S.Balachander's Veena can breath!
For a long time I've been wanting to show people this piece of stuff by Veena S.Balachander. Generally his techniques are so good that generally the veena can literally 'sing' as well as someone else singing with their own voice. But in one particular song that I have, his veena literally _breathes_!
Mokshamu Galada (268KB, 33 seconds, mp3)
This song is in general a very 'bhakti' song. Its about asking God if salvation is something attainable by even "normal" people who don't have deep devotion or deep understanding of music? (oh and this song is written by Tyagaraja and he claims he is 'not good' in music. funny, isn't it?).
See complete lyrics
Now, in the above demo track, at around 00:15, one can clearly hear the sound of the struggle to breathe. It sounds as though the veena has been crying in Bhakti for so long and now is unable to reach the higher octaves and is desperately in need of 'breath'.
'Expression' is what differentiates an artist from a Genius. Thats where a Balachander or a Jimi Hendrix stands apart (ever heard 'National Anthem' by Hendrix? You can hear fighter planes bombing and jeeps roaring and explosions and people crying in agony and what not. *THAT* is expression.) Producing several different frequencies or knowing the nuances of an art form is just a miniscule fraction of getting there. But its worth mentioning that the 'nuances' part of Carnatic is so bloody complex that it takes a dozen years to reach the 'carnatic musician' stage (IMVHO). One of my friends who, keeps folks like John Petrucci as his role models and such, wanted to learn Carnatic and be able to "compose" next year (lol). I didn't want to turn down his enthu or whatever and since I didn't know how he might like Carnatic, i didn't want to colour his opinions with my stupid statements. I just took him to my teacher. He enrolled for Carnatic classes. After the two classes or so he has attended, he said "holy shit" (a la Neo after he goes through the 'kung fu' training disk) "this thing is not at all easy. Its quite complex." and after three days, he nows says "I'm going back to western. I think i won't have the time". Wise choice, I would say.
Carnatic cannot be a 'hobby', seriously. I even have the theory that indian folks invented the concept of God(s) because otherwise people wouldn't take this art form seriously. ;)
ok, now, i got an "All are Welcome" Veena concert to attend :)
Mokshamu Galada (268KB, 33 seconds, mp3)
This song is in general a very 'bhakti' song. Its about asking God if salvation is something attainable by even "normal" people who don't have deep devotion or deep understanding of music? (oh and this song is written by Tyagaraja and he claims he is 'not good' in music. funny, isn't it?).
See complete lyrics
Now, in the above demo track, at around 00:15, one can clearly hear the sound of the struggle to breathe. It sounds as though the veena has been crying in Bhakti for so long and now is unable to reach the higher octaves and is desperately in need of 'breath'.
'Expression' is what differentiates an artist from a Genius. Thats where a Balachander or a Jimi Hendrix stands apart (ever heard 'National Anthem' by Hendrix? You can hear fighter planes bombing and jeeps roaring and explosions and people crying in agony and what not. *THAT* is expression.) Producing several different frequencies or knowing the nuances of an art form is just a miniscule fraction of getting there. But its worth mentioning that the 'nuances' part of Carnatic is so bloody complex that it takes a dozen years to reach the 'carnatic musician' stage (IMVHO). One of my friends who, keeps folks like John Petrucci as his role models and such, wanted to learn Carnatic and be able to "compose" next year (lol). I didn't want to turn down his enthu or whatever and since I didn't know how he might like Carnatic, i didn't want to colour his opinions with my stupid statements. I just took him to my teacher. He enrolled for Carnatic classes. After the two classes or so he has attended, he said "holy shit" (a la Neo after he goes through the 'kung fu' training disk) "this thing is not at all easy. Its quite complex." and after three days, he nows says "I'm going back to western. I think i won't have the time". Wise choice, I would say.
Carnatic cannot be a 'hobby', seriously. I even have the theory that indian folks invented the concept of God(s) because otherwise people wouldn't take this art form seriously. ;)
ok, now, i got an "All are Welcome" Veena concert to attend :)