Newsletter September / October 2015

Content

1. Brand Names - Idea and Reality
 2.Kirtan (7) - The World of Qawwali
3. Maihar in Germanistan (4/6) - Partha Chatterjee
4. To India and Back Again: The Harmonium Story (4/5) - Doom in the West
5. Jai's Blog - Ali Akbar Khan's Divine Music
6. Workshops - October to December
7. Concerts - October and November

1. Brand Names - Idea and Reality
- Background Info by Yogendra -

From the outset India Instruments has offered most instruments under the brand names of the manufacturers - unlike many other traders who deliberately sell anonymous instruments. Ideally, a brand name stands for a certain consistent quality level. That way the brand creates the necessary trust for a functioning market, especially in areas where it's difficult for many buyers to make their own quality judgements. This important function of the brands justifies higher prices, because establishing a brand is a long and difficult process. However, it gets very problematic when a brand does not fulfill its own requirements, and thereby opens up a gap between ideal and reality. The scandal surrounding the large scale emission data manipulation of Volkswagen shows how even a major global brand can falter with such a discrepancy.

No Indian instrument maker today does all the necessary steps from lumbering to fine-tuning the finished instrument all by himself. Everybody depends on suppliers for raw materials and for instrument parts. Their quality may vary and must be constantly monitored. Finding qualified and reliable employees, is another problem. Handicraft is badly paid and has a low social status in India. Many instrument makers struggle with difficulties in infrastructure, too. In the overcrowded Indian cities they suffer from lack ofaffordable storage and work spaces and from unreliable logistics. Finally, they must cope with climatic adversities like high temperatures and high humidity or flooding of workshops, warehouses and transportation routes during monsoon.

Fulfilling their own quality standards reliably under these circumstances, is a difficult task that requires continuous efforts by the instrument makers. Some manage amazingly well, many make ends meet most of the time one way or the other, and some fail resoundingly. A good example of such failure is Hemen & Co. Sarods by Hemen had been the absolute top for several decades. Hemen's tanpuras and sitars had an excellent reputation as well and were sold at high prices. But after the founder Hemen Chandra Sen died in 2010 and his sons took over the company, the quality level fell dramatically within a few years and the great reputation was shattered to pieces. The situation became so bad that we recently had to remove all Hemen instruments from our assortment after more than 20 years of cooperation. Another former Hemen partner even accused Hemen & Co of fraud and published warnings on the internet.

A contrasting positive example is the Paloma brand of instrument maker Haribhau Vishwanath, with whom we have been working successfully since 2005. Manufacture of harmoniums and shrutiboxes from Paloma's own production is done by an experienced and skilled team of workers in clean, air-conditioned rooms, using simple electrical machinery. These are essential preconditions for a consistently high level of quality. Instruments from other manufacturers, which are marketed under the brand name Paloma, are thoroughly  checked before selling and carefully tweaked or repaired if necessary. And if anything is objectionable when it reaches us, it is no problem to get replacements or spare parts or assistance in repair. With this all-round compelling policy, Paloma has become one of the most important suppliers of harmoniums in Central Europe today.

Conclusion: Brand names give important orientation to buyers as well as dealers and manufacturers. But blind trust creates opportunities for abuse. Quality standards must therefore be verified continuously and independently - with Indian instruments as well as with Volkswagen. As a highly specialized dealers, we take on this important task. Our local representatives carry out inspections before our instruments are shipped from India. Only instruments that meet our criteria, ever go on the trip to Europe. And before the sale to our customers, we check each instrument again carefully in detail in our workshop in Berlin - and make final adjustments if necessary. These procedures and the strict German consumer protection laws in the background ensure that you get high-quality brand products at India Instruments, which are well worth their price.

Background information on Indian instrument brands.

Documentation of fraud allegation against Hemen & Co.

2.Kirtan (7) - The World of Qawwali
- Series by Atul Krishna -

Kirtan has become ever more popular around the world in the past two decades - and so have the Indian instruments used to accompany it. Atul Krishna, himself an accomplished kirtan percussionist, gives background info on history, styles, musicians and instruments of kirtan in an open series.

The World of Qawwali

Qawwali, the sacred music of the Sufis (the mystics of Islam) in Pakistan and India, was born on the Indian subcontinent in the late 13th century and has primarily been performed in Sufi shrines (a.k.a. dargahs) of South-East Asia. The songs have been composed by Sufi saints or are derived from their poems.  Throughout the last decades this music, with funky harmonium, tribal tabla and a stage full of singers screaming on the top of their beautiful voices, has gained lots of popularity outside of the Sufi shrines and left its mark within the ranks of world music.

The person who changed the status of Qawwali once and for all was Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. He is seen as Shahenshah-e-Qawwali, meaning the King of Kings of Qawwali. He toured extensively throughout the world, recorded dozens of albums and gave countless legendary concerts. It was due to him that Qawwali gained in status within the ranks of world music. His vocal range, talent for improvisation and sheer intensity are unsurpassed. He collaborated with famous western artists such as Peter Gabriel. After his death in 1997 (aged 48), his nephew Rahat Fateh Ali Khan took over Nusrat's Qawwali group, but the gap of Nusrat’s departure could not be filled. Rahat remains an internationally respected musician, but he drifted off to playback singing for Bollywood movies.

Lucky for us, Nusrat had several students. One of them is Asif Ali Khan. Asif studied for 10 years under Nusrat and started his own Qawwali group in 1996. His first international performance in the West was in Berlin. 19 years later I was able to attend his concert during the Water Festival at the House of World Cultures this August yet again in Berlin. I was unaware of the fact what affect Qawwali had on people in the West. There was a good amount of people (approx. 200 - 300 people) and everyone just stood up at a certain point and started dancing! It was a great concert. Exactly what is supposed to happen during a Qawwali concert!

This is a good point to explain the similarities between Qawwali and Kirtan. The main principle of Kirtan is the call and response part. In Qawwali call and response are practiced as well, but only between solist and chorus singers, whereas in Kirtan everybody responds to the soloist. The purpose of the music is also similar. Trying to reach a certain kind of ecstatic trance is the goal of both Kirtan and Qawwali. The songs of both styles are sung from the loved ones to their beloved. In Kirtan the love is addressed to the beloved deity, in Qawwali it is mainly addressed to Allah.

After seeing Asif Ali Khan I feel ensured that the Qawwali tradition is in good hands and we will be able to enjoy this passionate, sacred and funky style of music for many years to come.

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan live.
Asif Ali Khan live in Brussels.
Extended documentary trailer on Qawwali.
Qawwali CDs by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and various other Qawwals.
DVDs by Qawwali singer Abida Parveen.

3. Maihar in Germanistan (4/6) - Partha Chatterjee
- Background Story by Yogendra -

Great masters of the Maihar school like Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan, Nikhil Banerjee and Hariprasad Chaurasia have brought Indian classical music to the West and shaped its image worldwide for decades. We tell their story and show how Maihar musicians contribute to the scene for Indian music in Central Europe today.

In addition to institutions like the Ali Akbar College of Music Basel and the University of the Arts Rotterdam, several individual musicians without institutional background have been crucial for establishing the Maihar school in Central Europe with concerts and lessons as well. A particularly impressive example with activities spanning several decades is sitarist Partha Chatterjee. In the 1980s he had his first tours in Central Europe. In the 1990s, he had annual concert tours in Germany and the neighbouring countries which lasted for several weeks. An important and constant element of those tours was an intensive workshop spanning several days, which attracted a circle of regularly recurring students over the years. Some of them, particularly keen on learning, deepened their studies with visits to Partha Chatterjee's home in Calcutta. From these encounters developed personal ties, which made it possible to continue the annual workshops in Germany as a private initiative even when no more concert tours took place later on - until the present day.

Partha Chatterjee's musical identity was formed by Nikhil Banerjee, a direct disciple of Allauddin Khan, founder of the Maihar school, and his son Ali Akbar Khan. Many connoisseurs consider Nikhil Banerjee the most accomplished classical sitarist of the 1960s to the 1980s. The admirable intellectual depth of his music was the result of an uncompromising focus on the essence of the raga. Nikhil Banerjee never ventured into crossover projects. Nor has he ever officially accepted any students. The only way to learn from him consisted of attending his daily practice hours at his home in Calcutta, playing tabla for him there, and to accompany him on the tanpura at concerts. Partha Chatterjee is one of the very few who have followed this path. That way he spent twelve years internalising the essence of Nikhil Banerjee's music from close quarters, even though he had not envisaged a career as a musician and had started practicing sitar regularly at a relatively late age.

After Nikhil Banerjee's untimely death in 1986, Partha Chatterjee continued his studies with Ali Akbar Khan from 1991 onwards. Although he has performed quite successfully in India, the US and Europe, he lacked the breathtaking virtuosity of the great masters, which is required to become an absolute top level star performer. But Partha Chatterjee turned this weakness into a virtue: Instead of digressing into crossover experiments or focussing on technical showpieces, he kept on deepening his understanding of raga interpretation in decades of incessant learning, practice and study - just like Nikhil Banerjee. But unlike his musical role model, Partha Chatterjee also has a great passion for sharing the depths of his musical vision with talented students. Therefore, a circle of several dozen students has kept on inviting him to the US for many years on a regular basis in order to benefit from his knowledge. In India his educational gift has been recognised, too: In 2011 he has been appointed guru for sitar at the Sangeet Research Academy (SRA) in his hometown Calcutta. This unique elite boarding school keeps up the ancient Indian teacher-student tradition and prepares some of the most gifted young classical musicians of India for prominent solo careers.

In Central Europe, the circle of Partha Chatterjee's students is relatively small but loyal. He attracts the few people who want to dive deeply into the world of ragas and explore its depths for years or decades of learning. Accordingly, his workshops are hardly  publicised. His work is not about reaching the largest possible number of people, but the greatest possible depth in music. This requires trust, dedication and a lot of time on both sides. But it's well worth the effort: Sebastian Dreyer, Ulrich Kramer, Tony Clark, Henning Kirmse and the author of these lines have received such intense training from Partha Chatterjee that they are now able to carry on the Maihar tradition as teachers or performing artists. This might well be the only way to make Allauddin Khan's bold vision come true - spreading the music as far and wide as the sun and moon do shine.

Partha Chatterjee's website with numerous short video clips.
Website of the Sangeet Research Academy with extensive material on Indian music.

4. To India and Back Again: The Harmonium Story (4/5) - Doom in the West
- Background Story by Yogendra -

The harmonium is an integral part of many Indian vocal styles and of the global kirtan movement. However, it is originally a European instrument. How could it get established in India and spread back all over the world from there? An exciting story full of amazing twists... The previous episode focused on the Indian controversy whether the harmonium was at all suitable for Indian music, and the resulting ban of the harmonium from All India Radio since 1940. 

While the harmonium in India got under pressure for mere ideological reasons, a much more existential danger for it was developed in the West: In 1934, American Laurens Hammond filed a patent on a musical instrument that produced musical sounds in a purely electromechanical way. His Hammond organ was originally designed as a replacement for pipe organs in churches. Because of the complex technology, the size and weight of the instrument and the difficult economic conditions in the US during the Great Depression, it was initially not intended for further dissemination. By the end of the 1930s, only about 2,000 units were built annually. But starting in the churches, the Hammond organ slowly made its way into Gospel music and Jazz and thus inspired ever widening circles over the decades. The peak of its popularity was reached in the 1960s and 1970s when the Hammond organ became an indispensible part of many bands in Rock, Rhythm 'n Blues, Soul, Funk, Reggae and Ska.

When the Hammond organ timidly started its triumphal march in the 1930s, the development of the harmonium in the West was at an impasse. Attempts to compensate for its inherent weaknesses in dynamics and in bass notes and to expand its musical capacities through additional registers and manuals, led to ever more complicated constructions. These new harmoniums were becoming more and more cumbersome, expensive, maintenance-intensive and accident-sensitive. The use of electric pumping devices eliminated the mechanical noises of the bellows and made playing a bit more comfortable, but it did not yield any musical progress. And the new mini harmoniums that hit the market in the 1950s could hardly qualify as full-fledged instruments. When fully electronic home organs finally conquered the living rooms from the 1960s onwards, it was clear that the harmonium coud not keep up any more with the Hammond organ and its relatives and successors.

The doom of the harmonium in the West dragged on for several decades. Estey, the largest harmonium maker in the USA, already stopped harmonium production in the mid-1950s and switched to building electrical organs instead. However, smaller companies, especially in Europe, kept up harmonium production much longer. In some cases they catered to remote niche markets in South America, Africa or the Arab world, where the electrical competition was not as strong as in Europe and North America. But when the last major manufacturer of harmonium reeds in former East Germany ceased production and scrapped the necessary machinery in 1986, the end was near. Around 1990 the companies Lindholm in Saxoninan Borna and Teck-Harmoniumfabrik in Swabian Kirchheim made the last regular serial-production harmoniums in Germany. Today, only a small scene of enthusiasts is left over from the once prospering harmonium industry in the West, and only a handful of small workshops have survived by specialising in repairs and restorations.

5. Jai's Blog - Ali Akbar Khan's Divine Music
- Notes by Jai Uttal -

Jai Uttal, disciple of Neem Karoli Baba and Ali Akbar Khan, is one of the pioneers of kirtan music since the beginning of the 1990s. He has released 18 records and has opened up new horizons in the merging of Indian traditions with Western elements in many of them. In 2002 his album Mondo Rama was the first ever kirtan record to receive a Grammy nomination. His blog lets us partcipipate in his thoughts, feelings and experiences as a musician and a devotee. We would like to share excerpts from his blog in a loose series from now on. More from and about Jai Uttal here.

I first heard Ustad Ali Akbar Khan perform live when I was a freshman at Reed College in Portland, Oregon in the autumn of 1969. I'd listened to his music a lot by then, sometimes jamming along on the guitar, but I hadn't yet had the chance to attend a performance. So, being a good hippy kid, I prepared myself by taking a large dose of mescaline, my drug of choice in those early years. Sitting in the front row, I was totally mesmerized by the music but it was when the concert was finally over that the fireworks really started for me. People were walking around, talking, mingling, discussing tomorrow's classes, and I sat there in awe, wondering why everyone had gotten up. The music was still happening!!!!!!! The raga, the tala, it was all continuing but I was the only one who noticed. In fact, the sound of talking WAS the raga and the clumping of feet WAS the tala. I was witnessing a divine performance of the music of the spheres, the very song of life! Of course we all have had transcendental drug experiences, but how many of them actually last past the first rays of dawn? This one is still with me. Ali Akbar Khan had brought me to the realm of pure sound, where music touches God, where music IS God. And in that moment he changed the course of my life.

Three months later, much to the anguish of my parents, I had dropped out of Reed and was in the beginning class at the Ali Akbar College Of Music in San Rafael, California. My guitar and banjo were given an extended vacation in the hall closet and I had purchased my first Sarod. Since that time, up till the present, I've been an on-again-off-again student of the master, who we call Khansahib, or sometimes simply Baba. At times I was obsessive, practicing many hours a day, driven with the ambition to be 'great'. But more often than not I was a terrible student, okay at attendance but totally lazy when it came to practicing. Still Khansahib gave freely. He told me just to come and absorb. He offered me discounts. He encouraged me in every way to become a true musician - serious, caring, respectful, soulful. He said over and over again that music was medicine, that music brought us into the closest communion with God.

But, perhaps more importantly, Khansahib welcomed me and many others into his family and his home. I taught electric guitar to his son, Alam, now a masterful Sarod player, and spoke with Baba about all the problems of my life. We drank whiskey together and he regaled me with stories of his most amazing life. I worked with him closely on two recordings, learning so much in the process. However, it wasn't always super easy to hang out and relax with Khansahib. He seemed to have one foot firmly planted in the other world, and one foot rather uncomfortably planted in this one. And he accepted nothing less than total honesty and 'realness'. Still, his conversations were always inspiring and enlightening, sometimes funny and sometimes deeply moving. And he constantly reminded us and guided us on the profound spiritual path of music. When my parents died one after the other in the '90s, Baba guided and counseled me through some simple but ancient rituals to help with their passage and my own grief. And when it came to 'girl trouble', well, he was a master and a comedian as well. All of his students laugh and talk about Khansahib's ability to insult and complain to us, sometimes so severely that we had to laugh just to keep from crying. And when we laughed, that stern face of his broke into a grin and we felt his love once again. He just kept asking us to practice. To do our sadhana. To treat the raga like our beloved. To try to play and sing in tune.

Well, several days ago, when my family and I were in Frankfurt, Germany on the way home from a wonderful trip to India I received an email that Baba had died the night before, just hours after giving a final lesson to the friends, students and family members gathered around him. He died as he had lived, sharing his treasures with all who came to him. I know the news of his passing has spread around the world by now, but I still find it hard to believe. Yesterday was spent at a beautiful memorial service and a very sweet, gentle wake, filled with tears and and laughter. But I just cant seem to get used to the fact that he's not around, that I cant go to class, that I cant stop by and visit. I can only imagine what his family must be feeling now. Yet, as Zakir Hussein said at the memorial, Khansahib was finally through with the suffering of his body and was "up there giving a concert for God, who must surely be marveling at the truly wondrous job He'd done in creating this great, great man, this miracle of music."

Recordings by Ali Akbar Khan.

6. Workshops - October to December
- Scene Info -

Workshops are a great opportunity of getting fresh inspiration for the study and practice of Indian instruments, Indian music and Indian dance. We support that! Therefore we publish an overview of current workshops regularly. Details of all workshops are available in our website's network section on the workshop page.

24.10. - 25.10. BERLIN: Indian Rhythm Workshop on Tabla and other Percussion Instruments (Indian and Western) with Indranil Mallick
16.10. - 18.10. OY-MITTELBERG: Harmonium Advanced with Jürgen Wade
01.11. NUREMBERG: Nada Yoga with Sundaram
01.11. - 08.11. BAD MEINBERG: Nada Yoga Basic Training with Anne-Careen Engel
06.11. - 08.11. WANGERLAND: Harmonium Advanced with Uma Marija Balic
20.11. - 22.11. BAD MEINBERG: Harmonium Basics with Jürgen Wade
27.11. - 29.11. BAD MEINBERG: Nada, Nadis and Chakras with Anne-Careen Engel
04.12. - 06.12. BAD MEINBERG: Harmonium Advanced with Jürgen Wade
04.12. - 06.12. GERODE: Nada Yoga - Healing Power of Sound with Barbara Irmer, Carmen Mager, Frank Beese
04.12. - 06.12. BAD MEINBERG: OM & The Tonic - A Fountain of Sounds with Anne-Careen Engel
11.12. - 13.12. HEMMOOR: Sitar - Step by Step: Raga Yaman with Yogendra
26.12. - 31.12. BAD MEINBERG: Harmonium- and Kirtan Vacation Week with Devadas Mark Janku & Anandini Einsiedel
27.12. - 01.01. OBERLAHR: Yoga Mantra Vacation Week with Sundaram

7. Concerts - October and November
- Scene Info -

Check our concert calendar for more detailed information, venues, times and additional dates in 2015 and 2016!

23.10. B - ROCHEFORT: Joachim Lacrosse - Sitar
23.10. ALTENBURG: Pulsar Trio - Sitar, Piano, Drums
23.10. STUTTGART: Manoi Baruah - Violine
23.10. BONN: Ashim Mallick - Sitar
23.10. BONN: Ashim Mallick - Sitar
24.10. BONN: Partha Bose - Sitar
24.10. HAMBURG: Anjan Saha - Sitar, Kaberi Sen - Dance
24.10. ERFURT: Yogendra - Sitar
24.10. MOENCHENGLADBACH: Govinda Schlegel - Sarod
24.10. COLOGNE: Sundaram & Friends - Mantras / Kirtan chanting
24.10. STUTTGART: Monalisa Ghosh & Ensemble - Odissi Dance
25.10. STUTTGART: Monalisa Ghosh & Ensemble - Odissi Dance
25.10. BRAUNSCHWEIG: Yogendra - Sitar
25.10. DÜSSELDORF: Govinda Schlegel - Sarod
25.10. BADEN-BADEN: Abhisek Lahiri - Sarod
25.10. FRANKFURT: Partha Bose - Sitar
26.10. LEVERKUSEN: Partha Bose - Sitar
26.10. BERLIN: Manoj Baruah - Violin
27.10. BAD GANDERSHEIM: Yogendra - Sitar
27.10. AACHEN: Partha Bose - Sitar
28.10. B - KETTENIS: Partha Bose - Sitar
29.10. RECKLINGHAUSEN: Partha Bose - Sitar
29.10. BERLIN: Dvorak - Spiritual Harmony
30.10. GOTHA: Pulsar Trio - Sitar, Piano, Drums
30.10. STUTTGART: Ranajit Sengupta - Sarod
30.10. ESSLINGEN: Subroto Roy Chowdhury - Sitar
30.10. BERLIN: Partha Bose - Sitar
31.10. MÜNSTER: Neela Bhagawat - Vocal
31.10. CH - BADEN: Sharmila Rao - Bharatanatyam Dance Solo
31.10. NUREMBERG: Sundaram & Friends - Mantras / Kirtan chanting
31.10. HAMBURG: World-Drum-Trio
31.10. STUTTGART: Ashim Chowdhury - Sitar, Ranajit Sengupta - Sarod
31.10. B - BRUXELLES: Joachim Lacrosse - Sitar
01.11. FRANKFURT: Ravinder Singh Ranguwal & Ensemble - Bhangra Dance
01.11. STUTTGART: Ashim Chowdhury - Sitar
01.11. RASTATT: Subroto Roy Chowdhury - Sitar
02.11. HAMBURG: Sanjay and his Master - puppet theatre with live music
04.11. HANNOVER: Ravinder Singh Ranguwal & Ensemble - Bhangra Dance
04.11. BERLIN: Purna Das Baul & Papia Das Baul – vocals, khomok, ektara
04.11. HAMBURG: Sohini Debnath - Katha-Dance
05.11. HAMBURG: Sursangam - Raga & Folk Music Concert
06.11. HAMBURG: Sanjay and his Master - puppet theatre with live music
06.11. HAMBURG: Sohini Debnath - Katha-Dance
07.11. HAMBURG: Night of India: Reclaim the Night and Dance!
07.11. STUTTGART: Subhankar Chatterjee - Vocal
07.11. HANNOVER: Pulsar Trio - Sitar, Piano, Drums
07.11. HAMBURG: Sanjay and his Master - puppet theatre with live music
08.11. HAMBURG: Sanjay and his Master - puppet theatre with live music    
08.11. DUSSELDORF: Pulsar Trio - Sitar, Piano, Drums
08.11. STUTTGART: Subhankar Chatterjee - Vocal
08.11. B - BRUXELLES: Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay - vocal, Harsh Wardhan - bansuri
09.11. LEVERKUSEN: Pulsar Trio - Sitar, Piano, Drums
09.11. BERLIN: Ravinder Singh Ranguwal & Ensemble - Bhangra Dance
09.11. HAMBURG: Sanjay and his Master - puppet theatre with live music
11.11. MÜNSTER: Surangama Dasgupta & Ensemble - Kathak Dance
13.11. GERA: Sundaram & Friends - Mantras / Kirtan chanting
13.11. THIERSTEIN: Indian Air
14.11. BAD HERRENALB: Deepsankar Bhattacharya - Sitar
15.11. CH - BADEN: Sangita Aradhana - Karnatik Music Festival
15.11. NL - UTRECHT: Shahid Parvez - Sitar
20.11. A - WILDERMIEMING: Indian Air 4tet             
21.11. A - INNSBRUCK: Indian Air 4tet
21.11. COLOGNE: Satyaa & Pari - Kirtan Concert
21.11. STUTTGART: Neela Bhagwat - Vocal
22.11. STUTTGART: Neela Bhagwat - Vocal
23.11. BONN: Meera Varghese - Indian Dance
24.11. BERLIN: Swapan Chaudhuri - Tabla
26.11. NL - HAARLEM: Abhisek Lahiri - Sarod
26.11. A - LANS: SitarStation
27.11. HAMBURG: Deepsankar Bhattacharjee - Sitar
28.11. WILSTER: Deepsankar Bhattacharjee - Sitar
28.11. A - WIEN: Satyaa & Pari - Kirtan Concert
28.11. STUTTGART: Sohini Dabnat - Kathak-Tanz
29.11. STUTTGART: Sohini Dabnat - Kathak-Tanz
29.11. NORTHEIM: Pulsar Trio - Sitar, Piano, Drums
29.11. HAMBURG: Deepsankar Bhattacharjee - Sitar
12.12. CH - BADEN: Vijaya Rao & Sharmila Rao - Abhijnana Shakuntala Dance Drama