From rxpgnews.com
Western music finds growing aficionados in capital
By Maxwell Pereira,
Dec 24, 2006 - 7:14:14 PM
Western music arrived in India with the colonial powers, its influence initially confined to coastal towns. Delhi at that time was under Bahadur Shah Zafar - a poet in his own rights, one who had neither the will nor the power to resist the gradual British influence infusing the existing Indian culture with fresh intake from the West. Music, they say, is international with no language, nationality or borders - so making inroads here was just natural.
The popular or pop is light while the classical is deeper and soul touching, classified Western music. The light made its way to corners of the land, with young people deeply involved, their creativity giving fair competition to other musicians on the international arena. The Church music of today is also imported from West and is heard and played in every church and worship services, sans the rock and sway aspect of Western music. In Delhi, popular music was restricted to 'crooners' in all the five star hotel night clubs or in total contrast to small groups that met in homes for the more studied and practiced recitals.
Western classical music has a much older history, but did not match the pace with the progress that light music made in India. Classical music too has two divisions - instrumental and vocal. Delhi may have had a bit of instrumental music but was more or less dry in vocal music. Twenty years ago, apparently there were only two trained voices in the public domain in the city with an academic music degree -- Seetu Singh and Sharmila Livingston -.
In those days music was a hobby, not an academic profession. Today, with the Trinity School of Music offering a rock curriculum in addition to the classical, the numbers of takers has leaped exponentially. Delhi University too has for the first time opened up a degree programme in Western Music.
Things have changed. A one time dry desert for Western music, Delhi has since grown. With greater dispensable income, music is no longer a luxury for a limited few but an important extra-curricular activity for kids. With changes in import/export regulations, one can buy quality foreign branded musical instruments at somewhat affordable prices. Music teaching/training is becoming big business with classes costing up to Rs.1,200 a lesson, and schools of music opening up in the national capital region.
With the MTV age, music videos, well-funded college festivals, inter-school competitions, TV talent shows - there are any number of platforms available for performance, starting with the very young.
From a single city chorus namely 'The Delhi Christian Chorus' conducted by Rev Richard Smythe in the late 60's and early 70's, the city now offers choices: Capital City Minstrels, Neemrana Chorus, Choraliers, Artists Unlimited, the Naga and the Mizo choirs and several smaller ones. Folks can join and/or go to more choices of concerts. The audience at most of these affairs is no longer mostly foreigners. Indians are working hard to get to concerts, shows, recitals, and musicals.
Promoters though are few - perhaps because of limited knowhow, infrastructure or funds, to develop and take classical music to greater heights in Delhi. The Indian Council for Cultural Relations is doing its bit by inviting foreign artists, chamber and symphony orchestras, and dance groups. The Delhi School of Music and the Delhi Symphony Orchestra are making their own contribution in a limited way - their performances just a few with inadequate publicity.
On the instrumental side, the Delhi Symphony Orchestra is one of the oldest. Bringing together musicians from around the country, most of them are from Delhi. Often numbering as much as 75-strong, the orchestra has performed some of the most demanding symphonic scores. Its conductors, for many years, have come from around the world, each bringing his/her own sensibilities to the music. Members of the orchestra range from trained students to highly qualified performers and music professionals.
Delhi Symphony Society also hosts many musicians, choirs and ensemble groups from India and the rest of the world, enabling them to perform in Delhi. Gautam Kaul, the honourary secretary, has managed it almost single-handedly for many years.
To Capital City Minstrels goes the credit as the face of Western classical choral singing in the city. Founded 12 years ago by Zohra Shaw, its members come from across the world, across religions, across ages and across professions. The quality and difficulty level of the music it performs remains dauntingly high. The Minstrels' annual calendar has three seasons: spring performances scheduled for late April/early May, often focussed around Easter.
The fall season that used to be a period to relax, show off the repertoire of light music and pop, jazz and Broadway has for the last three years been committed to an annual Peace Concert at the India Habitat Centre on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. The winter season is the busiest, filled with the joy and harmony of Christmas. This is when classical sacred music as well as the much-loved carols fill the halls across the city, to the delight of music lovers.
The honour for exclusively pioneering sacred Christian music goes to Delhi Christian Chorus. Boasting some of Delhi's finest voices, its concerts under Royall McLaren at Easter and Christmas are eagerly anticipated and well attended. Started in 1965, DCC has made significant contribution in the field of Western music for well over 40 years. Though confined to sacred music only, they always have a classical section in their concerts and have over the years presented works of such great composers as Handel, Schubert, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Bach, Scarlatti, Haydn, Brahms and host of other Modern, Contemporary and Classical composers - today claiming a repertoire of over 1,000 pieces of music of different times.
Lately, the Neemrana Music Foundation, founded in 2001 by Francis Wacziarg and Suman Dubey, has been active. Set up to promote Western classical music in India and Indian classical music abroad, TNMF has produced two operas in Delhi and Bombay. The Fakir of Benares - and The Pearl Fishers - were both performed by Delhi musicians and singers in conjunction with French musicians and singers. The foundation also conducts workshops and organises individual performances by local and visiting musicians.
One cannot leave out jazz, and out pops the name of Soli Sorabjee as the foremost exponent of it in the city, with Mohsin and Debbie Menezes as the best-known local artistes.
And there are lesser-known parish groups to church choirs, the Naga and Mizo Choirs, with stunning harmony and voice quality, pop bands the likes of Seby and his Wings, the Indian Ocean and Advaita. Situ Singh Beuhler has her ensemble of student trainees too, and there are the likes of Superfuzz the rock band, The Clones, Perestroika, Nakshatra, Vishnu, Brits and Pieces of expats and the American School group Choraliers - a mixed bag that sings a variety of jazz, classical, pop, and gospel.
All this opportunity has led to specialization of tastes and preferences for music in the city. One can actually enjoy jazz, classical, choral, pop or rock concerts and have choices on any given night of the calendar. Even though hugely limited so far, one sees potential for internationally famous artistes to tour India in the days ahead. The audience and connoisseurs are growing in number.
The number of those who love music in the city, who are articulate in verbalizing what they like and don't like, who can recognize good quality when they hear it, and are more and more discriminating with sound quality is increasing.
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