Status Updates From Indian Sun: The Life and Mu...

“What was even more crazy, says Able, “was that his picking hand was above the covers, and the finger that he wore the mizrab on was moving as if he was playing or practicing. I felt bad about complaining now — he was on another level! It wasn’t twitching. His whole hand was moving. He was playing in his sleep.”

‘Ravi was keen to train audiences as well as his students. In a program essay entitled “Good Listening” he appealed for all to be seated on time at Kinnara concerts, “relaxed and receptive”. It was announced beforehand that the doors would be closed precisely on 8:30 p.m. and reopened only between numbers.’

‘Coltrane talked only a little about his own music and had not brought his saxophone, preferring to ask Ravi questions about Indian music. The American was profoundly moved, and Ravi’s exquisite demonstrations on sitar brought him to tears.’

‘Dhrupad is when a raga is unfolded through an unaccompanied, free-tempo opening section known as alap, and then progressed into a jor section with a measured pulse. It had deep spiritual quality. Raga purity was prized, and each musical piece was designed to express one of the nine standard emotions or rasas originally detailed in a two-thousand year old Sanskrit text, the Natya Shastra.’

2. On Ravi’s teacher: ‘He was fanatical in his drive to learn, and forced himself to abstain from sex so that his energies were focused solely on music. Sometimes when he practiced, he would tie his hair to the ceiling with a long cord, to force himself to stay awake.’

1. On Ravi’s teacher: ‘At the age of eight he ran away to join a traveling group of musicians, claiming to be an orphan. Over several years they taught him both folk and classical styles. As well as learning vocal music, he mastered the violin, clarinet, cornet, trumpet, shehnai and various drums — tabla, pakhawaj and dhol — even before he took up his principal instrument, the sarod.

‘Ravi might complete his brief introduction by encouraging the audience to listen with their hearts, rather then their heads. He considered this to be he highest form of the music, capable of evoking a profound sense of serenity. When John Coltrane came to Ravi for lessons, it was this feeling of peace he was seeking.’

‘Thus, the thrill for the listener is to be found not in harmony, chords or key changes but in the melodic creativaty that a performer demonstrates — a thrill intensified by the overwhelming emphasis on improvisation. Indian music is performed without scores, foregrounding instantaneous invention within the constraints of the chosen raga.’

‘The drone acts as a kind of mental anchor, tethering the musician and listener to a fixed pitch, a familiar home to return to after every daring foray into melodic invention.’

‘One aspect that gives ragas such emotional power, is that the scales they employ are not limited to the two scales, major and minor, that dominate Western music. There are no fewer than 72 different parent scales into which al ragas can be categorized. Indian music thus explores a much greater variety of scales than does Western music, allowing for a wide range of moods.’

After reading all about John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme”, there’s no better timing than to continue and read about the man who inspired the naming of John’s son: Ravi Coltrane. Ravi Shankar had a great impact on Coltrane’s music due to John’s interest in Indian classical music + the respect he had for Ravi. Can’t wait to see what’s there to learn about mr. Shankar and Indian music in general.