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When I work on this section of the website, my mind is often carried back half a century.
It was a cold winter day in 1975; I was sitting in the Ali Akbar College of Music. In those days, the college did not have its own facilities; so classes would shift to various places in Marin County in Northern California. This winter, it was in a girl scout camp.
I was a young man of 20, at a very unsettled period of my life. I recently left my university, my family, my girlfriend, my home; in short I left everything. I moved 2000 miles (3000 km) across the US to study music.
The instruction that I was receiving was first rate. My general music instructor was the late Ali Akbar Khan (son of the legendary Allaudin Khan who was Ravi Shankar’s guru ) and my teacher on pakhawaj was Zakir Hussain.
On this cold winter morning, I was sitting in vocal class. Baba (as Ali Akbar Khan was affectionately known) was teaching us a morning rag. This scene of my life would be repeated innumerable times.
I was not an exceptional student by any means. But the years that I spent at the school, along with subsequent training in India, gave me a firm grounding in Indian music. It especially instilled in me an appreciation for the purity of rags.
This brings me back to the present.
These experiences in the early part of my life have made the job of maintaining this list both easy and hard; usually hard. My mind tends to conceptualise the rag in a certain manner according to my training. But the Bollywood music directors conceptualise things very differently. They assault the audience with snippets of this rag – and snippets of that rag – interspersed with a barrage of semi-random musical notes.
The result is that interpreting film songs in terms of rag, is very much like interpreting inkblots. I am seldom satisfied with the way I have classified a song. But if I were only to include songs that I thought were good representations of rags, then this list would be empty.
This would be a disservice to the readers, because there is a purpose to this list. The purpose is to make classical music accessible to as many people as possible.
Historically, North Indian classical music (Hindustani sangeet) was only accessible to hereditary musicians or their aristocratic patrons. This small section of North Indian society was born and raise in an extremely rarefied cultural environment. Within this environment a certain level of understanding of classical music was absorbed from birth.
After independence, there were tremendous efforts to democratise the music. But this was a difficult job considering the esoteric nature of the subject.
I was willing to leave everything and travel across the country, and then to India, with the sole purpose of learning the intricacies of the music. But it is unrealistic to have the same expectations of the public.
This brings us back to the purpose of this series of pages. It is intended to be an easy and accessible first step by which an ordinary person can begin to understand Hindustani classical music.
The fact that the songs are flawed from a classical standpoint should not be considered a detraction. It is a merely a first step, and as such it should not be too high. Upper levels should include formal taleem from a guru or ustad. (When you are ready, there is a list of teachers and performers that may help you find someone.)
Because it is just a first step, I am willing to go against my basic instincts and tolerate many of the gross corruptions of the rag that one finds. The advantages of accessibility more than compensate for technical weaknesses of songs.
I know that many of you may disagree with the way that I have classified a particular song. A song which mixes Pahadi, Bhupali, and Shuddha Kalyan with reckless abandon, will be an uncomfortable fit when placed in any particular category. In these situations where you think there is a better classification, write me an email and please be very precise as to how you feel another classification would be better. Please let me know which swar, movements, or other characteristics make you feel that another classification is better. I frequently change my mind and reclassify songs. Even if I decide not to reclassify a song, there is a strong likelihood that I will mention these concerns in the comments section.
David Courtney July 3, 2024
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| THESE BOOKS MAY NOT BE FOR YOU |
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A superficial exposure to music is acceptable to most people; but there is an elite for whom this is not enough. If you have attained certain social and intellectual level, Elementary North Indian Vocal (Vol 1-2) may be for you. This has compositions, theory, history, and other topics. All exercises and compositions have audio material which may be streamed over the internet for free. It is available in a variety of formats to accommodate every budget. Are you really ready to step up to the next level? Check your local Amazon. |
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