Violin maestro L. Subramaniam just lately printed his doctoral thesis as a ebook, Raga Concord (Westland). The ebook explains how he built-in the Indian raga system with the harmonic construction of Western classical music.
Subramaniam proposes a path-breaking 36-scale idea, which can make it attainable for the Indian ragas to be performed by western orchestras. He recognises within the ebook that such makes an attempt have been made by music composers of Hindi cinema, particularly throughout the time of Shankar-Jaikishan, R.D. Burman and Laxmikant Pyarelal. Nevertheless, they might accomplish this solely with the assistance of Goan arrangers, who have been skilled in Western music. What Subramaniam suggests utilizing the recognition of Indian movie music for example is that with a technique and idea, it would enable for non-westerners to create western compositions, and western musicians to make use of different tonalities. It will function a strategy to create a really world composition. His endeavour in Raga Concord is to supply for a system that permits such a musical idea.
L. Subramaniam with Yehudi Menuhin throughout an interview in East Germany.
| Photograph Credit score:
Courtesy: indianviolin.com
Subramaniam has been considering on these strains for a number of many years now, backed by the rigour of practise, reflection and efficiency. The ebook, in a approach, is a end result of those ideas. Raga Concord is laced with fascinating footage of the musician directing the Leipzig and London Philharmonic Orchestra, taking part in with Yehudi Menuhin, conducting his composition the ‘World Symphony’ and extra.
Excerpts from a dialog.
It is a extremely specialised space of dialogue. Who’s the reader in your thoughts?
L. Subramaniam (LS): My readers are musicians, composers, and extra particularly, Indian composers, who will not be accustomed to the system of western concord however would nonetheless prefer to compose for orchestras. Being Indian musicians they are going to be accustomed to raga ideas. They’ll create soothing, highly effective, new harmonic constructions with out having to know the western concept.
L. Subramaniam with the Houston Symphony.
| Photograph Credit score:
Courtesy: indianviolin.com
Musicians who need to improvise over western harmonic progressions might achieve this in the event that they perceive the raga on which the concord is constructed. Having stated this, the system is additional helpful to those that are well-versed in Western music concord and concept. Western classical concord has seen modifications and innovation all via its historical past. The idea of Raga Concord likewise is a brand new system of composition, permitting for infinite innovation and new potentialities.
For non-musicians too, it will function a helpful perception into harmonic composition. In music, there’s horizontal movement and vertical movement. Horizontal movement consists of melodic strains. Vertical movement consists of further notes that assist the melody, thereby creating concord. Despite the fact that a Western classical orchestra may need 80 musicians, not all people performs the identical melodic strains concurrently. Completely different devices play totally different melodies to create concord. Indian music is basically primarily based on melodic or horizontal movement whereas Western music is basically primarily based on vertical or harmonic movement. Raga Concord bridges the hole between these two approaches.
You could have, for a number of many years, labored collaboratively, making a bridge amongst Carnatic, Hindustani and Western. Did you want to provoke a dialogue of a unique type now?
A musical dialogue between L. Subramaniam and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.
| Photograph Credit score:
Courtesy: indianviolin.com
LS: My dialogue between Carnatic and Hindustani music started within the late Nineteen Seventies with my jugalbandi with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. We carried out at Lincoln Centre in New York and at Berklee and made a number of albums collectively. The dialogue with the West additionally began for me across the Nineteen Seventies once I started to jot down ensemble compositions for my albums, which featured a number of the jazz greats corresponding to Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Hubert Legal guidelines, and naturally Stephane Grapelli. On the Western classical entrance, I wrote a composition known as Journey for my collaboration with Yehudi Menuhin, totally different compositions for Jean Pierre Rampal and lots of extra. I used a brand new time period — World fusion idea for this type of music. The orchestral composition started with a serious composition titled Double Concerto for Violin and Flute in 1983 and I premiered this in Los Angeles with Hubert Legal guidelines on March 14, 1983 on the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. In 1985, Fantasy on Vedic Chants which I wrote for maestro Zubin Mehta was premiered in New York by the New York Philharmonic with 4 concert events within the season. Since then, I’ve written numerous orchestral compositions for main orchestras.
L. Subramaniam with Kavitha and Bindu on the Lakshminarayanan World Music Pageant 2023.
| Photograph Credit score:
Courtesy: subramaniamfoundation.org
These days, I’ve additionally had the chance to jot down for Indian voices utilizing Kavita or Bindu’s vocals with a serious choir. This dialogue with orchestras began a lot earlier and is constant to develop to a better degree. Once I started composing, I used to be making an attempt to create a brand new system impressed by my Carnatic music heritage. This fascinated many composers, critics and conductors world wide. That led me to pursue this new path.
In contrast to the Western system, a big a part of which is written and due to this fact fastened, Indian music, regardless of a robust theoretical foundation, are modern and improvisational. Do you assume a performer could make these theoretical positions a part of his acutely aware course of?
L. Subramaniam accompanying Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavatar on the violin. He says when he started composing for Western orchestra, he was making an attempt to create a brand new system impressed by my Carnatic music heritage.
| Photograph Credit score:
Courtesy: indianviolin.org
LS: Understanding the energy of Carnatic music calculation will assist to create advanced polyrhythmic constructions in compositions and also will allow improvisation in polyrhythmic cycles. Getting accustomed to these rhythmic ideas would enable musicians from anyplace on the planet to play in numerous polyrhythmic constructions corresponding to 5 and three/4, or 21 and three/4; or subdividing every beat into variety of pulses (notes) like 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 and multiples of that.
Studying ideas of Raga Concord bridges the hole between the 2 methods. Whereas college students might use it to create new music, it additionally offers them a vocabulary to clarify their work to non-musicians.
L. Subramaniam conducting the Halle Orchestra.
| Photograph Credit score:
Courtesy: indianviolin.com
You could have talked about your experiments with Raga Concord. How did you compose it, and your expertise in guiding the musicians in your staff.
LS: After ending my Masters in Western Classical Music, I needed to create a system that was totally different from current ones each within the West and India. I started to jot down numerous compositions maintaining totally different ragas in thoughts and creating advanced harmonies which might be pleasing and easy to listen to. I’ve continued to develop this technique since then. Once I went to Moscow, one of many professors approached me and requested me to clarify how I created the harmonies in Fantasy on Vedic Chants, which I had additionally performed on the Tchaikovsky Corridor with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. That set me considering. So I made a decision to jot down a ebook on raga concord. As an alternative of simply writing it as a ebook I considered making it a thesis for my Ph.D. in order that it is going to be scrutinised by others and accepted by students.
How do you view Ilaiyaraja’s experiments on this regard? Nothing however Wind, The way to Title it, and Thiruvasagam.
LS: My friendship with Raja goes again many many years. He is among the biggest music composers of Indian cinema. Initially, my elder brother, myself and Raja, studied from my father Prof. V. Lakshminarayana. Throughout the Lakshminarayana World Music Pageant in 2021, Raja spoke a few piece he wrote in 1993, which was recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. By the way, we’re additionally engaged on a collaborative particular undertaking.
