Carnatic/western fusion for classical dance-panchabhutatmaka

vini · Post by **vini** » 23 May 2006, 21:25

I am looking for good albums either ior both instrumental or vocal carnatic + western fusion. I would like to compose a few dances based on the theme Panch bhootam. Would like to get all your suggestions as to how to go about it. What I have in mind is to link this fusion music with each of the pancha bhootam and compose small dance production showing how these elements revolve in and around our life.

I sincerely want all your opinions and suggestion. This part of the world its difficult to compose music on your own and most of all I am still a student of classical music so would like to rely on released albums for the performance. The dance part will be composed by myself.

Incase you have come across this particular theme pls upload the performance ,it would be of immense help and a starting point for my production.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 23 May 2006, 23:45

Vini,
VK or VJ maybe able to help you here, but what I can suggest is for you to attempt to alternate/combine (cut and paste with software), say, some of the charaNAs from the pancabhUta kritIs of MD with appropriate pieces of western music - for instance, the kritI on vAyulingam with Vivaldi's Spring (from his 4 seasons) and so on...appu linga kritI and Handel's 'Water Music' etc....
Keep us posted on how this evolves.
Ravi

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 24 May 2006, 07:40

On 21st May 2006, "Prakriti - The Dance of the Five Elements of Nature" was presented in Sydney by the Samskriti School of Dance. Music was specially compiled and composed for the dance drama.

The broad themes used were:
Space - Shiva's tandavam in Chidambaram
Water - Krishna's kaliya nardanam
Air - Stories of Pavan and his son Hanuman
Earth - The Story of Subramanya and Valli
Fire - The story of Kovalan and Kannagi

vini · Post by **vini** » 24 May 2006, 12:20

Thanx a lot for the ideas infact would like to know who is VK and VJ ,I am sorry i dint get that. The copy and paste part is a good idea ,hopefully i can do that . U can mentioned about vivaldi's spring and Handel's water. Would like to get more details on the rest of the elements too please. I will try and listen to them today and will get back to you .

vini · Post by **vini** » 24 May 2006, 19:49

I did listen to vivaldi's spring and handel's water song ,thats a good idea but was thinking how would it sound if i try and add with each krithi of MD a liitle of hindustani touch like tabla, sitar etc. That way i think i can compose a little more complicated adavus to the same. Any suggestions as to which albums could i select. Thought of Mangalam piece of Ravi shankar as a final piece .its from chants of india. Any such creations tht u knw of where in i could fit in good adavus too .
Any fusion numbers on fire,earth,water etc............
pls mail me the album names .
Also thought of starting the production with gale bhujanga or bho samho .would that be a good one?

Would also like to know if i could take the panchalinga kritis sung by bombay jayshree ?

Once again i am so glad that i joined in can clear a lot of my queries.

vineetha

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 24 May 2006, 20:29

vineetha, It is an interesting project. vk is me and vj is vishnampettai Jayendran. This is more VJ's alley and so I will see if I can attrat his attention to this thread. If I can think of anything interesting, I will post.

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 24 May 2006, 21:24

Vini,
Taking Mohan's idea a bit further, for water, you can try fusing Oothukadu Venkatasubbaiyer's (aka Venkata Kavi) kALinga nartana tillAnA...(Aruna Sayeeram has sung this only in like all of her concerts) and Handel's water song.
With Dikshitar's compositions, you can chose the madhyamakAla passages with/without chitta swarams for aDavus and tIrmAnams...
Ravi

vini · Post by **vini** » 24 May 2006, 21:40

Ravi

Thats a nice one but any suggestions as to where i could catch hold of these songs mentioned. Can i download them? is there any site u are aware of.Infact this part of the world UAE hardly do we get to buy such classical numbers

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 24 May 2006, 22:38

Vini,
I would suggest looking thru the iTunes music store or other places like that...I know for sure that they have the kALinga nartana tillAnA...by Aruna Sayeeram..I am sure they also have the others you would be interested in...
Ravi

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 26 May 2006, 03:11

Moved from another thread for consolidation purposes. ( Vini, keep the posts on this topic to this thread. Thanks )

---------------------------
Posted by: vini
---------------------------

While searching for some idea on the music for my production I came across this music on the site www.swarsystems.com ,a beautiful number called panchabhutatmakam ,it sounded excellent .How will it sound if i could add that to the production .Can someone pls listen to it and let me know the lrics and meaning of that musical composition .It would help gve me ideas to do the fusion bit.

Thanks a lot

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 26 May 2006, 03:15

Vini:

I asked a few wesern classical aware colleagues of mine.
One response:
--------------

what is the chance that a listener would recognize the five element reference? Anyway, here are some suggestions:

Britten's Sea Songs
Handel's Water Music
Debussy's la Mer ("Sea")

The Water Music is related to water only in that it was composed for some occasion where the king and his party were floating down the river on a barge. Sea Songs or Debussy's la Mer have water as their subject.

de Falla's Ritual Fire Dance
Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde ( "the song of the earth" )

Nothing comes to mind for air or space.

--------------

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 26 May 2006, 04:47

For air, spring, with birds taking flight may be a good option: that is why I suggetsed Vivaldi's spring...
Space is kind of tough - you could use an instrumental version of the 'star spangled banner' where the concept is land from coast-to-coast, and where man and beast roam free....(NOW: this is purely for fun: but you could use the spanish version of the SSB and choreograph mariachi or flamenco steps for that ready! :cheesy:)

Ravi

vini · Post by **vini** » 26 May 2006, 11:58

well those are real good ones let me listen to all with full concentration today. Infact for space lets say we keep the Kailash and show a tandavam like the one suggested by mohan would that be good ? anywayz pls do let me know of ideas and thanks a real lot for all ur efforts to help.

Now we have been lokking at it from carnatic + western fusion but what if we are thinking of carnatic +hindustani or carnatic +carnatic instrumental mainly the mridangam and veena . Any suggestion from ur side.

vini · Post by **vini** » 26 May 2006, 12:06

As for how the listeners would know i think the first effort would be to start of in detail about the five elements and ofcourse stage settings for each element . Befor each element starting we will have to introduce the cocept to audience thru an explanation so they know what to expect on stage. how will that work ?

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 27 May 2006, 00:49

Another response from another western classical aware colleague

------------
This is difficult for me to answer, because unfortunately I am utterly
ignorant of Hindu mythology; the stories you name mean nothing to me, so I cannot judge what pieces of music would be appropriate for the mood of the story.

Also, does your friend want musical pieces that stylistically resemble each other?

Or would she want a potpourri - a little of something from each of a variety of styles?

Do the pieces have to be of a particular length?

On the assumption that she wants something relatively dignified and in a
unified style, I would suggest the music of Debussey; in particular, his tone poems "La Mer" and "Nocturnes". I think she'll find lots of musical passages that will be both quite danceable and will be evocative of the moods of the elements.

Another composer your friend may wish to examine is the Englishman
Gustav Holst. Holst was deeply interested in the literature of India, and studied Sanskrit. His chamber opera "Savitri" is based on the Mahabharata. He also wrote "Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda" for harp and chorus of women's voices with a text in Sanskrit; I've heard this performed and it is most beautiful.

I hope your friend finds this helpful.

Regards ...
----------------------

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 27 May 2006, 02:51

VK,
Maybe what you should ask your friends is for suggestions for pieces that evoke imagery of fire, wind etc....and Vini can then decide how she wants to use them. Technically, they don't need a 'spiritual' connection to the CM or HM piece that they will be fused with. The connection should be provided by the choreography.
Ravi

vini · Post by **vini** » 27 May 2006, 11:48

Yes Ravi ,i think thats the point.I want music that would more or less sound like the feel of fire and the rest of the elements and then I could see how i could mix it in .

vini · Post by **vini** » 28 May 2006, 23:43

Hi rk

Can you please let me know in which thematic presentation did Chitra visweswaran present 'Devi ashtarasa malika'.I am a great fan of all her creations. Could you suggest me where I could buy a few VCD's or DVD's of her thematic and solo presentations.

Her abhinayas are just amazing so natural.There is one performance she had done for doordarshan many years back Krishna Nee bagane vaaro ,she was simply superb . I saw that performance may be when was hardly 10 or 12 but her expression i will never forget. Do you have any idea how I could record those presentations so as to keep them as treasures in my collection.

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 02 Jun 2006, 11:19

Here is a review (from a local Indian newspaper) of the Sydney dance drama - Prakriti

http://indianlink.com.au/?q=node/1068&P ... 787d9ea76e

meena · Post by **meena** » 09 Jun 2006, 22:30

here another review -kutcheribuzz, of Prakriti - the Sydney dance drama.

DELETED

kudos mohan

rshankar · Post by **rshankar** » 10 Jun 2006, 00:42

Very WELL DONE Mohan, and Sangeeta...
Keep it up!
Did not realize that your pancharAgamAlika shiva panchAksharam was used for the 'space' bhUtam....and the reviewer did catch your imaginative use of the rAgas for this piece!
Ravi

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 10 Jun 2006, 04:23

Thanks Ravi & Meena

mohan · Post by **mohan** » 10 Jun 2006, 17:05

Thanks Ravi and Meena!

vini · Post by **vini** » 01 Jul 2006, 22:20

Hi all

I know that lord shiva is being worshiped in 5 different forms Panch bhootams in 5 different temples . Could someone let me know more about the same.I recently read an article that the panch bhootams are actually present in the form of lord shiva too pls explain !

Will definitely help in my dance production .

Vineetha

meena · Post by **meena** » 01 Jul 2006, 23:07

vini

check this :
DELETED

param · Post by **param** » 03 Jul 2006, 15:46

There is a reference to Panchabhootam here. May be of use

http://www.srikalahasthi.com/History.asp