Elements of Indian Music

A combined concert and self-portrait of Vishwa Mohan Bhatt the master of the unique Mohan Vina guitar and the music of the Indian Classical tradition. The Grammy Award-winning artist Vishwa Mohan Bhatt is a rare example of an artist so strikingly original that the rest of us are forced to reexamine exactly what the guitar is capable of. In concert Bhatt performs unadulterated Indian classical music on a modified archtop lapstyle guitar that incorporates many elements of the Sitar with sypathetic resonant strings and vocally fluid slides. As an artist he has recorded and collaborated with Ry Cooder Taj Mahal Jerry Douglas and Bela Fleck combining the sounds ofIndia with the roots of US folk and blues.This intmate showcase features Bhatt accompanied by tabla master Sukhvinder Singh Namadhari performing four ragas and a folk tune - including the majestic Yaman a cornerstone of Hindustani classical music.Guitarists and Indian music aficionados alike will much to admire enjoy and study in this DVD presentation of an artist who alerted the West to the guitar's radical new possibilities within India's classical music tradition.

This major concert work cosists o five movements.1st movement: La Laguna del ShimbeSituated high up in the Andes mountains in Northern Peru are the Huaringas a group of lagoons in isolated and mysterious surroundings. The water has healing powersand for centuries traditional healers have settled there in small villages. From far the sick come to the Huaringas to be treated in nightly rituals in which the hallucinating juice of the San Pedro cactus gives the prophet a look inside hispatient. The biggest lagoon is the ?Laguna del Shimbe? one of the countless wells of the immense Amazon stream.2nd movement: Los AguarunasFurther downstream in Northern Peru we come across the rain tribe of Los Aguarunas. It?s a proud beautiful andindependent race which has never succumbed to domination not even from the Incas. They live from everything the forest has to offer: fish fruit plants ... . They also grow some crops and live as semi-nomads. They take their fate into their ownhands and after having made contact with modern civilisation they have integrated new elements into their lives without betraying their own ways.3rd movement: MekaronMekaron is an Indian word meaning ?picture? ?soul? ?essence?. The Indians are theorigina inhabitants of the Amazon region. They either live in one place as a group or move around a large region. They all have their own political system their own language and an intense social life. At the same time they are master of music andmedicine. ?Everywhere the white man goes he leaves a wilderness behind him? wrote the North American Indian leader Seatl in 1885. As a result of these contacts with the whites the disruption of most Indian societies began. (In this century alone 80 tribes have vanished completely).4th movement: KêêtuajêThis is the name of the initiating ceremony of the Krahô tribe in the Brazilian state of Goias in which young boys and girls enter adult life. They are cleansed with water painted with redpaint and covered with feathers after which the ritual dance holds the entire tribe spell-bound.5th movement: Paulino FaiakanIn 1988 the Indian chiefs Faiakan and Raoni Kaiapo came to Europe to protest against the building of the Altamira dam inBrazil. As a result of the dam the Indians would be driven from their traditional land and enormous artificial would be created. The project was supported financially by amongst others the European Community. In February 1989 the Indian tribesaround Altamira held a protest march for the first time in their history together. Amongst other things they paid tribute tot Chico Mendez who murdered in 1988 was the leader of the rubber syndicate and a fierce opponent of the destruction of theBrazilian rain forest. Brazilian and world opinion was awakened. The building of the dam was -albeit temporarily - stopped.

This major concert work cosists o five movements.1st movement: La Laguna del ShimbeSituated high up in the Andes mountains in Northern Peru are the Huaringas a group of lagoons in isolated and mysterious surroundings. The water has healing powersand for centuries traditional healers have settled there in small villages. From far the sick come to the Huaringas to be treated in nightly rituals in which the hallucinating juice of the San Pedro cactus gives the prophet a look inside hispatient. The biggest lagoon is the ?Laguna del Shimbe? one of the countless wells of the immense Amazon stream.2nd movement: Los AguarunasFurther downstream in Northern Peru we come across the rain tribe of Los Aguarunas. It?s a proud beautiful andindependent race which has never succumbed to domination not even from the Incas. They live from everything the forest has to offer: fish fruit plants ... . They also grow some crops and live as semi-nomads. They take their fate into their ownhands and after having made contact with modern civilisation they have integrated new elements into their lives without betraying their own ways.3rd movement: MekaronMekaron is an Indian word meaning ?picture? ?soul? ?essence?. The Indians are theorigina inhabitants of the Amazon region. They either live in one place as a group or move around a large region. They all have their own political system their own language and an intense social life. At the same time they are master of music andmedicine. ?Everywhere the white man goes he leaves a wilderness behind him? wrote the North American Indian leader Seatl in 1885. As a result of these contacts with the whites the disruption of most Indian societies began. (In this century alone 80 tribes have vanished completely).4th movement: KêêtuajêThis is the name of the initiating ceremony of the Krahô tribe in the Brazilian state of Goias in which young boys and girls enter adult life. They are cleansed with water painted with redpaint and covered with feathers after which the ritual dance holds the entire tribe spell-bound.5th movement: Paulino FaiakanIn 1988 the Indian chiefs Faiakan and Raoni Kaiapo came to Europe to protest against the building of the Altamira dam inBrazil. As a result of the dam the Indians would be driven from their traditional land and enormous artificial would be created. The project was supported financially by amongst others the European Community. In February 1989 the Indian tribesaround Altamira held a protest march for the first time in their history together. Amongst other things they paid tribute tot Chico Mendez who murdered in 1988 was the leader of the rubber syndicate and a fierce opponent of the destruction of theBrazilian rain forest. Brazilian and world opinion was awakened. The building of the dam was -albeit temporarily - stopped.

This large-scale three-movement work commissioned by Ray Cramer and the Indiana University Wind Ensemble embodies the transformation of silence into sound. The opening movement is sparse utilizing mallet percussion harp andpiano to create a floating sense of timelessness. Featuring extensive solo flute this floating texture gradually builds over several minutes ultimately launching itself into a grandiose warm harmonically consonant blanket ofsound. The second movement continues the focus on solo flute and again opens slowly gradually gaining momentum but at a faster pace than in the first movement. The music spirals upward and outward but instead of reaching aplateau winds itself out and comes to a grinding halt in the upper range of the ensemble. Five brief solemn chords conclude the movement which immediately erupts into Movement III music of unceasing unsettling motion propelled by a driving ostinato which is repeatedly interrupted by bittersweet moments of lyricism all the while pushing toward an unforgiving climax. The movements may also be performed separately. There is no explicit narrativeto the piece though many particular elements do have personal quasi-biographical significance. Ultimately this is music of both personal and musical transformation.NOTE: This work is available as a rental item directlyfrom the composer. For details e-mail rental@stevenbryant.com. The score is also available separately for purchase from Hal Leonard.

Stanton Moore presents a study in New Orleans Street Beats and second-line rhythms that takes the glorious cosmopolitan sounds of the Louisiana style and applies them to funk and rock drumming.New Orleans native Stanton Moore has studied the indigenous styles of his home city for many years and this unique tutorial gives you the chance to learn about this rich musical heritage and master the beats that have become so characteristic of this cultural melting-pot. You will learn about the history of street beats second line and the Mardi Gras Indians as well as the importance of clave to New Orleans drumming. You will discover how to put a New Orleans spin ontraditional rhythms like Mambo Guaguanco Shuffle and Samba and how to add inflection and variations to bring them to life. The accompanying CD includes performances by The Dirty Dozen George Porter and Ivan Neville.The ideal choice for drummers of all abilities and styles wishing to add some unusual but thoroughly infectious elements to their playing.