Indian Cello: an inauguration

Me and Asha, my roommate and
my teacher's other student, after a
beautiful performance of Indian cello

I've been in Delhi for two weeks, have moved in to my room on the roof, have been exploring the city, and started my music lessons. I have a lot of posts cued up to write and share, but I thought I would first give a brief explanation of what it actually is I'm here to do and how I got here.

I decided last year that when I completed my degree in ethnomusicology in May 2012 I would give myself a year dedicated solely to playing cello and see where it lead me. Up to that point my classes and research took my primary focus, even though I was taking lessons at Eastman and participating in both formal and informal ensembles with classmates and friends. I was eager to commit my entire focus to playing but I wasn't sure what music I wanted to study - perhaps more Western classical music, or jazz, or bluegrass. Then, I heard about a woman performing in Rochester who played North Indian classical music on cello, who was a teacher and a composer, and had even collaborated to design hybrid Indian-Western cellos. I was drawn to the opportunity to work with someone who had carved a place for herself and the cello within such a deep, non-western tradition. I emailed her, she invited me to come to India, and the planning began.

Packing the cello with clothes for the long trip

So, on September 18th I arrived in New Delhi to begin my studies with Dutch musician Saskia Rao de Haas. Over the past 20 years Saskia has studied with different guru and performed around the world, developing a technique to play Hindustani (North Indian) music on the cello. The idea of having cello in Hindustani music is not absurd - instrument cross-overs are not new in Indian classical music's history. The violin was introduced to India about 100 years ago and is now a common instrument in Indian classical music. The fretless construction (unlike a guitar) allows for sliding between notes and playing notes that are slightly lower or higher than the fixed tuning (or equal-tempered tuning) of Western classical music. In this way the violin and cello are similar to Indian instruments like the sarangi, allowing for the melodic ornamentations so distinct to Indian music. Here's a video of one of the master guru from the 19th century, Baba Allaudin Khan, playing violin. This short clip provides a very basic introduction to the form of much Indian music, beginning with a slow section that is rhythmically very free and moving into a very rhythmic and exciting faster section. (More blogs to come on the forms and styles of Indian classical music)

I was lucky enough to arrive in New Delhi just days before the album release concert of Saskia's first solo album "Indian Cello." 

It was a really wonderful opportunity to get to be initiated into the community of people that study and work with Saskia and Shubhendra (Saskia's husband and distinguished sitar player who is a disciple of Ravi Shankar). We all helped to decorate the stage beforehand with amazingly fragrant roses and white garlands. 

One of the men made an "om" character, a very auspicious symbol and sound in Indian culture to invoke a sense of peace, blessing, and unity with the performers, audience, and god (read the wiki for further introduction to the significance of this sound in Hinduism; look for more exploration of this theme in future blogs).

Before the concert there was a discussion in Hindi and English with a panel of prominent classical artists regarding Indian music as a global art form. The two men on the right end are brothers Pandit Rajan and Sajan Mishra who are renowned vocalists (I am seeing them perform at the Delhi classical music festival later tonight so look out for a post on them in the future). Much of the discussion focused on sharing and performing Indian-ness through classical music, and of preserving the richness of cultural thought through the perpetuation of these performance arts. I was reminded of the sentiment at home regarding Hawaiian music and hula where the teachers (kumu in Hawaii, guru in India) are passing down not only their own artistic style and philosophies but also cultural phrases, ways of thinking and acting that are essential to the sincere expression of the performer. Learning and performing the music are inseparable to having a deep understanding of and connection to the history and values of Indian culture.

Saskia worked side-by-side with luthier Eduard van Tongeren in the Netherlands to design an instrument that would better fit the Indian music playing style. In these pictures from the sound check and the beginning of the concert you can see some of the distinct differences between Saskia's instrument and the Western cello. 

-  the body is slightly smaller to make it more comfortable to play sitting down - all Indian musicians sit on the ground and are barefoot when they play

-  it has 5 strings instead of four (tuned D-A-D-A-D)

-  the design of the f-holes (the squiggly lines on either side of the bridge) and the tuning pegs at the top resemble those on other Indian instruments such as the sitar

-  there are sympathetic strings (she's tuning these in the above picture) running diagonally across the body of the cello (sympathetic strings are strings that are not played but resonate and sound due to the vibration of the played strings)

Indian music is improvisational (not a set composition) within modes (a collection of particular notes that make up the tonal material to be played) called ragas. That means that the music played by Saskia and tabla player Durjay Bhaumik at the concert were based in the two ragas from the album but were different from the recordings because they were thinking up and improvising on different melodic phrases on the spot. 

It was a wonderful concert and an inspiring, positive way to initiate my time here. I look forward to sharing more with you soon!