Indian Culture and Music as a Source of Inspiration for French Opera Composers

"The current paper strives to discover and reveal the influences of Indian culture and classical Indian music in French operas. At first, the evocation of India was obtained through the subjects of the operas and stunning scenic designs, fulfilling the requirements of exoticism. Gradually, the composers attempted to include in their musical discourses exotic rhythmic and melodic elements, in some instances inspired by Indian classical music, thus aiming to evoke a genuine image of India. At the same time, the use of elements pertaining to Indian music (rāgas, rhythmic patterns, timbres) offered the musicians the possibility to create novel sound discourses. The analysis focuses on several operas, composed between the eighteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, following the evolution of Indian representations in several dimensions: dramatic (libretto), visual (scenic representations, dance), and musical (melody, rhythm, timbre). The present paper investigates the way Indian themes influenced the conception of the libretto, and at the same time the visual dimension of the works (setting, costumes), observing how these visual elements were gradually absorbed into the musical discourse (analysis of the melodic structures), through the incorporation of Indian rāgas in works conceived according to the rules of Western music composition. Keywords: exoticism, orientalism, India, French opera, rāga "

Contribution of Kramik Pustak Malika of Chatur Pandit in the field of Indian Music and its Relevance

Indian Classical Music is the best gift of Indian culture to the world. Indian Classical Music is of two types – उत्तर हिन्दुस्तानी संगीत पद्धति एवं दक्षिण हिन्दुस्तानी संगीत पद्धति. The roots of Indian Music are found in Vedas. Sanskrit is the ancient language and we found it in the Vedas. Many treatises related to music systems are also found in Sanskrit Language. To learn music properly, every learner has to go through two paths – 1. Theoretical music (Ancient treatises) 2. Practical Music (which follows Guru Shishya tradition). Pandit Bhatkhande has given wonderful and helpful notation system to Indian Classical Music. With the help of it he has collected many Bandish from different people and made a large collection. This collection is known as Kramik Pustak Malika. (Parts 1 -6). All these six parts are having theory of 150 ragas divided Thata-wise, with introductory chapter on the general theory of music, besides a short description of every Raga, followed by Svar-vistar. They contain about 1000 traditional compositions including Pandit Bhatkhande’s own compositions which are about 300 in notation. To know the Raga deeply, one can refer the same book and can get many Bandish, Svar-vistar, information about Ragas, their descriptions given in Sanskrit treatises, Thata (थाट), Tala, etc. Therefore, Kramik Pustak Malika of Chatur Pandit is the treasure of Indian Music.

A STUDY OF MUTHUSWAMI DIKSHITAR’S EXPERTISE ON VARIOUS ELEMENTS OF MUSICOLOGY REFLECTED THROUGH HIS COMPOSITIONS

Musicology is the study of scientific and intellectually handling of music. This is a colossal subject of music and inquest into the History and phenomenon of music including; life and works of Composers and performers, music theory like melody, rhythm, harmony, modes, aesthetics, form etc. The Historical evidences of Indian Classical music have been discussed in several ancient texts like Veda’s, Upanishads, epics way back 2000 years ago. The Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda and Atharvaveda contains ritual hymns and incantations (vedic chants) , praising the specific dieties during the Sacrificial rituals. The South Indian music has a phlegmatic and pedagogic nature when compared with the music of other unconsecrated Hindustani traditions. This paper highlights the proficiency of Dikshitar’s knowledge of Musicology bequeathed from his father Ramaswami Dikshitar, a scholar, musician, learned musicologist, and recipient of many honours and emoluments in the knowledge of music gained sufficient knowledge in musicology who had settled down at Tiruvarur where Dikshitar was born. Tiruvarur then was a seat of learning of Sanskrit and Vedanta. Dikshitar’s compositions reflect his deep and thorough knowledge widely through the interpretation of their literature as seen in famous compositions like ‘Vatapi Ganapatim Bhaje’, ‘Amrutavarshini’ and others will be discussed with the various rasas created through the ragas as enunciated in the Natyashastra of Bharat Muni.

How to Read Carnatic Music on Violin

The violin is a major stringed instrument in South Indian music. It is played as the main instrument in Carnatic music and as an accompaniment to musical performances such as vocals. This is not the heritage instrument of India. Today there is no concert without Carnatic music. Thus it plays an important role in Carnatic music.The present form of this violin was composed in 16th century Italy. The violin, a folk instrument, was first used in South Indian music in the 18th century. It is also more important than any other instrument. It also plays an important role in major concerts. There are many reasons why it is played as the main instrument in Carnatic music more than any other instrument. It has developed to the point where it can be read more than any other instrument in the 20th century for various performances such as vocals, other instrumental events, orchestras, and dance performances. It is also found that Carnatic musicians (male/female) can adjust their pitch to suit their convenience. Since its introduction to Carnatic music, many great scholars have read and succeeded in Carnatic music. In addition, it plays a very important role in Palliya music and has a wide place in Carnatic music.

Book review: Max Katz, Lineage of Loss: Counternarratives of North Indian Music

Max Katz, Lineage of Loss: Counternarratives of North Indian Music (Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2017), xii + 201 pp.

Music Genre Classification for Indian Music Genres

Due to the enormous expansion in the accessibility of music data, music genre classification has taken on new significance in recent years. In order to have better access to them, we need to correctly index them. Automatic music genre classification is essential when working with a large collection of music. For the majority of contemporary music genre classification methodologies, researchers have favoured machine learning techniques. In this study, we employed two datasets with different genres. A Deep Learning approach is utilised to train and classify the system. A convolution neural network is used for training and classification. In speech analysis, the most crucial task is to perform speech analysis is feature extraction. The Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) is utilised as the main audio feature extraction technique. By extracting the feature vector, the suggested method classifies music into several genres. Our findings suggest that our system has an 80% accuracy level, which will substantially improve on further training and facilitate music genre classification. Keywords: Music Genre Classification, CNN, KNN, Music information retrieval, feature extraction, spectrogram, GTZAN dataset, Indian music genre dataset.

Theology of Music and Hindu Religion: From Divine Origins to Classical Songs

As a subfield in the study of religion and music, the theology of music is generally understood in Western terms. Yet to fully encompass the rich heritage of music in world religions, the theology of music must welcome non-Western traditions. After introducing ancient Greek and Biblical narratives regarding the origins of music, including metaphysical concepts, narratives of music as Divine Gift, musical angels, and the sacred origin of the notes and scales, this article explores music in Hindu religion through the lens of theology. We find that Indian music is also ‘given by the gods’ (i.e., Brahmā, Vishnu, and Śiva), associated with ‘musical angels,’ and originally formed from metaphysical principles (i.e., OM and the concept of Nāda-Brahman). What is demonstrated here, representing a long continuity, is how these same ideas are viable in the performance of Indian classical music today. Citing examples of compositions of Dhrupad and Khayal from the standard repertoire, this article reveals how modern-day classical songs contain references to sacred sound principles and the divine origins of music, both in their lyrics and in the unfoldment of musical notes (Svaras) and melodic patterns (Rāgas).

Influences of Classical Indian Music in Albert Roussel’s Evocations

"An important figure of early 20th century music, the French composer Albert Roussel was deeply influenced by his encounter with India, which led to the composition of several orientalist works. The present paper aims to disclose the influences of classical Indian music in the orchestral work Evocations. Despite the Impressionist sound of the musical discourse, a careful analysis reveals the incorporation of several scalar structures in which Hindu rāgas can be recognized. Roussel goes beyond the musical representation of India: his goal is not the creation of a musical work with powerful oriental sound, but the evocation of the impact this encounter had on his creation. Situated at the crossroad of several stylistic orientations, Roussel incorporates Impressionist, Neo-classical and Post-romantic influences in rigorously devised structures, aiming to create an unusual and novel sound. Keywords: Albert Roussel, orientalism, Impressionism, India, rāga "