November 25, 2016

• Watching Musicians

  Last week we attended an Indian concert featuring Carnatic Classical music. As I understand it, the carnatic style is predominantly from the southern part of India. There was a larger than normal audience partly I think because it is nearing the end of the semester. Some music students are required to attend a set number of musical performances and time is running out! Besides the concert admission was free.
  
  I'm nearly illiterate when it comes to Indian music so I can't tell you what songs they played. I do know that the first piece was a raaga. I had not heard any of the instruments played before (at least not in the styles presented).

  The flute was bamboo and was called a venu or bansuri depending if you read the program or listened to the announcer or the musician. I was amazed at the variety of sounds produced by the flute. During the introduction we were told that the flute didn't produce sharp or flat notes but those tones were achieved using a special fingering technique. The artist was J. A. Jayanth.He explained briefly the music signature sort of. All I could understand was there were 8 beats and maybe 32 cycles or repetitions or something. I decided to just let the music happen and not try too hard to figure out the intricacies.
  
  The violinist had a style unlike any I'd seen before. He used some sort of oil or rosin or something on his fingers that facilitated his sliding his fingers up and down the strings. I kept thinking his fingers had to have callouses or he would have deep cuts on his finger tips! This musician was B. U. Ganesh Prasad and he seemed very unflappable. There was an issue with the sound system and he just nodded and kept playing. Very chill.

  The drum player was T. K. Murugaboopathi. He seemed the "old man" of the ensemble. I had never seen a mridangam before. It is a double headed drum where each end is a different diameter. It had a mesmerizing quality. His fingers flew and his hands were in near constant motion. I thought it was almost better than the tabla!
  
  Then there was the ghatam. It is a percussion instrument made of a clay pot with a narrow mouth. The inner surface has copper, brass or iron filings. The size varies and that determines the pitch. It is drummed with the fingers, thumbs, palms and heel of the hands to produce different sounds. The musician, Dr. S. "Ghatam" Karthick was very entertaining to watch. At first I couldn't pick out the sound of his instrument but after a few minutes I could distinctly hear it.

  The best part of the evening was watching the musicians have fun playing together. They would count for each other and the smiling and communication between them was a joy to watch. There are probably musicians that are better or more skilled but when a group plays together and really and truly enjoys making the music it imbues the creation with a spark that is irresistible!

  • 6:15 am
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