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Saturday, July 28, 2012

A Confessional

A sociopath feels the need for people as much as he feels to be rid of them. He is used to his own thoughts, their comforts and unsurprising insights. But people disturb, and when they don't surprise, shock. And a sociopath, unless he cuts himself off from all company and cloisters himself in a psychotic cocoon, cannot live without people, he needs them at least to get away from the claustrophobic effects of personhood.

All this makes for strange reading, but for about a year of so, I've been closely involved with a group of people, and while it has been a rewarding experience, i am in a state where i don't know which way to turn. I would like to get back to being myself, to turn back to the  slow passage of time, the weak pull of people. But these days, I feel the outward pull more and more, I spend a lot of time and energy to fulfil what in effect is other persons' needs, and the hollow feeling deepens with each engagement, and each further outward movement.

So ends the confessional.

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Miserable Artists, Great Fans

Kartikey Sehgal

The coolest people are all miserable. This is a secret.

Misery strikes the best, for it has something to feed on. From boring people, misery gets nothing.
To get by in life, the finest of men appear well. Hence the way to love them is to know and accept their private life.

Lets say there are two types of lovers: the first type that accept the happy face and assumed awesomeness of any artist’s life.
The other type look within and love the artist knowing that he faces hard times. And often, more so than others because of his mind.

  • Classical composer Beethoven married - nobody - and fought violently for his nephew’s custody.
  • Russian composer Mikhail Glinka went bitter after his Opera ‘Ruslan and Lyudmila’ failed. It became popular after his death.
  • Indian singer K L Saigal died from alcoholism. Though we love the ‘alcohol induced voice’.
  • Punjabi poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi never married his true love and took to alcohol.

If you go to private mehfils, they all discuss of how ‘cool’ they all were. And how unfortunate and ‘that’s how life is’. But would they have married Beethoven, or appreciated Glinka’s Opera - in his lifetime. Or gotten Batalvi to marry the girl of his choice despite the caste problems?

I say many wouldn’t. Here’s another secret - ‘that which is not part of consensus, is to be shunned. Until that is dead’.

So when you listen to music, particularly music created with the intention to not just please but to be a testament to man’s genius, immerse yourself with the thought that the artist faced life’s miseries, yet came out with - this. What we hail as triumphant may not be just the music but also the artist behind it.

.......
I leave you with music from Richard Wagner’s Opera, Tristan and Isolde; the Opera was panned and ridiculed when released, a critic called it, “the most repugnant thing I have ever seen or heard in all my life.” These days, it is one of the best things ever.

Thursday, July 19, 2012


Whenever I see a post here I feel guilty, because I should be writing here. I don't seem to have the words these days.  I don't converse in English, either at home or office, and it remains a language acquired for reading- and writing long, contentious mails that end up in tired acquiescence. And then, I am deeply preoccupied with writing in Tamil, and fact is, everything I write in English sounds wrong. Probably you knew this already, but these are days of my awakening.

So I start off with a few sentences like this, and when I hit a roadblock, I don't seem to have the will or energy or even the wherewithal to go beyond it, I click select all and delete the whole thing. If it is paper, may be the feeling will be worse, because your failure is a physical presence, but with the computer, you are just a click away from closure of whatever you want to be closed.

I started out to write this post for kartikey, whose talks on music I read, but don't comment, because I don't seem to have the right words that would sound both true and appropriate. I do listen to some classical music online, so I find his posts helpful.  Thanks Kartikey,  I started out writing this post with the intention of thanking you, but could do this only at the end of the piece. Thanks again.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

A Practical Introduction to Indian Classical Music

Kartikey Sehgal

(Based on a talk by the author)

 So Indian classical music has taken a beating, you say. What is it’s use, you say. You don’t understand it, or don’t want to. Here is an introduction of how super it is - And important for you to be able to appreciate music and poetry. [photo source]

And joining me is the king of ghazals, Mehdi Hassan, who departed recently so as to sing with Mr. God. But as per the Sanatana Dharma, his soul stays back among us.

Now that Mehdi Hassan is no more, people can go about their business. Epitaphs have been written, tributes are done away with. Newspaper-wallahs await another death of another cult personality.

Let us, you and I, the champions of art and culture, see what Mehdi has given us.

He has given us ‘classical ghazals’ - classical poetry + classical music. Mehdi has given us demonstrations of the use of the raga in his compositions. He has, time and again, explained to the audience of what he is doing, and how he has composed the poem. He has described his variations and rightly boasted of how he is so cool as a singer and composer.

On to the example.

In this video - and you better watch it fully, with the introduction - he tells you about what went into composing one of the most powerful compositions. He employs raga Mian ki Malhar to tell you that ‘if the destination itself walks to me only then (i might reach)
(for) the desire for the destination is no more and has become (or made me) immobile’ [source: Meenakshi Madhur]

This raga is often hailed as the raga of the rains. You may have heard this popular song from a Hindi film;
‘Bole re Papihara’. It is also set in the same raga. Mian ki Malhar.
Malhar is the original raga. Mr. Tansen’s variations give it the polite prefix ‘Mian’ (from Mian Tansen).

Before getting the feel of the raga, read the translation of the poem Mehdi sings. This is by a user from the website ExperienceProject.

The first couplet of the ghazal translated by this unknown user:

Ek Bas Tu Hi Nahin Mujhase Kafa Ho Baitha
Mainne Jo Sang Taraasha Tha Kuda Ho Baitha....!!!

*so now you are angry with me as well.....i have no complains because you are not the only one who have complains.......!! whoever i have chiseled on the anvil of love becomes God and thus gets beyond the reach of my mortal hands....!!!!! .

You are angry but I have no complaints, coz that’s how you are. That’s life. That’s my fate. I do nice things but stone turns to dust. Now listen to Mehdi sing it out. See how the tune goes.

He first explains to you the raga, sings the swaras associated with the raga, a short aalap. Then tells you how cool he is in singing a note not present in the harmonium.

Have you listened to classical musical performances? They have long, long aalaps (introductions). Consider this as a short aalap. And be glad he tells you about it.

Now go to the website and see the translation for the other couplets. Then come back to the video.

This is one among many of Mehdi’s ghazals where he brings out the importance and beauty of classical music. Some other time, it should be possible to discuss his singing prowess.

Listen post 6:00 mark in the video to see his variation. Here is a man who knows the swaras, can combine them artfully, can bring variety - variety in the combination of swaras set over the same line.

So what all you know from this ghazal:
Raga Mian ki Malhar + its swaras-how it sounds + the meaning of the poetry + using the raga to bring out the meaning.

You have stated that you find pride in this ghazal, a sense of complaint, plus the way he sings makes him appear angry and bashful about life and people. You have also stated that the ghazal is sung as an advice/ wisdom lessons to people.

As per your life experiences, you will interpret the mood variedly. Art has done its job.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Music and Poetry in “In the Mood for Love”

Kartikey Sehgal

 

In the Mood for Love [IMDB link] is a meditation on time. It uses music to transcend the celluloid constraints of time and space. Why, even in life, we edit our memories, while listening to some evocative tune.

Music is a tool for emotion. Without music, only the imaginative can see emotion in longing-ness portrayed by the actors.

Music slows the rhythm of this film. Imagine that you work like a wind all day long, shuffling between files and rooms and bosses and quick coffee breaks and then you come back home - alone, its quiet, and you settle to reflect on the day. That’s when the time is slow. That’s when your life is long.

This clip from the film:

There are many important things to do in life than walk down a staircase to buy food. Yet, this is when the force of thoughts hit you. The mundaneness of your action bears the memory of the most important things of life. This ordinariness and how you deal with it reflects your life.
And the music, used repeatedly in the film, is a reflection of this.

When everything is over...

It is a restless moment.
She has kept her head lowered,
to give him a chance to come closer.
But he could not, for lack of courage.
She turns and walks away.

That era has passed.
Nothing that belonged to it exists any more.

He remembers those vanished years.
As though looking through a dusty window pane,
the past is something he could see, but not touch.
And everything he sees is blurred and indistinct. [Source]

Film is poetry, music and all factors that are artistic, but often ignored in the process of pleasing an audience and achieving other ineptitudes.

The repetition of the musical theme is to show hidden sorrow despite the kaleidoscope of noise and light and colour. It is a symbol of time, of what cooks within the hearts.

Poetry is a means to transcend time. To connect years and thoughts - If they can be, for once an era has passed, it has passed. What stays is the memory. “...looking through a dusty window pane,
the past is something he could see, but not touch”

Poetry speaks straight - Things have passed, that the inevitable has occurred. This was meant to be. That whether you rue in misery, or laugh out loud with a drink, whether you love, or hate, it has no bearing on time. And in the movie, once the years have passed, the music is used again as a tool to symbolise this thought.

The film is not obvious; it does not tell you what you must feel. Instead, it plays along, true to life. The understanding of the film is the understanding of life; it is not obvious, it reveals itself slowly in memory and regret.

As a character says: “You notice things if you pay attention.”

Now do so for this scene:

In The Mood For Love - Daffodil from Salar Molaei on Vimeo.

The music plays; the woman stands and wonders. This scene is the first time we listen to the theme. And for the first time things are slow. Till now they were brisk, everybody was talking briskly, the scenes were shorter, lots of action and movement, lots of manners and smiles. And like I mentioned above, this is time for reflection, “whilst the world is busy outside, what speaketh you of the seeds within?

Friday, July 6, 2012

What is this ‘Overture’ in music?

Kartikey Sehgal

The ‘Overture’ in Opera, and in mainstream movies.
Based on a talk by the author.

Hear this, the Overture to Ruslan and Lyudmila (R&L), and have your hearts filled with joy and exuberance - as I have - on this Sunday morning, muddled by the nonchalance of the rains, and the cruel indifference of the weather to any respite from humidity. Do as I have, read something whilst listening to it, then leave aside the reading material, and sway to its energy, defined so fluidly by the violins and the flute, alternatively taking over the task to make you dissolve in thoughts. Leave aside the rains.



Ruslan And Ludmilla (Overture) by Mikhail Glinka on Grooveshark

Alternative web link: (slow tempo, different beginning) 

R&L is an Opera in five acts, based on a poem by Alexander Pushkin. It is composed by Mikhail Glinka, often hailed as the father of Russian classical music.

Behold, the Opera didn’t do wonders and Mikhail was wounded by the indifference. So much for people wearing corsets and coats and carefully folded handkerchiefs and being deaf.

The Overture to this opera - Overture defined as the introduction to an opera - is very popular.
Here’s what R&L is about:

The poem tells of the abduction of Ludmilla by an evil sorcerer, Chernomor, from a party given for Ludmilla's three suitors, one of whom is Ruslan. Each suitor rides off to save the girl, encountering a fantastic assortment of witches, hermits, magic castles, enchanted gardens, magic swords, and so forth, rather in the style of the tales of the Arabian Nights. The sorcerer is vanquished in the end by Ruslan, who revives Ludmilla from a trance and wins her hand in marriage. [Source]

Six year after it was released, the Opera was withdrawn. This was a considerably short time in that era. It was said that Mikhail’s composition for his first Opera, ‘A Life for the Tsar’ was musically better. Consequently, R&L (his second work) was regarded as a superior work.

Critics should eat grass.

Yes, operas have singers singing out their heart, or those of the characters and the conditions they are embroiled in. But the introduction - the Overture - is often instrumental. Over the years, it has meant different things. It would introduce the pieces that were to be sung or fleshed out later. It would set the mood of the opera. It would play in brief the main popular pieces that were to follow.

You may not have seen an Opera, but to get a feel of the Overture, let’s see how it is done in the movies.

The Overture in movies plays before the opening credits start rolling. We are not counting the music that plays during the credits as an Overture. Overture in films would mean a special space given to the music, it’s importance as a separate entity, like in the Opera where it plays solo and not in conjunction with any action on the stage.

Even if it is not against the black screen in the cinemas, it has to hold its importance during any ongoing activity. Like in this Overture form the film ‘Dancer in the Dark’.

Here’s another from ‘West Side Story’.

Comments on the Overture from YouTube

  • I still get chills when hearing this music. Especially at the end of the overture when the skyline of New York comes into view.
  • They don't make movies like this anymore. They should add an Overture to movies again. :(
  • Too bad none of the new films have overtures. And it seems like only 5 seconds of each song on a soundtrack is actually in a film nowadays.

A few popular overtures in classical music:

Here’s the Overture to ‘The Marriage of Figaro’ by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart:


Here’s the Overture to ‘The Barber of Seville’ by Gioachino Antonio Rossini:

You have seen a clear link between the movies and Western Classical Music. Whether you see a play, listen to a recording, or watch a movie, you can relate to this thing called ‘Overture’.