Hey everyone. Long Time No See !
Today's post is a collection of videos/links pertaining to Fusion Music.
This series of 10 posts appeared daily on my Facebook Wall as a reply to a remark made by a friend who himself is a musician that in order to create "good" fusion one need to have drums (and he wasnt talking about electronic percussion - he was talking about an actual live drummer). While I agree there is some depth in that statement, what actually ticked me off was the context in which that statement was made. It was made as an excuse of not creating a fusion piece since we did not have a drummer (yes.. this friend also happens to be a fellow band member of a recent group of musicians I have found in Cornell to try to form a band with ... and he happens to be a very very good musician).
Ordinarily I am very ok with people having differences in opinions about music. (Well maybe not quite.. ). What I mean to say is one can alway say, oh, this music can sound so much better etc etc. But I can never justify not creating something because you "think" it is supposed to be something else, or else it isnt good - in this case Fusion Without Drums. So while I did not actually post these videos to my friend, i quietly kept posting them one by one on my Facebook wall and by the third video I realised I was liking it a lot. Once I reached the 10th post and I looked back at the videos I had posted, I was impressed. It was a good selection of some very good (according to me, mind you) fusion music and none of them ... (or at least not most of them) had drums (i.e. a 5 piece acoustic unit). They had percussion and they of course had electronic drums. But not "Drums".
What this series made me think was a more direct and regular way of posting on this blog. Yes. I know. I have made that promise a zillion times before but in all fairness, I myself do want to come back to my blog almost every other day. Sentences get formed. Introductions are written and re-written all in my mind and then, one result or one email from my boss or my collaborator - and the entire thought process is suddenly nothing but a gap in my mind. A number of such gaps exist in my mind off late, what with the Durga Puja Season; a very important experiment that has been stalling my life for quite some time (read half a year); my musical interests; my Bengali Rock Review Blog; marriage (!!! I forgot to write about that.. at all!!) and other things. Maybe I will write about those soon. Maybe never. But coming back to what I started this paragraph with, posting this series on Facebook made me realise that many such posts are possible. Series' of music videos pertaining to a certain genre or class of music that I like. Can be done quite easily. Takes about 5 minutes of my time every day, especially since I dont have to search for these videos (I know/knew most of them from before). For the ones, which I do have to , well , it takes only 5 more minutes and that I think IS possible! :)
So, here is the first of what I think would be many (at least 3) such series posts. Hope you like it.
October 23rd. So... this is the first of a series I call "Fusion without Drums" . !! :D
Shakti was one of the first "bands" - that created something that other people thought was either impossible or a sacrilege to the great tradition of Indian Classical Music. Composed of greats such as Zakir Hussain, John Mclaughlin, L. Shankar and Vikku Vinayakam it questioned the boundaries of both Jazz and Indian Classical (both Carnatic and Hindusthani).
October 24th : Today's video of the series Fusion without Drums : One can and will argue this is Rock... but Rock!!! ..... Rock!!! without drums ?? Is that even possible ? :D
October 25th : This third video of the "Fusion without Drums" is of course just "one" example of what can be done with looped electronic percussion and Midival Punditz is according to me is THE BEST example of that genre. Mind you, they are just two guys, with computers(and therefore samples) on stage, when they perform live. No Drummers !!
The percussion used here is probably something similar to Ghatam, tabla in parts, dhapli/dhol and other very acoustic and ethnic percussion instruments. No Drums mind you!
October 27th : 5th entry to Fusion without Drums is actually sort of bending the rules...
Amit Kilam has been an integral part of Indian Ocean but before Indian Ocean reached their Pink Floyd status in India, they started with no drums. :) Then joined Sh
aleen Sharma (and if you guys heard the song - Dil jo Chahe bus paysa by a band called Agosh... thats his band after he left IO). I absolutely love Indian Ocean and would place them right after Pink Floyd in my best band list and this is not only a tribute to them but to the fact that they used drums not as a western instrument but as an integral part of their compositions.
Youtube doesnt have their 1993 live recorded album as video files. So here is a link of their complete instrumental album .
5a) http://gaana.com/#!/songs/going-to-ito-instrumental
Also this track from Jhini shows how just by using hi hats and cymbals, the drums can be used effectively in a song which is mostly based on tabla.
5a) http://gaana.com/#!/songs/going-to-ito-instrumental
Also this track from Jhini shows how just by using hi hats and cymbals, the drums can be used effectively in a song which is mostly based on tabla.
October 28th : Video 6 of the Fusion without Drum series once again features electronic percussions and actually if you watch the video of the same song performed live by these artists, only a tabla is used. Rahul sharma actually dabbled a lot with indian
classical electronica (like most sons and daughters of great Indian classical musicians) and did manage to create some really great stuff. Richard Clayderman is just Richard Clayderman :D
October 30th (i.e. Late night October 29th) : Fusion without Drums – Video 7 is unquestionably my best track of this series. Even though I have never met or heard any of these artists live, I wont lie – there is an emptiness in my heart that Ananda Shankar did not produce more music. I
magine this collaboration happening today, with Dewarists or Coke studios.. These guys would have made millions !! I STRONGLY recommend this album (Walking On) for anyone ever interested in fusion music. Easily one of the top-3 best fusion albums (according to me) It “will” blow you away. Producer Sam Zaman (State of Bengal) is the one responsible for electronic percussion and the basslines. Guitars – Matt Marsh (I think). Flute – Uday Kumar Dey. Enjoy.
October 31st : Continuing with the idea that there are some artists or forms of music that somehow didnt get their due recognition in India, here is Track 8 of the "Fusion Without Drums" series. Once again, its State of Bengal (Sam Zaman) collaborating wi
th another giant in his own genre - Paban Das Baul Baul music has not been popularised in the right way, YET!!, but truly it is what I consider to be the Blues of India. Sung in Bengali (like all Baul songs) this track talks about the quintessential Baul philosophy that all religions are basically the same. Listen to the whole album (Tana Tani) even if you dont understand the language and you will know how sweet 'Baul music' really is.
November 1st : Bordering on the idea of under-hyped artists and the intention to get back to Indian Classical Music Fusion, this 9th video of "Fusion Without Drums" is from an album (Zitar) that I heard not more than 2 yrs ago and have loved it ever since
.. Listen to this guy... If anybody from the Dewarists team is listening or a Bangla band looking to go out of their comfort zone... Niladri Kumar and his Zitar might just be your guy ...
November 2nd : As the 10th and final part of the Fusion without Drums Series, here are two videos by two separate groups of musicians I had the privilege of being a part of . Both the compositions came up essentially after about 4-6 hrs of actual jamming/
practice time and none of them are in any way comparable to the other pieces of this series. They could have been accompanied with drums (and for the first one - which is called Sanjog since its based on Jog Raag - it was at a later concert in IIT-Delhi and Stephen's) but that did not really change the sound or the appeal of the song. Electronic percussion probably would not have done justice to these compositions in their current way.
But its only to show fusion music can definitely happen without drums. Some compositions require drums and some don't. The best thing about fusion is if you really want to create it, you can create it from anything since there are no limitations except the ones we put on ourselves.
I'll post the series once again on my blog and will post the link later. Cheers and this was fun! :)
But its only to show fusion music can definitely happen without drums. Some compositions require drums and some don't. The best thing about fusion is if you really want to create it, you can create it from anything since there are no limitations except the ones we put on ourselves.
I'll post the series once again on my blog and will post the link later. Cheers and this was fun! :)
Disclaimer : I do not own the copyright of any of the above videos except maybe the final two and that too with a standard Youtube License. I have only used these videos as a tribute to these artists and in no way does my posting the link to these videos in any way mean I own these videos or I am using them for commercial purposes.
5th November, 2012.
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