[digital drifter]

Rare are the times when you can be part of a different cultural fabric
and then earn your way to fame, where the "other" culture bestow upon
you titles.


Carnatic Music is hard;  even harder is the customs behind the
learning;living with a guru, learning while being an unpaid servant.
Imagine a PhD student working on his degree.  Imagine something even
harder.  

That's what Jon Higgins did.

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Jon_Higgins

What makes Higgins even more extra-ordinary is his attention to detail
everywhere.  He looked the part and walked the part.  

http://i3.tinypic.com/w9tduu.jpg


If you listen to his singing for the first time, he sounds like any
other South Indian musician singing.  A closer listening would reveal
that the tonal inflections seems sometimes off and then you know it's
not an Indian singing!  The accent is still there but only if you're
looking out for it.


Did you know, the popular name for Higgins was

"Higgins Bhagavatar"

The cassettes and CDs of his singing carry that title.  Bestowed upon
him, by his peers and fans in the carnatic music world.

As for the title of the post?

http://en.wikipedia....iki/Kanaka_Dasa

Quote

Legend

Kanakadasa, once wanted to have a 'darshan' (encounter) of the Lord
Krishna in Udupi. He was not allowed into the shrine by castists as he
was not a higher-caste by birth. Kanakadasa then started singing
praise of Shri Krishna and was lost to outside world in a corner
outside the temple. Legend has it that the idol of Krishna, which
heretofore had been facing east, turned around to face west, as the
western wall collapsed so that Kanakadasa could have darshan, A small
window was constructed at the breach later. The idol of Lord Krishna
is still today worshipped through the window. This window came to be
known as Kanakana kindi (Kanaka’s window). The memory of Kanakadasa
was permanently etched in the temple of his beloved Lord Krishna
. Today that window stands as a tribute to the unique saint of
Karnataka.

V. Thyagarajan, a friend and colleague of Jon Higgins, told this
anecdote to SPAN magazine:

Quote

"A party of musicians, Jon among them, went to Udipi to see the
Krishna temple.  The American wore a dhoti and a kurta as was his
custom in Madras . . . but he was much too fair complexioned to be an
Indian, and the priests would not let him enter the temple.... So Jon
stood where Kanakadasa the untouchable had stood centuries ago, to
catch a glimpse of the idol from a distance as best he could.  His
musician friends stood with him, refusing to go inside the temple if
Jon was not allowed.  Then it occurred to one of them to ask Jon to
sing the famous song, "Krishna, nee begane baro, a composition in
Kannada.... When the air was filled with the vibrant melody of his
splendid voice there was no keeping away the crowds that gathered
around to hear him.  The priests, astonished, begged the singer to
come in,

and what Kanakadasa could not achieve, the foreigner did."

[1]

We were in the company of Gods and it seems the Gods want their own as
early as possible.

Higgins died in a car accident.

You can hear some of his songs here

http://www.engine-st...yanDhyanam.html

you might need real player or equivalent to listen to it.


[1] citation: http://rasikas.org/v...able.php?id=127

[batistuta]

To understand the subtle  naunces of Carnatic Music is quite tough for us, Indians. For a foreigner to achieve that, at such a high level,  is no mean feat. To perform at the Thyagaraja Aradhane is amazing.

What a tragic death.

Thanks for sharing, DD.

Edited by batistuta, 11 December 2007 - 03:41 AM.

[Hyderabadi]

There are many poets of the South, less recognized, Annamacharya Keertanas are sung in Tamilanadu as well as Karnataka.

Tyagaraja composed in Telugu too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tyagaraja

http://en.wikipedia....ki/Annamacharya

To listen to Annamacharya's compositions (keertanas) plus more : http://www.tirumala....sicandbooks.htm

[captmahajan]

It has always been sad that while I enjoy Carnatac music, I don't know anything about it. Indian jazz, thats what it sounds like to me. Improvisation.

I can't think of any other country that has the cultural diversity in music that India has.


Great post, btw.

Edited by captmahajan, 11 December 2007 - 08:29 AM.

[digital drifter]

Hyderabadi, on Dec 11 2007, 05:17 AM, said:

There are many poets of the South, less recognized, Annamacharya Keertanas are sung in Tamilanadu as well as Karnataka.

Tyagaraja composed in Telugu too.

ummm....he is telugu.  Carnatic music is mostly Telugu, Kannada and Tamil in that order.  A majority of musicians seem to have moved to Tanjore and Mysore  from AP and other places to perform for the ruling kings then.

oh, the Marathas had the taste to encourage that too.

And finally Tamil Nadu gets to have the name attached to Carnatic Music.  

Not a bad bargain.  You get to do the work and we get the glory.


:-)

[digital drifter]

captmahajan, on Dec 11 2007, 08:26 AM, said:

It has always been sad that while I enjoy Carnatac music, I don't know anything about it. Indian jazz, thats what it sounds like to me. Improvisation.

It is.  Given broad parameters of how a song should be sung, the improvisation is what distinguishes each singer.

[Hyderabadi]

Curious.. how do you guys understand the poem or kriti without understanding the language?

[digital drifter]

Hyderabadi, on Dec 11 2007, 10:45 AM, said:

Curious.. how do you guys understand the poem or kriti without understanding the language?

Actually, lots of people do learn Telugu when they want to become professional singers.  And rote repetition does help.

Like the morning prayers,no?

Most people mumble that.....

[captmahajan]

I usually ask somebody, my language skills are appalling.

[Hyderabadi]

digital drifter, on Dec 11 2007, 12:31 AM, said:

Actually, lots of people do learn Telugu when they want to become professional singers. And rote repetition does help.

Like the morning prayers,no?

Most people mumble that.....

It always amazes me when I hear singers switching effortlessly from Telugu to Tamil to Kannada!

Honestly, I don't understand a lot of classical Telugu and can get away with understanding  day to day Tamil - getting rusty though.

[Hyderabadi]

I guess one could say " Endaro Mahanubhavulu....."  

[WonderWomanUSA]

Higgins's teachers, T. Raganathan and T.Vishwanathan, played often in San Francisco in the late 60s and early 70s, and so they were my introduction to Carnatic music; I also saw them years later in New York City.

Higgins was the inspiration for many who went to India to study music!

[crvlvr]

I don't want to take anything away from Mr. Higgin's accomplishments.  But, why is it a big deal when the west adapts to the East and "expected" when the east adapts to the west?

One example is Illayraaja-- a man who barely speaks english, went on to win a Gold Medal in classical guitar from the Trinity College of Music in London.
As to the language/pronounciation barrier, I think it is no easier for say a north Indian to sing in a south indian landuage than for a non-Indian.

Here is one example:
At the end of the song (5:00)  there are some comments about her not knowing the language -- Tamil.

[Hyderabadi]

crvlvr, on Dec 12 2007, 04:15 PM, said:

I don't want to take anything away from Mr. Higgin's accomplishments. But, why is it a big deal when the west adapts to the East and "expected" when the east adapts to the west?

Good question. Look forward to the debate / discussion on this......

And thanks for bringing up Illayaraaja.

Another example - AR Rahman and The Lord of the Rings.
http://en.wikipedia....ki/A._R._Rahman

[crvlvr]

Or may be DD (with the Kanakadasa reference) was pointing out that going against the orthodox grain of Indian society is an incredibily difficult if not impossible  -- gods may have to spin the temple idols before the the orthodoxy gives in. While that was an is still true. The orthdoxy has lost a  lot of its clout in India over the years, especially when it comes to performing arts. Today (or atleast until recently), many of the ustaads of India have to tour aborad to make a decent living.

The masses of India seem enchanted with western popular culture icons not realizing the treasures that lie in their own backyard.  I've heard many of the art forms are on the brink of decline in India. Apparently, not enough talented students are signing up. The maestros fear that if they die before passing on their knowledge (especially the nuances that cannot be learned from a book) then it might be generations before a prodigy comes along the raises the art form to the current levels.

[digital drifter]

I was posting an anecdote that I found interesting.

As for the issues whether Indians themselves are aware, that's a hit or miss thing.  Definitely for Madras, the situation is untenable, that there are about 2000/3000 musicians for a single city on a single branch of  Indian Music.  

They have got to eat.


There is competition, there is an increasing audience but spread across  tens of music clubs in Madras alone.  You get maybe 10K for an appearance, split with your troupe, that comes to 2K/head.

The issue is not of talent but of patronage, I think.  Bigger concert halls, better facilities, better TV/Cable hookups, that's what needed.

All that costs money.

Right now, Jaya TV does a fair bit and so does Doordarshan but who watches Doordarshan?

Of course, i have no idea about the state of Hindustani music

[crvlvr]

I read some where that historically a country's art progressed the most  when the economy was doing well. Now that the Indian ecpnomy is doing better, let's home that there are more patrons. In the od days, it was the kings. Who will take their place in the current society?

[captmahajan]

Musicians are usually poor everywhere, except the few who make it big.

It's the same for music in India, certainly with Hindustani music, where my knowledge is slightly better. Not talking about some who walk the line between popular music, including movies, and the classical.

Success eludes many musicians. Though, as somebody pointed out to me when my son decided on a career in music, what defines success?

As for the East/West debate, I always thought music had no boundaries.

[digital drifter]

This seems to address a bit on the popularity of carnatic music and the tradition

http://www.hindu.com...21650060100.htm