. Musical Instruments of India. Boston: Crescendo Publishing, 1967. Lentz, Donald A. Tones and Intervals of Hindu Classical Music. Lincoln: University of Nebraska, 1961. Mahajan, Anupam. Ragas in Hindustani Music: Conceptual Aspects. New Delhi: Gyan Publishing House, 2001. Malm, William P. Music Cultures of the Pacific, the Near East, and Asia, 3d ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1996. McIntosh, Solveig. Hidden Faces of Ancient Indian Song. Williston, Vt.: Ashgate Publishing, 2005.
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Menon, Raghava R. Discovering Indian Music. Bombay: Somaiya Publications, 1973. Mittal, Anjali. Hindustani Music and the Aesthetic Concept of Form. New Delhi: D. K. Printworld, 2000. Mukhopadhyaya, Dhurjatiprasada. Indian Music: An Introduction. Bombay: Kutub Publishers, 1945. Neuman, Daniel M. The Life of Music in North India: The Organization of an Artistic Tradition. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1980. Popley, Herbert A. The Music of India. London: Oxford University Press, 1921. Prajnanananda, Swami. A Historical Study of Indian Music. Calcutta: Anandadhara Prakashan, 1965. Radice, William. Gifts: Poems 1992–1999. Newcastle upon Tyne: Grevatt & Gravatt, 2002. Ramakrishna, Lalita. The Musical Heritage of India. New Delhi: Shubhi, 2001. Ramanna, Raja. Structure of Music in Raga and Western Systems. Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1993. Ranade, Ganesh H. Hindusthani Music: Its Physics and Aesthetics, 3d ed. Bombay: Popular Prakashan, 1971. Ravikumar, Geetha. The Concept and Evolution of Raga in Hindustani and Karnatic Music. Mumbai: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 2002. Ravi Shankar. New York: National Publishers, 1967. Reck, David B. “India/South India.” In Worlds of Music, 3d ed., ed. Jeff Todd Titon, 252–315. New York: Schirmer Books, 1996. ________. “Some Principles of Indian Classical Music.” In Musics of Many Cultures: An Introduction, ed. Elizabeth May, 83–110. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980. Rosenthal, Ethel. The Story of Indian Music and Its Instruments. London: W. Reeves, 1929. Rowell, Lewis. Music and Musical Thought in Early India. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992. Ruckert, George E. Music in North India: Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Rudhyar, Dane. The Rebirth of Hindu Music. Madras: Theosophical Publishing House, 1928.
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Schnabel, Tom. Stolen Moments: Conversations with Contemporary Musicians. Los Angeles: Acrobat Books, 1988. Shahinda, Begum. Indian Music. London: Marsh and Company, 1914. Shankar, Anoushka. Bapi: The Love of My Life. New Delhi: Roli Books, 2002. Shankar, Ravi. Learning Indian Music: A Systematic Approach. Fort Lauderdale: Onomatopoeia, 1979. ________. My Music, My Life. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1968. ________. Raag Anurag. Calcutta: Ananda, 1980. ________. Raga Mala: The Autobiography of Ravi Shankar. Edited and introduced by George Harrison. New York: Welcome Rain, 1999. Shankar, Ravi, and Penelope Esterbrook, Music Memory. Bombay: Kinnara School of Music, 1967. Sharman, Gopal. Filigree in Sound: Form and Content in Indian Music. London: Andre Deutsch, 1970. Shirali, Vishnudass. Hindu Music and Rhythm. Paris: Studium, 1936. Simon, Robert Leopold. Spiritual Aspects of Indian Music. Delhi: Sundeep Prakashan, 1984. Sinha, Purnima. An Approach to the Study of Indian Music. Calcutta: Indian Publications, 1970. Subba Rao, Basavapatna. Bharatiya sangeet: Raga Nidhi; Encyclopedia of Indian Ragas, A Comparative Study of Hindustani & Karnatak Ragas. With a foreword by M. Bhawanishankar Niyogi. Madras: Music Academy, 1996. Subramaniam, L., Viji Subramaniam, and Yehudi Menuhin. Euphony: Indian Classical Music. Madras: East West Books, 1999. Vaidyanathan, Anant, ed. Classical Music of India. Calcutta: Sangeet Research Academy, 1985. Wade, Bonnie C. Music in India: The Classical Traditions. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1979. White, Emmons E. Appreciating India’s Music. Boston: Crescendo Publishing Company, 1971. Widdess, Richard. The Ragas of Early Indian Music. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995. Woodfield, Ian. Music of the Raj: A Social and Economic History of Music in Late EighteenthCentury Anglo-Indian Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. 102
Articles Alter, Andrew Burton. “Institutional Music Education: Northern Area.” In Garland Encyclopedia of World Music 5: 442–48. New York: Garland Publishing, 2000. Anandagiri. “Spiritual Consciousness of Ravishankar.” In The Great Shankars: Uday, Ravi, ed. Dibyendu Ghosh, 93–95. Calcutta: Agee Prakashani, 1983. Balsara, V. “Raviji as I Know Him.” In The Great Shankars: Uday, Ravi, ed. Dibyendu Ghosh, 77. Calcutta: Agee Prakashani, 1983. Bornoff, Jack. “Music, Musicians, and Communication.” Cultures 1 (1973): 113–64. Chandra, Sarvesh. “The Gharana System of Teaching in Hindustani Music: A Critical Analysis.” Journal of the Indian Musicological Society 10 (1979): 31–33. Clayton, Martin. “Introduction: Towards a Theory of Musical Meaning in India and Elsewhere.” British Journal of Ethnomusicology 10 (2001): 1–17. Cooper, Robin. “Abstract Structure and the Indian Raga System.” Ethnomusicology 21 (1977): 1–32. Das, Sunil. “Maestro of Tunes.” In The Great Shankars: Uday, Ravi, ed. Dibyendu Ghosh, 83–87. Calcutta: Agee Prakashani, 1983. Deshpande, Vamanrao H. “The Change in Arts—Recent Trends in Hindustani Music: An Appraisal.” Journal of the Indian Musicological Society 26 (1995): 14–27. Farrell, Gerry. “Reflecting Surfaces: The Use of Elements from Indian Music in Popular Music and Jazz.” Popular Music 7 (1988): 189–205. Ghosh, Dibyendu. “Ravishankar: A Singular Phenomenon in the World of Classical Music.” In The Great Shankars: Uday, Ravi, ed. Dibyendu Ghosh, 55–57. Calcutta: Agee Prakashani, 1983. Harrison, Max. “Concerto for the Instruments of the Orchestra.” Musical Times 117 (1976): 247. Henry, Edward O. “The Rationalization of Intensity in Indian Music.” Ethnomusicology 46 (2000): 33–55. Holland, B. “In the Fusion of Eastern and Western Music, a Lot Can Be Lost in Translation.” New York Times, 12 May 2001, A20. Hunt, Ken. “John Mayer.” Roots 251 (2004): 15.
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________. “Raga’s Role: An Introduction to the Classical Music of India.” Sing Out 40 (1995): 52–59. ________. “When East Makes Music with West.” Classic CD 111 (1999): 78–81. Jairazbhoy, Nazir. “Factors Underlying Important Notes in North Indian Music.” Ethnomusicology 16 (1972): 63–81. Jog, Vishnu G. “Ravishankar: The Innovator Par-Excellence.” In The Great Shankars: Uday, Ravi, ed. Dibyendu Ghosh, 71–72. Calcutta: Agee Prakashani, 1983. “John Mayer.” Classical Music 758 (2004): 9. Kaufman, Walter. “Rasa, Raga-Mala, and Performance Times in North Indian Ragas.” Ethnomusicology 9 (1965): 272–91. Kippen, James R. “Hindustani Tala.” In Garland Encyclopedia of World Music 5: 110–37. New York: Garland Publishing, 2000. Lewiston-Sharpe, David. “Mayer, John.” In Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy (Accessed 29 August 2005), . Martin, John. “Hindu Dancers Win Plaudits in Debut.” Review of Uday Shankar’s Dance Company. New York Times, 27 December 1932, 11. ________. “Shankar Dancers Open Season Here.” Review of Uday Shankar’s Dance Company. New York Times, 16 December 1937, 35. Martinez, José Luis. “Semiotics and the Art Music of India.” Music Theory Online 6/1 (January 2000). Available from http://smt.ucsb.edu/mto/issues/mto.00.6.1/mto.00.6.1. martinez.html. Internet. Accessed 4 December 2003. “Mayer Dies in Car Accident.” British Music Society News 102 (2004): 186. Mazumdar, Nalin. “Ravishankar: The Great Maestro.” In The Great Shankars: Uday, Ravi, ed. Dibyendu Ghosh, 73–76. Calcutta: Agee Prakashani, 1983. Meer, Wim Van Der. “Hindustani Music in the 20th Century.” Asian Music 18 (1986): 208–11. ________. “The Influence of Social Change on Indian Music.” The World of Music 20 (1978): 133–35. Menon, Raghava R. “Gamaka.” In The Penguin Dictionary of Indian Classical Music, 1995 ed. Miner, Allyn. “Musical Instruments: Northern Area.” In Garland Encyclopedia of World Music 5: 331–49. New York: Garland Publishing, 2000.
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Mittal, Anjali. “Hindustani Music and the Aesthetic Concept of Form.” Journal of the Indian Musicological Society 31 (2000): 134. Modi, Sorab. “Ravi Shankar: Master of the Sitar.” Ovation 2 (April 1981): 16–17. Montagu, Jeremy, Howard Mayer Brown, Jaap Frank, and Ardalpowell. “Flute.” In Grove Music Online, ed. L Macy (Accessed 7 March 2006), . Mukhopadhyay, Monishankar. “Bengal’s Sun Ravishankar.” In The Great Shankars: Uday, Ravi, ed. Dibyendu Ghosh, 60–70. Calcutta: Agee Prakashani, 1983. Narasimhan, Sakuntala. “Text and Texture in Compositions of Hindustani and Carnatic Music—A Comparative Note.” Journal of the Indian Musicological Society 21 (1990): 52–54. Ollikkala, Robert. “The Social Organization of Music and Musicians: Northern Area.” In Garland Encyclopedia of World Music 5: 372–82. New York: Garland Publishing, 2000. Qureshi, Regula Burckhardt. “Confronting the Social: Mode of Production and the Sublime for Indian Art Music.” Ethnomusicology 44 (2000): 15–38. Ranade, Ashok D. “Towards History of Hindustani Music.” Journal of the Indian Musicological Society 31 (2000): 53–120. ________. “Transmission of Nonclassical Traditions.” In Garland Encyclopedia of World Music 5: 468–78. New York: Garland Publishing, 2000. Rao, Vijay Raghav. “At the Feet of My Master.” In The Great Shankars: Uday, Ravi, ed. Dibyendu Ghosh, 58–59. Calcutta: Agee Prakashani, 1983. Reck, David B. “Beatles Orientalis: Influences from Asia in a Popular Song Tradition.” Asian Music 16 (1985): 83–149. Reis, Flora. “Classification of Musical Instruments.” In Garland Encyclopedia of World Music 5: 319–30. New York: Garland Publishing, 2000. Robison, John O. “The Music of John Mayer: An Intercultural Composer from India.” Intercultural Music 5 (2003): 147–182. Ruckert, George, and Richard Widdess. “Hindustani Raga.” In Garland Encyclopedia of World Music 5: 64–88. New York: Garland Publishing, 2000. Samaresh, Bose. “Ravishankar.” In The Great Shankars: Uday, Ravi, ed. Dibyendu Ghosh, 90–91. Calcutta: Agee Prakashani, 1983.
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Saxena, Sushil Kumar. “Hindustani Music: Some Basic-Aesthetic Reflections.” Journal of the Indian Musicological Society 32 (2001): 48–83. Shankar, Ravi. “My First Visit to China.” In The Great Shankars: Uday, Ravi, ed. Dibyendu Ghosh, 78–82. Calcutta: Agee Prakashani, 1983. Sisman, Elaine. “Variation.” In The New Harvard Dictionary of Music, 1986 ed. Slawek, Stephen. “The Classical Master-Disciple Tradition.” In Garland Encyclopedia of World Music 5: 457–67. New York: Garland Publishing, 2000. ________. “Hindustani Instrumental Music.” In Garland Encyclopedia of World Music 5: 188–208. New York: Garland Publishing, 2000. ________. “Ravi Shankar as Mediator between a Traditional Music and Modernity.” In Ethnomusicology and Modern Music History, edited by Stephen Blum, Philip V. Bohlman, and Daniel M. Neuman, 278–305. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991. ________. “Shankar, Ravi.” In Grove Music Online, ed. L Macy (Accessed 29 August 2005), . Thakore, D. “Pandit Ravishanker—in an Interview.” Journal of the Indian Musicological Society 14 (1983): 25–30. Trotter, Robert M. “Raga Puriya Kalyan: Opening the Door to a Treasure.” College Music Symposium 35 (1995): 109–23. Westbrook, Peter. “The Bansuri and Pulangoil: Bamboo Flutes of India.” The Flutist Quarterly 28, no. 3 (2003): 30–34. Yeung, Ann, ed. “Nava Rasas for Flute and Harp by John Mayer.” World Harp Congress Review 8 (spring 2003): 26. Young, Robert. “Tipping the Scales (John Mayer and Joe Harriott’s Indo-Jazz Fusion; 1967–8 recordings reissued).” The Wire 177 (1998): 54–56.
Dissertations and Theses Bauer, Annette. “Musical Ingenuity in the West: Ali Akbar Khan’s Intercultural ‘Fusion Projects.’” M.A. thesis, University of California, Santa Cruz, 2004. Charles, David Armstrong. “Fusion for Survival: Expanding International Audiences for Indian Classical Music.” M.M. thesis, University of Texas at Austin, 2003.
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Claman, David Neumann. “Western Composers and India’s Music: Concepts, History, and Recent Music.” Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 2002. Clayton, Martin R. L. “The Rhythmic Organisation of North Indian Classical Music: Tal, Lay and Laykari.” Ph.D. diss., University of London, 1993. Hakuta, N. “Musical Form in India.” Ph.D. diss., Tokyo University Arts, 1959. Hassett, Philip A. “Improvised Compositions: Religion and Indian Classical Music in the United States.” M.A. thesis, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1999. Hay, Katherine. “East Asian Influence on the Composition and Performance of Contemporary Flute Music.” Ph.D. diss., Columbia University Teacher’s College, 1980. Martinez, José Luis. “Semiosis in Hindustani Music.” Ph.D. diss., University of Helsinki, 1997. Potter, Catherine. “Hariprasad Chaurasia: The Individual and the North Indian Classical Music Tradition.” M.A. diss., Université de Montréal, 1993. Qureshi, Regula. “Western and Indian Art Music Styles Manifested in the Playing Techniques of the Violoncello and the Sarangi.” M.M. thesis, University of Alberta, 1973. Randles, Kathleen Martha. “Exoticism in the Melodie: The Evolution of Exotic Techniques as Used in Songs by David, Bizet, Saint-Saens, Debussy, Roussel, Delage, Milhaud, and Messiaen.” D.M.A. thesis, Ohio State University, 1992. Swift, Gordon Nichols. “The Violin as Cross Cultural Vehicle: Ornamentation in South Indian Violin and Its Influence on a Style of Western Violin Improvisation.” Ph.D. diss., Wesleyan University, 1989. Yen, Ruey Shyang. “Exoticism in Modern Guitar Music: Works of Carlo Domeniconi, Ravi Shankar, Benjamin Britten, and Dusan Bogdanovic.” D.M.A. thesis, Arizona State University, 1996.
Interviews Kannikswaram, Kanniks. Interview by author. Minidisc recording. Mason, Ohio, 3 December 2003 and 29 November 2005. Krishnan, Srinivas, Director of Miami University Global Rhythms Ensemble. Interview by author. Minidisc recording. Oxford, Ohio, 30 October 2003 and 6 November 2003. Mayer, Gillian. Interview by author. Telephone interview, 14 January 2006. Radice, Helen. Interview by author. Telephone interview, 10 November 2005.
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Websites Hunt, Ken. “John Mayer: Composer Who Creatively Fused Indian and Western Music.” http://www.guardian .co.uk/arts/news/obituary/0,12723,1168517,00.html. Accessed 10 November 2005. Jenkins, Todd S. “John Mayer: Violinist, Composer, Indo-Jazz Fusion Pioneer.” http://www.jazzhouse.org/gone/lastpost2.php3?edit=1079642692. Accessed 3 May 2005. McKeith, Andrew, ed. “John Mayer.” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/ news/2004/03/20/db2002.xml&sSheet=/portal/2004/03/20/ixportal.html. Accessed 29 August 2005. Radice, Helen. “John Mayer.” http://harpist.typepad.com/twangtwangtwang/2004/07/ john_mayer. html. Accessed 3 February 2005. Shipton, Alyn. “Indo-Jazz Fusions.” http://www.indojazz.f9.co.uk/indojazz.htm. Accessed 20 January 2006.
Liner notes Braden, Anders. Notes to Duo 2XM. Sforzando Productions SFZ1007, 2002. Compact disc. Broadbank, Robin. Notes to Asian Airs. Nimbus Records NI 5499, 1996. Compact disc. Dobrée, Georgina. Notes to The Green Tide. Clarinet Classics CC0012, 1995. Compact disc. Fleming, Shirley. Notes to Rampal and Lagoya in Concert. RCA ARL2–2631, 1978. LP album. Mayer, John. Notes to James Galway Plays Mayer. RCA RL 25389, 1982. LP album. Shankar, Ravi. Notes to Jazzmine. Music of India CDNF040, 1980. LP album. Teague, Frederick. Notes to Improvisations: West Meets East, album 3. Angel Records SFO– 37200, 1977. LP album. Verdery, Benjamin. Notes to Enchanted Dawn. GRI Music GRICD 005, 1998. Compact disc.
Audio and Video Recordings About Foreign Lands and People. Patricia Dominowsky and Jude Mollenhauer. Chaminade Productions, n.d. Compact disc.
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The Concert for Bangladesh. Apple Records, 1971. LP album. Cosmic Eye. Dream Sequence. EMI SLRZ 1030, 1972. LP album. Diptych. Gro Sandvik and Stein-Erik Olsen. Simax PSC 1083, 1994. Compact disc. Duo 2XM. Mats Möller and Johannes Möller. Sforzando Productions SFZ1007, 2002. Compact disc. Enchanted Dawn. Barbara Mahler and Delaine Fedson. Peridot Productions PP7922, 1992. Compact disc. Enchanted Dawn. Rie Schmidt and Benjamin Verdery. GRI Music GRICD 005, 1998. Compact disc. Enchanted Dreams . . . Exotic Dances. Geoffrey Collins and Alice Giles. Tall Poppies TP031, 1994. Compact disc. Histoire du tango. János Bálint and Pál Paulikovics. Capriccio 10498, 1995. Compact disc. Hussain, Zakir. Making Music. ECM Records 1349, 1987. Compact disc. James Galway Plays Mayer. John Mayer, James Galway, Phillip Moll, and Hiroyuki Iwaki. RCA RL 25389, 1982. LP album. Joe Harriott and John Mayer Double Quintet. Indo-Jazz Fusions I. Atlantic ST-1482, 1967. LP album. ________. Indo-Jazz Fusions II. Columbia SX 6215, 1968. LP album. ________. Indo-Jazz Suite. Atlantic ST-1465, 1966. LP album. John Mayer’s Indo-Jazz Fusions. Asian Airs. Nimbus Records NI 5499, 1996. Compact disc. ________. Inja. FMR Records CD69 V0400, 2000. Compact disc. ________. Ragatal. Nimbus Records NI 5569, 1998. Compact disc. ________. Shiva Nataraj. FMR Records CD86 0601, 2001. Compact disc. L’aube enchantée. Lise Daoust and Marie-Josée Simard. Atma ACD 22115, 1996. Compact disc. Music for Flute and Percussion. Marc Grauwels and Marie-Josée Simard. Naxos 8.557782, 2005. Compact disc.
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Musiques pour flûte et guitare. Pierre-André Valade and Roberto Aussel. Circé LCCN: 93–704868, 1987. Compact disc. Rampal and Lagoya in Concert. Jean-Pierre Rampal and Alexandre Lagoya. RCA ARL2–2631, 1978. LP album. Shankar, Ravi. Anthology of Indian Music. World Pacific Records WDS-26200, 1967. LP album. ________. Full Circle/Carnegie Hall 2000. Angel 57106, 2001. Compact disc. ________. Improvisations. World Pacific Records WP 1416, 1962. LP album. ________. Pandit Ravi Shankar: The Man and His Music. Produced by Anne Schelcher and Pascal Bensoussan and directed by Nicolas Klotz. 60 min. Films for the Humanities and Sciences, 1994. Videocassette. ________. Raga. Produced and directed by Howard Worth. 96 min. Mystic Fire Video, 1971. Videocassette. _________. Ravi Shankar Plays Three Classical Ragas. EMI Records, 1957. LP album.
________. Ravi Shankar in Portrait. Produced and directed by Mark Kidel. 190 min. Opus Arte, 2002. DVD. ________. Ravi Shankar’s Music Festival from India. Dark Horse Records SP 22007, 1976. LP album. ________. Shankar Family and Friends. Dark Horse Records SP 22002, 1974. LP album. ________. The Sounds of India. Columbia WL 119, 1958. LP album. ________. Tana Mana. Private Music 2016-2-P, 1987. Compact disc. ________. West Meets East: The Historic Shankar/Menuhin Sessions. Yehudi Menuhin and Alla Rakha. Angel Records 67180, 1967. LP album. ________. West Meets East, album 2. Kamala Chakravarti, Nell Gotkovsky, Yehudi Menuhin, Nodu Mullick, Alla Rakha, and Ravi Shankar. Angel Records S 36026 1968. LP album. ________. Improvisations: West Meets East, album 3: The Historic Shankar Menuhin Collection. Martine Géliot, Alla Rakha, Jean-Pierre Rampal and Ravi Shankar. Angel Records SFO–37200, 1976. LP album.
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Program Notes Radice, William. Art is a Bridge. Covent Garden, London, 30 October 2003. Radice, William, and Helen Radice. Rasa! Nehru Centre, London, 24 January 2003.
Musical Scores Mayer, John. Nava Rasa. Sibelius. Enfield, U.K., 2002. Shankar, Ravi. L’aube enchantée: sur le raga “Todi”: pour flûte et guitare. Arranged by Roberto Aussel and Pierre-André Valade. Paris: Editions Henry Lemoine, 1990. ________. L’aube enchantée: sur le raga “Todi”: pour flûte et harpe. Paris: Editions Henry Lemoine, 1990.
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