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{Youtube Link :Raga Adana, Tokyo Summer Festival}
{Do listen to this and feel soothed! A part of the content from their website is provided below}
The Gundecha Brothers present vocal music known as Dhrupad, the oldest and most profound form of classical Hindustani vocal music. Dhrupad developed in India in medieval times, and we have examples of distinct compositions attributed to the legendary Tan Sen (or Tansen) , who both as a player of BEEN and a vocalist was one of the nine jewels of the royal court of the great mughal emperor Akbar. Dhrupad was a dominant form of vocal music in northern India until the eighteenth century, when it was gradually overtaken by the lighter ,more florid vocal style as KHAYAL (literally, imagination).
A customary full performance of Dhrupad is in two parts - The Alap, an extended melodic improvisation that explores the mood of Raga, and the Dhrupad or Dhamar - a composition set to distinct poetic text with Pakhawaj accompaniment. The Alap itself goes through three states known as Vilambit, Madhya and Drut. The Vilambit Alap explores the distinctive melodic features of the Raga without recourse to rhythm. The customary vocal range of Dhrupad is two to two-and-a-half octaves, and the alap begins with tonic (do or C in western term) of the middle octave as its center. The vocalists sing in extended improvised passages and generally begin by moving downward, note by note, exploring the lowest octave, sometimes finally reaching a distinctly dramatic point by touching the deep tonic of that octave. Although there are no lyrics to this singing, certain syllables - ri, na, ra num, te, ta, ra , na - are used to articulate the melody. …..
After exploring the lowest octave, the singers move up into the middle octave - again singing in alternate improvisations that set new progressively higher watermarks - ultimately reaching another dramatic stage…this gradual, progressive ascent is the most dramatic element about the Dhrupad alap….
….that I used to feel with the legend’s “the man who sold the world“. I love Coldplay for their introspective and thought provoking lyrics. The vocal melodies of Chris Martin are as straightforward as the lyrics that have flown out of his fingers. It’s a fact that I remained glued to their better singles like “Clocks” and “Yellow” because of their sheer depth, but “Low” drags me in with its frantic momentum, especially the guitar snatches away life from me. True a fanatic of longing, I am left with my own interpretation of this beautiful rendition. ‘…All you ever wanted to be, living in perfect symmetry, nothing is as down or up as us…’. we are so cut-n-dry in our view of the world, and if we could make a few tiny changes in our outlook, the world around us would be more meaningful. I feel, this begins from a sordid and dry perspective one has on life and later picks up the momentum, throbs in that positivism in one. Coldplay’s LOW accompanies me on my drive to work …..everyday
You see the world in black and white
No colour or light
You think you’ll never get it right
But you’re wrong, you might
The sky could fall could fall on me
The parting of the seas
But you mean more, mean more to me
Than any color I can see
All you ever wanted was love
But you never looked hard enough
It’s never gonna give itself up
All you ever wanted to be
Living in perfect symmetry
Nothing is as down on it’s luck….
One more rendition that’s close to me in this collection X&Y is the “The Hardest Part”: as the web says, it’s a classic Coldplay love song about loss and heartbreak, in which Chris sings, “The hardest part was letting go, not taking part…..”. The video leaves one speechless. It has something that makes one want to see it again..the acrobatic dance team of Spencer (who is in his mid-twenties) and Barbara (in her 80s). I felt ashamed of self and started going to my Salsa classes again.
jyothsnay
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