From book to ... Indian raags

   

    You may have seen this post earlier in the month, the one in which we were talking about the places and discoveries to which books had led us. It so happens that today I began reading Dancing to the Flute by Manisha Jolie Amin, a novel about a young Indian boy, Kalu, who is learning to play the flute under the tutelage of a famous musician. The story so far is charming, but what is particularly interesting is the book's musical content, for instance, some of the technical aspects of flute playing*, the component parts of Indian classical music - shrutis or microtones - and raags or ragas (melodic modes) themselves.

    I knew a little about raags from reading Vikram Seth's A Suitable Boy , (and if you haven't already read his An Equal Music I do recommend it also) but this novel gives more:

    "There is a saying in Sanskrit: Ranjayati iti Raaga," said Guruji. "It means, 'that which colours the mind is a raag'. Each and every raag is structured differently and represents specific human emotions and characteristics. However, for a raag to truly colour the mind of the listener, the effect cannot be created from just technical virtuosity. The musician needs to take his audience on a journey to the very root of all things, to reach for the nectar of creation. Only a master musician trained in the oral tradition can take you there."

    On her website, Manisha Jolie Amin helpfully provides links to songs and raags mentioned in the book, and so of course I clicked through to listen to some, e.g. this one with flautist Rakesh Chaurasia, this from sitar player Anoushka Shankar which led me to this where she is playing with Joshua Bell - mesmerising!

    So there we are, not just a story but a whole musical tradition being opened up to this reader.

 

*Dark Puss, you may like to know that Guruji has Kalu practising yoga as a necessary part of mastering the instrument, and he prefers the Indian side flute to the European metal one with levers and keys because while the latter "can play more notes ... they are one step away from the hole, and therefore the sound. The closer you are to the sound, the more chance it has of coming from the soul."

Comments

[Dark Puss]

Thank you I am indeed interested in the flute playing comments, though I do not agree that without keys you are "closer" to the sound! I certainly don't think so when I play (badly) my baroque flute. How do you think the piano with its amazing, and amazingly complex, mechanics stands up to that analysis? Are talented pianists not "playing from the soul"?

[Cornflower]

I'm only quoting the character!

[Dark Puss]

I know! Just wondered if you, as a pianist and thus someone who plays one of the mechanically most complex classical instruments, agreed or disagreed with the statement.

[Cornflower]

Never having played a 'simpler' version of the piano (is there such a thing? - the clavichord and harpsichord are different) I don't have anything to compare it with, so I don't know.
I was certainly very impressed with the playing in that flute piece to which I've linked, as for one thing it is enormously expressive and 'subtly shaded' (for want of a better expression), but then I'm no expert.