A raga (Sanskrit rāga ,, literally "colour, hue" but also "beauty, harmony, melody"; also spelled raag, rag, ragam) is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music.

It is a series of five or more musical notes upon which a melody is made. In the Indian musical tradition, rāgas are associated with different times of the day, or with seasons. Indian classical music is always set in a rāga. Non-classical music such as popular Indian film songs or ghazals sometimes use rāgas in their compositions.

The term raga was defined by Joep Bor of the Rotterdam Conservatory of Music as "tonal framework for composition and improvisation." Nazir Jairazbhoy, chairman of UCLA's department of ethnomusicology, characterized ragas as separated by scale, line of ascent and descent, , emphasized notes and register, and intonation and ornaments.

Terminology

The Sanskrit noun rāga is derived from the verbal root rañj "to colour, to dye". It is used in the literal sense of "the act of dyeing", and also "colour, hue, tint", especially "red colour" in the Sanskrit epics. A figurative sense "passion, love, desire, delight" is also found in the Mahabharata. The specialized sense of "loveliness, beauty", especially of voice or song, emerges in Classical Sanskrit, used by Kalidasa and in the Pancatantra.

The term first occurs in a technical context in the Brihaddeshi (dated ca. 5th to 8th century), where it is described as "a combination of tones which, with beautiful illuminating graces, pleases the people in general".

Rāginī (Devanagari: रागिनी) is a term for the "feminine" counterpart or "wife" to a rāga. The rāga-rāgini scheme from about the 14th century aligned 6 'male' rāgas with 6 'wives'.

Nature of rāga

, 19th century]] : योऽसौ ध्वनिविशेषस्तु स्वरवर्णविभूषितः । : रञ्जको जनचित्तानां स च राग उदाहृतः ।।

: "That which is a special dhwani (tune), is bedecked with swara (notes) and varna and is colorful or delightful to the minds of the people, is said to be rāga" - Matanga in the Brihaddeshi.

The basic mode of reference in modern Hindustani practice (known commonly as the shuddha - basic - form) is a set which is equivalent to the Western Ionian mode (the major scale) — this is called Bilawal thaat in Hindustani music (the Carnatic analogue would be Sankarabharanam). In both systems, the ground (or tonic), Shadja, Sa, and a pure fifth above, Pancham, Pa, are fixed and essentially sacrosanct tones. In the Hindustani system, in a given seven-tone mode, the second, third, sixth, and seventh notes can be natural (shuddha, lit. 'pure') or flat (komal, 'soft') but never sharp, and the fourth note can be natural or sharp (tivra) but never flat, making up the twelve notes in the Western equal tempered chromatic scale (Western enharmonic pitch equivalences like, for example, A and B do not apply; e.g. Re tivra may, to a Western musician appear enharmonic to Ga shuddha in that system, but in practice is not.) A Western-style C scale could therefore theoretically have the notes C, D, D, E, E, F, F, G, A, A, B, B.

The Carnatic system has three versions — a lower, medium, and higher form — of all the notes except Sa, Ma and Pa. Ma has two versions (lower and higher), while Sa and Pa are invariant. Rāgas can also specify microtonal changes to this scale: a flatter second, a sharper seventh, and so forth. Tradition has it that the octave consists of (a division into) 22 microtones ("shrutis"). Furthermore, individual performers treat pitches quite differently, and the precise intonation of a given note depends on melodic context. There is no absolute pitch (such as the modern western standard A = 440 Hz); instead, each performance simply picks a ground note, which also serves as the drone, and the other scale degrees follow relative to the ground note. The Carnatic system embarks from a much different shuddha (fundamental) scalar formation, that is, shuddha here is the lowest-pitched swara.

By comparison, using the common tonic "C" for a western musician:

Rāgas and their seasons

Many Hindustani (North Indian) rāgas are prescribed for the particular time of a day or a season. When performed at the suggested time, the rāga has its maximum effect. During the monsoon, for example, many of the Malhar group of rāgas, which are associated with the monsoon and ascribed the magical power to bring rain, are performed. However, these prescriptions are not strictly followed, especially since modern concerts are generally held in the evening. There has also been a growing tendency over the last century for North Indian musicians to adopt South Indian rāgas, which do not come with any particular time associated with them. The result of these various influences is that there is increasing flexibility as to when rāgas may be performed.

Notations

Although notes are an important part of rāga practice, they alone do not make the rāga. A rāga is more than a scale, and many rāgas share the same scale. The underlying scale may have five, six or seven tones made up of swaras. Rāgas that have five swaras are called audava (औडव) rāgas; those with six, shaadava (षाडव); and with seven, sampurna (संपूर्ण, Sanskrit for 'complete'). Those rāgas that do not follow the strict ascending or descending order of swaras are called vakra (वक्र) ('crooked') rāgas.

The mood of the rāga and the way the notes are approached and used are more important than the notes it uses. For example, Darbari Kanada and Jaunpuri share the same notes but are entirely different in their renderings. Similarly, although Bilaskhani Todi is classified under the Bhairavi thaat because of the notes it uses, it is actually closer to Todi than to Bhairavi.

Northern and southern differences

The two streams of Indian classical music, Carnatic music and Hindustani music, have independent sets of rāgas. There is some overlap, but more "false friendship" (where rāga names overlap, but rāga form does not). In north India, the rāgas have been categorised into ten thaats or parent scales (by Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande, 1860-1936); South India uses an older, more systematic classification scheme called the melakarta classification, with 72 parent (melakarta) rāgas. Overall there is a greater identification of rāga with scale in the south than in the north, where such an identification is impossible. Rāgas in north Indian music system follow the 'law of consonances' established by Bharata in his Natyashastra, which does not tolerate deviation even at the shruti level.

As rāgas were transmitted orally from teacher to student, some rāgas can vary greatly across regions, traditions and styles. There have been efforts to codify and standardise rāga performance in theory from their first mention in Matanga's Brihaddeshi (c. tenth century).

Carnatic rāga

In Carnatic music, rāgas are classified as Janaka rāgas and Janya rāgas. Janaka rāgas are the rāgas from which the Janya rāgas are created. Janaka rāgas are grouped together using a scheme called Katapayadi sutra and are organised as Melakarta rāgas. A Melakarta rāga is one which has all seven notes in both the ārōhanam (ascending scale) and avarōhanam (descending scale). Some Melakarta rāgas are Harikambhoji, Kalyani, Kharaharapriya, Mayamalavagowla, Sankarabharanam and Todi.

Janya rāgas are derived from the Janaka rāgas using a combination of the swarams (usually a subset of swarams) from the parent rāga. Some janya rāgas are Abheri, Abhogi, Bhairavi, Hindolam and Kambhoji. See the full List of Janya Ragas for more.

Each rāga has a definite collection and orders of swaras (the basic notes). In Carnatic music, there are 7 basic notes of which there are 12 varieties. The seven basic swarams of Carnatic music are: Sa, Ri, Ga, Ma, Pa, Da, Ni.

Related rāgas

Even though Janya rāgas are subsets of Janaka rāgas in notation and representation, the differences between the child ragas are clear due to the differences like

some notes that figure more in a particular rāga compared to another, while other notes used sparingly

some notes may be sung with gamaka, stress, elongation, etc., in one rāga compared to other

specific phrases used and other phrases to be avoided in a rāga (so as to avoid deviation into another rāga's domain)

the scales of some ragas may contain at least one swara that does not figure in their janaka ragas. Such ragas are termed as bhashanga ragas. Ragas such as Bhairavi, Kambhoji, Bilahari, Devagandhari, and Neelambari fall under this category.

The effect of the rāgas are different from each other, even if they notationally use same swarams (or subset of swarams between each other) due to above subjective differences related to bhava and rasa (mood caused in the listener). The artists have to ensure the same when elaborating on a rāga, as has been followed and expected on each rāga, without digressing into the phrases of another related rāga.

Rāga-rāgini

The rāga-rāgini scheme is a classification scheme used from the 14th century to the 19th century. It usually consists of 6 'male' rāgas each with 6 'wives' (rāginis) and a number of sons (putras) and even 'daughters-in-law'. As it did not agree with various other schemes, and the 'related' rāgas had very little or no similarity, the rāga-rāgini scheme is no longer very popular.

Rāgas and rāginis were often pictured as Hindu gods, Rajput princes and aristocratic women in an eternal cycle of love, longing and fulfilment.

Literature

{{ Citation

| last=Bhatkhande | first=Vishnu Narayan | title=Kramika Pustaka Malika | publisher=Sangeet Karyalaya | place=Hathras | year=1968-73 }}.

{{ Citation

| last=Bor | first=Joep | title=The Rāga Guide | publisher=Nimbus Records | place=Charlottesville,Virginia | year=1999 }}

{{ Citation

| last=Daniélou | first=Alain | authorlink=Alain Daniélou | title=Northern Indian Music | publisher=Visva Bharati | place=Calcutta | year=1949 }}

{{ Citation

| last=Jairazbhoy | first=N.A. | authorlink=Nazir Jairazbhoy | title=The Rags of North Indian Music: Their Structure & Evolution | publisher=Popular Prakashan | place=Bombay | year=1995 }}

{{ Citation

| last=Kaufmann | first=Walter | authorlink=Walter Kaufmann (composer) | title=The Ragas of North India | publisher=Oxford & IBH Publishing Company | place=Calcutta | year=1968 }} .

Some Ragamala paintings can be found in:

{{ Citation

| last=Bautze | first=J | title=Indian Miniature Paintings c:1590 to c. 1850 | publisher=Galerie Saundarya Lahari | place=Amsterdam | year=1987 | isbn=90-72085-01-9 }}.

{{ Citation

| last=Gangoly | first=O.C. | title=Rāgas and Rāginis | place=Calcutta | year=1934 }}.

See also

Echos

Arabic maqam

Makam

Melody type

Muqam

Nava rasas

Rāga, a documentary about the life and music of Ravi Shankar

List of rāgas

Notes

External links

Comprehensive reference on raagas

Krsna Kirtana Songs Ragamala — an informative database with over ninety rāgas (audio clips coming soon), tutorial on the North Indian notation system, rāga classification, and explanation of how rāgas work.

Online quick reference of rāgams in Carnatic music.

Raga Surabhi's guide to identifying Ragas in Carnatic Music a carnatic music website for beginners with audio clips and articles

Web site containing Data Base of 1000+ Ragas of Hindustani Classical Music and audio clips of 500+ Ragas

Category:Hindustani music Category:Carnatic music

Category:Modes

Name	Pandit Jasraj
Background	solo_singer
Born	January 28, 1930
Origin	Hissar, Haryana, India, Shimla
Genre	Hindustani classical music, Mewati Gharana
Occupation	singer
Years active	1945 - present
Url	Official site

Pandit Jasraj (born 28 January 1930) is an Indian classical vocalist. He is the foremost exponent of the Mewati Gharana of Hindustani classical music.

Early life

Jasraj was born in Hissar, Haryana in an orthodox brahmin family to Pandit Motiramji, a classical exponent. His family is well known for singing in the Mewati Gharana style. Motiramji died when Jasrajji was only four, on the day he was to be appointed as the state musician in the court of the Last Nizam.

Jasraj was initiated into vocal music by his father. He also received training from his elder brother, Pandit Maniramji, and later from Maharaja Jaywant Singhji Waghela. In 1960, when Jasraj went to visit Bade Ghulam Ali Khan in hospital, Khan asked him to become his disciple, but Jasraj declined saying that he could not accept Khan's tutelage since he was already Motiram's disciple.

As a means of livelihood, Maniramji took Jasraj as an accompanying tabla player. However, at the time, just like sarangi players, tabla players were looked down upon as minor artists. At the age of 14, unhappy with his treatment as an accompanying artist, Jasraj left and vowed not to cut his hair until he learned to sing.

Performing career

, Hyderabad, in 2007]] Jasraj's vocal range extends across three-and-a-half octaves. His vocalizing is in perfect diction and clarity, a trademark of the Mewati Gharana's style of Khayal. He has also done extensive research in Haveli Sangeet under Baba Shyam Manohar Goswami Maharaj to create numerous innovative bandish (composition). They have a son, Sarang Dev, and a daughter, Durga Jasraj, a television anchor and presenter. Madhura Jasraj has directed documentaries, children’s plays, apart from directing and producing acclaimed ballets, Geet Govind, Kaan Kahaani and Surdas and the TV series, Faster Phene. She made a film, Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj on Pandit Jasraj, in 2009 and in 2010, directed her first Marathi film, Aai Tuzha Aashirwad, in which Lata Mangeshkar and her husband have sung in Marathi.

Music composers Jatin-Lalit are his nephews.

Awards

Padma Vibhushan, (art-classical music-vocal) in 2000

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987

Sangeet Kala Ratna

Master Dinanath Mangeshkar Award

Lata Mangeshkar Puraskar

Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar

Surer Guru

Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship (2010)

Marwar Sangeet Ratna Award

Discography

Raga Symphony (2009)

Baiju Bawra (2008)

Upasana (2007)

Tapasya Vol. 1 (2005)

Darbar (2003)

Maheshwara Mantra (2002)

Soul Food (2005)

Jasraj, Pandit Vol. 2 - Haveli Sangeet

Inspiration (2000)

Ragas Triveni and Multani Live

Ragas Bihada and Gaud Giri Malhar

Worship By Music/Live Stuggart '88

Ornamental Voice

Filmography

Ladki Sahyadri Ki (1966, music by Vasant Desai)

Birbal My Brother (1973, music by Shyam Prabhakar)

1920 (2008, music by Adnan Sami)

References

External links

Pandit Jasraj Institute of Music, New York

Category:1930 births Category:Hindustani singers Category:Living people Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri Category:Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan Category:People from Rajasthan Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship Category:Mewati gharana Category:Indian singers Category:Bhajan singers

Name	Jan Garbarek
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Born	March 04, 1947
Origin	Oslo, Norway
Instrument	soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
Occupation	saxophonist, composer, producer
Years active	1966–present
Label	ECM, Flying Dutchman
Associated acts	George Russell, Terje Rypdal, Bobo Stenson, Keith Jarrett, Ralph Towner, Eberhard Weber, Bill Frisell, David Torn, Gary Peacock, Hilliard Ensemble
Url	www.garbarek.com
Notable instruments	bass saxophone, clarinet, flute

Jan Garbarek (born 4 March 1947 in Mysen, Norway) is a Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist, active in the jazz, classical, and world music genres. Garbarek was the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war Czeslaw Garbarek and a Norwegian farmer's daughter. Effectively stateless until the age of seven (there is no automatic grant of citizenship in Norway) Garbarek grew up in Oslo. At 21, he married Vigdis. His daughter Anja Garbarek is also a musician.

Biography

Garbarek's sound is one of the hallmarks of the ECM record label, which has released virtually all of his recordings. His style incorporates a sharp-edged tone, long, keening, sustained notes, and generous use of silence. He began his recording career in the late 1960s, notably featuring on recordings by the American jazz composer George Russell (such as Othello Ballet Suite and Electronic Sonata for Souls Loved by Nature). If he had initially appeared as a devotee of Albert Ayler and Peter Brötzmann, by 1973 he had turned his back on the harsh dissonances of avant-garde jazz, retaining only his tone from his previous approach.

Garbarek gained wider recognition through his work with pianist Keith Jarrett's European Quartet which released the albums Belonging (1974), My Song (1977) and the live recordings Personal Mountains (1979), and Nude Ants (1979). He was also a featured soloist on Jarrett's orchestral works Luminessence (1974) and Arbour Zena (1975)

As a composer, Garbarek tends to draw heavily from Scandinavian folk melodies, a legacy of his Ayler influence. He is also a pioneer of ambient jazz composition, most notably on his 1976 album Dis a collaboration with guitarist Ralph Towner that featured the distinctive sound of a wind harp on several tracks. This textural approach, which rejects traditional notions of thematic improvisation (best exemplified by Sonny Rollins) in favour of a style described by critics Richard Cook and Brian Morton as "sculptural in its impact", has been critically divisive. Garbarek's more meandering recordings are often labeled as New Age music, a style generally scorned by more orthodox jazz musicians and listeners, or spiritual ancestors thereof. Other experiments have included setting a collection of poems of Olav H. Hauge to music, with a single saxophone complementing a full mixed choir; this has led to notable performances with Grex Vocalis, but not yet to recordings. In the 1980s, Garbarek's music began to incorporate synthesizers and elements of world music. He has collaborated with Indian and Pakistani musicians such as Trilok Gurtu, Zakir Hussain, Hariprasad Chaurasia, and Ustad Fateh Ali Khan.

In 1994, during heightened popularity of Gregorian chant, his album Officium, a collaboration with early music vocal performers the Hilliard Ensemble, became one of ECM's biggest-selling albums of all time, reaching the pop charts in several European countries and was followed by a sequel, Mnemosyne, in 1999. In 2005, his album In Praise of Dreams was nominated for a Grammy. Garbarek's first live album Dresden was released in 2009.

Film music

Garbarek has composed music for the Israeli film, Kippur, as well as for several European films, including French and Norwegian films. In addition, selections from Dis have been used as incidental music in several feature films and documentaries. His composition "Rites" was used in the American film, The Insider.

Discography

As leader

Esoteric Circle (1969)

Afric Pepperbird (1970)

Sart (1971) with Terje Rypdal

Triptykon (1972)

Witchi-Tai-To (1973)

Dansere (1975) with Bobo Stenson Quartet

Dis (1976) with Ralph Towner

Places (1977)

Photo with Blue Sky, White Cloud, Wires, Windows and a Red Roof (1978) with Bill Connors

Aftenland (1979) with Kjell Johnsen

Eventyr (1980) with John Abercrombie and Naná Vasconcelos

Paths, Prints (1981) with Bill Frisell

Wayfarer (1983) with Bill Frisell and Eberhard Weber

It's OK to Listen to the Gray Voice (1985) with David Torn

All Those Born With Wings (1987)

Legend of the Seven Dreams (1988) with Rainer Brüninghaus

Rosensfole (1989) with Agnes Buen Garnås

I Took Up the Runes (1990)

StAR (1991) with Miroslav Vitous

Ragas and Sagas (1992) with Fateh Ali Khan

Twelve Moons (1992)

Atmos (1993) with Miroslav Vitous

Madar (1993) with Anouar Brahem and Shaukat Hussain

Officium (1994) with the Hilliard Ensemble

Visible World (1995)

Rites (1998)

Mnemosyne (1999) with the Hilliard Ensemble

In Praise of Dreams (2003)

Dresden (2009) live album

Officium Novum (2010) with the Hilliard Ensemble

As sideman

Jazz Moments (1966) with Karin Krog

Til Vigdis (1967)

Joy (1968) with Karin Krog

Electronic Sonata for Souls Loved by Nature (1969) with George Russell

Trip to Pillargui (1970) with George Russell Sextet

Listen to the Silence (1971) with George Russell

Terje Rypdal (1971) with Terje Rypdal

Hav (1971) with Jan Erik Vold and Terje Rypdal

Red Lanta (1973) with Art Lande

Belonging (1974) with Keith Jarrett

Luminessence (1974) with Keith Jarrett

Solstice (1975) with Ralph Towner

Arbour Zena (1975) with Keith Jarrett

Of Mist And Melting (1977) with Bill Connors

December Poems (1977) med Gary Peacock

Deer Wan (1977) with Kenny Wheeler

Sol Do Meio Dia (1977) with Egberto Gismonti

Solstice/Sound and Shadows (1977) with Ralph Towner

My Song (1977) with Keith Jarrett

Personal Mountains (1979) with Keith Jarrett

Folk Songs (1979) with Egberto Gismonti and Charlie Haden

Magico (1979) with Egberto Gismonti and Charlie Haden

Nude Ants (1979) with Keith Jarrett

Voice from the Past Paradigm (1981) with Gary Peacock

Cycles (1981) with David Darling

Vision (1983) with L. Shankar

Chorus (1984) with Eberhard Weber

Song for Everyone (1985) with L. Shankar

Making Music (1986) with Zakir Hussain, John McLaughlin and Hariprasad Chaurasia

Guamba (1987) med Gary Peacock

Living Magic (1990) with Trilok Gurtu

Alpstein (1991) with Paul Giger

Music For Films (1991) with Eleni Karaindrou

Caris Mere (1995) with the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra

Monodia (2002) with Kim Kashkashian

Universal Syncopations (2003) with Miroslav Vitous

Neighbourhood (2006) with Manu Katché

Stages Of A Long Journey (2007) with Eberhard Weber

Elixir (2007) with Marilyn Mazur

References

External links

Jan Garbarek on ECM Records

Jan Garbarek Group

Jan Garbarek's daughter, singer Anja Garbarek

Jan Garbarek Group @ Theatre Lycabettus concert review, Greece

Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:People from Eidsberg Category:Avant-garde jazz musicians Category:Order of St. Olav Category:Spellemannprisen winners Category:Norwegian people of Polish descent Category:Freedom Records artists Category:ECM artists Category:Norwegian jazz saxophonists Category:Norwegian jazz musicians

:For the musician, see Charanjit Singh.

Charanjit Singh (born 3 February 1931 in Nehari, Punjab) is a former field hockey player from India. He captained the Indian hockey team that won the gold medal in the 1964 Summer Olympics at Tokyo, Japan.

References

Category:1931 births Category:Indian field hockey players Category:Recipients of the Arjuna Award Category:Indian Sikhs Category:Olympic field hockey players of India Category:Olympic gold medalists for India Category:Field hockey players at the 1964 Summer Olympics Category:Living people

Caption	Shabana Azmi at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, 2006
Name	Shabana Azmi
Birth date	September 18, 1950
Birth place	New Delhi, India
Years active	1972–present
Spouse	Javed Akhtar
Occupation	Actress

Shabana Azmi (, }}; born 18 September 1950 in New Delhi, India) is one of the leading actresses of parallel cinema. She is a film actress and social activist, and her performances in films in a variety of genres have generally earned her praise and awards including five wins of the National Film Award for Best Actress. She is married to Indian poet and screenwriter Javed Akhtar.

Early life and background

Shabana Azmi was born in a Muslim family. Her parents are Kaifi Azmi (an Indian poet) and Shaukat Azmi (a veteran Indian People's Theatre Association stage actress),

She completed a graduate degree in Psychology from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, and followed it with a course in Acting at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune.

Career

Azmi graduated from the FTII in 1973 and went on to sign on Khwaja Ahmad Abbas' Faasla and began work on Kanti Lal Rathod's Parinay as well. Her first release, however, was Shyam Benegal's directorial debut Ankur (1974). Belonging to the arthouse genre of neo-realistic films, Ankur is based on a true story which occurred in Hyderabad. Azmi played Lakshmi, a married servant and villager who drifts into an affair with a college student who visits the countryside. Azmi was not the original choice for the film, and several leading actresses of that time refused to do it. The film went on to become a major critical success, and Azmi won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her performances. Upperstall.com described her work in the film as "an outstanding psychologically penetrating performance very different from those seen normally till then in mainstream Hindi cinema", and famous independent filmmaker Satyajit Ray commented, "In Ankur she may not have fitted immediately into her rustic surroundings, but her poise and personality are never in doubt. In two high pitched scenes, she pulls out the stops to firmly establish herself as one of our finest dramatic actresses".

She went on to receive the National Film Award consecutively for three years from 1983 to 1985 for her roles in movies, Arth, Khandhar and Paar. Another film Godmother (1999) earned her another National Film Award, taking her tally to five.

Azmi’s acting has been characterized by a real-life depiction of the roles played by her. In Mandi, she acted as a madam of a whorehouse. For this role, she put on weight and even chewed betel. Real life portrayals continued in almost all her movies. These included the role of a woman named Jamini resigned to her destiny in Khandhar, and a typical urban Indian wife, homemaker and mother in Masoom.

She also acted in experimental and parallel Indian cinema. Deepa Mehta’s 1996 film Fire depicts her as a lonely woman, Radha, in love with her sister-in-law. The on-screen depiction of lesbianism (perhaps the first in Indian cinema) drew severe protests and threats from many social groups as well as by the Indian authorities. Her role as Radha brought her international recognition with the Silver Hugo Award for Best Actress at the 32nd Chicago Film Festival and Jury Award for Best Actress at Outfest, Los Angeles. It was Akhtar’s second marriage, the first being with Bollywood scriptwriter, Honey Irani. Indian actresses Farah Naaz and Tabu are her nieces.

Social activism

Shabana Azmi has been a committed social activist, active in fighting AIDS, child survival and injustice in real life. Shabana Azmi has voiced her opinion on a variety of issues. Initially, her activism drew skepticism and was dubbed by some as a publicity gimmick. However, she proved her critics wrong and used her celebrity status to emerge as a high-profile social activist.

She had participated in several plays and demonstrations denouncing communalism. In 1989, along with Swami Agnivesh and Asghar Ali Engineer, she undertook a four day march for communal harmony from New Delhi to Meerut. Among the social groups whose causes she has advocated are slum dwellers, displaced Kashmiri Pandit migrants and victims of the earthquake at Latur (Maharashtra, India). The 1993 Mumbai riots appalled her and she emerged as a forceful critic of religious extremism. After the 11 September 2001 attacks, she opposed the advice of the grand mufti of Jama Masjid (chief leader of Indian Muslims) calling upon the Muslims of India to join the people of Afghanistan in their fight by retorting that the leader go there alone.

She has campaigned against ostracism of victims of AIDS. A small film clip issued by the Government of India depicts an HIV positive child cuddled in her arms and saying: "She does not need your rejection, she needs your love". In a Bengali film named Meghla Aakash she played the role of a physician treating AIDS patients.

She has also given her voice to an HIV/AIDS education animated software tutorial created by the nonprofit organization TeachAIDS.

Selected filmography

She has acted in more than one hundred Hindi films, both in the mainstream as well as in parallel cinema. Several of her films have received attention in the international arena, including at the Norwegian Film Institute, the Smithsonian Institution and the American Film Institute. She has appeared in a number of foreign films, most of which have won international acclaim, including John Schlesinger’s Madame Sousatzka, Nicholas Klotz’s Bengali Night, Roland Joffe’s City of Joy, Channel 4’s Immaculate Conception, Blake Edwards' Son of the Pink Panther, and Ismail Merchant’s In Custody.

Ankur (1974) - Laxmi

Nishant (1976) - Sushila

Shatranj Ke Khiladi (1977) - Khurshid

Amar Akbar Anthony (1977) - Laxmi

Swami (1978) -

Sparsh (1980) - Kavita

Arth (1982) - Mrs. Pooja Inder Malhotra

Masoom (1983) - Indu D. Malhotra

Mandi (1983) - Rukmini Bai

The Bengali Night (1988) - Mrs. Sen

Madame Sousatzka (1988) - Sushila

City of Joy (1992) - Kamla Pal

In Custody (1993) - Imtiaz Begum

Son of the Pink Panther (1993) - Queen

Fire (1996) - Radha

Saaz (1997) - Bansidhar (Bansi) Vrundavan

Side Streets (1998) - Mrs. Chandra Bipin Raj

Earth (1998) - voice of older Lenny

Godmother (1999) - Rambhi

Makdee (2002) - Makdee

Tehzeeb (2003) - Rukhsana Jamal

Morning Raga (2004) - Swarnlatha

15 Park Avenue (2005) - Anjali "Anju" Mathur

Waterborne (2005) - Heera Bhatti

Umrao Jaan (2006) - Khannum Jaan

Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (2007) - Nahid

Loins of Punjab Presents (2007) - Rita Kapoor

Sorry Bhai! (2008) - Mother Gayatri

It's a Wonderful Afterlife (2010) - Mrs. Mehta

Awards and honors

National Awards

Azmi has received the National Film Award for Best Actress five times:

1975 - National Film Award for Best Actress, Ankur

1983 - National Film Award for Best Actress, Arth

1984 - National Film Award for Best Actress, Khandhar

1985 - National Film Award for Best Actress, Paar

1999 - National Film Award for Best Actress, Godmother

Filmfare Awards

Winner:

1978 - Filmfare Best Actress Award for Swami

1984 - Filmfare Best Actress Award for Arth

1985 - Filmfare Best Actress Award for Bhavna

2006 - Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award

Nominated:

1975 - Filmfare Best Actress Award for Ankur

1981 - Filmfare Best Actress Award for Thodisi Bewafaii

1984 - Filmfare Best Actress Award for Masoom

1984 - Filmfare Best Actress Award for Avtaar

1984 - Filmfare Best Actress Award for Mandi

1985 - Filmfare Best Actress Award for Sparsh

2003 - Filmfare Best Villain Award for Makdee

2004 - Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award for Tehzeeb

International awards

1993: Best Actress award for Libaas in North Korea

1994: Best Actress award for Gautam Ghose’s Patang at the Taormina Arte Festival in Italy

1996: Silver Hugo Award for Best Actress for Fire at the Chicago International Film Festival

International Awards for Best Actress for Gulzar’s Libaas in North Korea (1993), for Gautam Ghose’s Patang at the Taormina Arte Festival (1994) in Italy, and for Deepa Mehta’s Fire at the Chicago International Film Festival (1996).

She was honoured with the World Economic Forum’s Crystal Award / She was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate in Art by Chancellor of the University Brandan Foster by the Leeds Metropolitan University in Yorkshire

Since 1989, she has been a member of the National Integration Council headed by the Prime Minister of India; a member of National AIDS Commission (of India); and was nominated (in 1997) as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament. The United Nations Population Fund appointed her as its goodwill Ambassador for India, and the University of Michigan conferred (in 2002) on her the Martin Luther King Professorship award in recognition of her contribution to arts, culture and society.

Notes

References

India’s 50 Most Illustrious Women (ISBN 81-88086-19-3) by Indra Gupta

Holt, Julia; Phalke, Shubhra; Basic Skills Agency. Shabana Azmi. London : Basic Skills Agency, 1995. ISBN 1859900224.

External links

Shabana Azmi NGO in India

Time: Shabana Azmi

Celebrating Shabana Azmi, from the New York Film Festival

Indian American Arts Council

Article from the Village Voice

EveryOne campaign brand ambassador: Shabana Azmi

Category:Indian actors Category:Indian film actors Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri Category:Indian Muslims Category:St. Xavier's College, Mumbai alumni Category:Filmfare Awards winners Category:University of Mumbai alumni Category:Film and Television Institute of India alumni Category:Indian women activists Category:People from Delhi Category:Hindi film actors Category:People from Azamgarh Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:Indian stage actors

Name	Ravi Shankar
Img alt	An old man sits on a platform and holds a long-necked lute while looking to the side.
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury
Born	April 07, 1920Varanasi, United Provinces, Indian Empire
Instrument	sitar
Genre	Hindustani classical music
Occupation	composer, musician
Years active	1939–present
Url	RaviShankar.org
Associated acts	Uday Shankar, Allauddin Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, Lakshmi Shankar, Yehudi Menuhin, Chatur Lal, Alla Rakha, George Harrison, Anoushka Shankar

Ravi Shankar (; born 7 April 1920), often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.

Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent his youth touring Europe and India with the dance group of his brother Uday Shankar. He gave up dancing in 1938 to study sitar playing under court musician Allauddin Khan. After finishing his studies in 1944, Shankar worked as a composer, creating the music for the Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray, and was music director of All India Radio, New Delhi, from 1949 to 1956.

In 1956, he began to tour Europe and America playing Indian classical music and increased its popularity there in the 1960s through teaching, performance, and his association with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and George Harrison of The Beatles. Shankar engaged Western music by writing concerti for sitar and orchestra and toured the world in the 1970s and 1980s. From 1986 to 1992 he served as a nominated member of the upper chamber of the Parliament of India. Shankar was awarded India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, in 1999, and received three Grammy Awards. He continues to perform in the 2000s, often with his daughter Anoushka.

Early life

Shankar was born 7 April 1920 in Varanasi to a wealthy and conservative Brahmin family of cultured Bengalis as the youngest of seven brothers. Shankar's Bengali birth name was Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury. Shyam was married to Shankar's mother Hemangini Devi, but later worked as a lawyer in London. By the age of 13 he had become a member of the group, accompanied its members on tour and learned to dance and play various Indian instruments. Shankar heard the lead musician for the Maihar court, Allauddin Khan, in December 1934 at a music conference in Kolkata and Uday convinced the Maharaja of Maihar in 1935 to allow Khan to become his group's soloist for a tour of Europe. Shankar gave up his dancing career in 1938 to go to Maihar and study Indian classical music as Khan's pupil, living with his family in the traditional gurukul system. He often studied with Khan's children Ali Akbar Khan and Annapurna Devi.

Shankar completed his training in 1944. Shankar recomposed the music for the popular song "Sare Jahan Se Achcha" at the age of 25. He began to record music for HMV India and worked as a music director for All India Radio (AIR), New Delhi, from February 1949 to January 1956. Beginning in the mid-1950s he composed the music for the Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray, which became internationally acclaimed.

International career 1956–1969

, who was a frequent accompanist of Shankar, in 1988]] V. K. Narayana Menon, director of AIR Delhi, introduced the Western violinist Yehudi Menuhin to Shankar during Menuhin's first visit to India in 1952. Shankar had performed as part of a cultural delegation in the Soviet Union in 1954 and Menuhin invited Shankar in 1955 to perform in New York City for a demonstration of Indian classical music, sponsored by the Ford Foundation. Shankar declined to attend due to problems in his marriage, but recommended Ali Akbar Khan to play instead.

Shankar heard about the positive response Khan received and resigned from AIR in 1956 to tour the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States. He played for smaller audiences and educated them about Indian music, incorporating ragas from the South Indian Carnatic music in his performances, and recorded his first LP album Three Ragas in London, released in 1956.

Shankar befriended Richard Bock, founder of World Pacific Records, on his first American tour and recorded most of his albums in the 1950s and 1960s for Bock's label. Harrison became interested in Indian classical music, bought a sitar and used it to record the song "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)". This led to Indian music being used by other musicians and created the raga rock trend. During the visit, a documentary film about Shankar named Raga was shot by Howard Worth, and released in 1971. Shankar's association with Harrison greatly increased Shankar's popularity and Ken Hunt of Allmusic would state that Shankar had become "the most famous Indian musician on the planet" by 1966. The same year, the Beatles won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band which included "Within You Without You" by Harrison, a song that was influenced by Indian classical music.

International career 1970–present

In October 1970 Shankar became chair of the department of Indian music of the California Institute of the Arts after previously teaching at the City College of New York, the University of California, Los Angeles, and being guest lecturer at other colleges and universities, including the Ali Akbar College of Music. Hans Neuhoff of Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart has criticized the usage of the orchestra in this concert as "amateurish".

During the 1970s, Shankar and Harrison worked together again, recording Shankar Family and Friends in 1974 and touring North America to a mixed response after Shankar had toured Europe. The demanding North America tour weakened Shankar, and he suffered a heart attack in Chicago in September 1974, causing him to cancel a portion of the tour. In his absence, Shankar's sister-in-law, singer Lakshmi Shankar, conducted the touring orchestra. Shankar was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Music Score for his work on the 1982 movie Gandhi, but lost to John Williams' E.T. He served as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper chamber of the Parliament of India, from 12 May 1986 to 11 May 1992, after being nominated by Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Shankar composed the dance drama Ghanashyam in 1989. Because of the positive response to Shankar's 1996 career compilation In Celebration, Shankar wrote a second autobiography, Raga Mala, with Harrison as editor. In the 2000s, he won a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for and toured with Anoushka, who released a book about her father, Bapi: Love of My Life, in 2002. Anoushka performed a composition by Shankar for the 2002 Harrison memorial Concert for George and Shankar wrote a third concerto for sitar and orchestra for Anoushka and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Shankar played his last European concert in June 2008. Hans Neuhoff of Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart has argued that Shankar's playing style was not widely adopted and that he was surpassed by other sitar players in the performance of melodic passages. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 1962, and was named a Fellow of the academy for 1975. Shankar was awarded the three highest national civil honors of India: Padma Bhushan, in 1967, Padma Vibhushan, in 1981, and Bharat Ratna, in 1999. He received the music award of the UNESCO International Music Council in 1975, three Grammy Awards, and was nominated for an Academy Award. Shankar is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1997 received the Praemium Imperiale for music from the Japan Art Association.

Personal life and family

Shankar married Allauddin Khan's daughter Annapurna Devi in 1941 and a son, Shubhendra Shankar, was born in 1942. An affair with Sue Jones, a New York concert producer, led to the birth of Norah Jones in 1979. He could play the sitar and surbahar, but elected not to pursue a solo career and died in 1992. Anoushka Shankar was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album in 2003. He lives with Sukanya in Southern California.

Discography

Bibliography

Notes

References

External links

Category:1920 births Category:Apple Records artists Category:Bengali musicians Category:Nominated Rajya Sabha members Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Hindustani instrumentalists Category:Indian composers Category:Indian film score composers Category:Indian Hindus Category:Indian vegetarians Category:Living people Category:Maihar Gharana Category:Ramon Magsaysay Award winners Category:Recipients of the Bharat Ratna Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan Category:Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship Category:Sitar players Category:Artists from Varanasi

Name	Philip Glass
Background	non_performing_personnel
Born	January 31, 1937Baltimore, Maryland, United States
Genre	Minimalist, Classical, Contemporary classical, Ambient
Occupation	Composer
Years active	1956–present
Label	CBS RecordsNonesuch/Elektra RecordsSony Classical/SME RecordsOrange Mountain Music

Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American music composer. He is considered one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public (along with precursors such as Richard Strauss, Kurt Weill and Leonard Bernstein).

Although his music is often, though controversially, described as minimalist, for his later work he distances himself from this label, describing himself instead as a composer of "music with repetitive structures." Although his early, mature music is minimalist, he has evolved stylistically. Currently, he describes himself as a "Classicist", pointing out that he is trained in harmony and counterpoint and studied Franz Schubert, Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with Nadia Boulanger.

Glass is a prolific composer: He has written works for his own musical group which he founded, the Philip Glass Ensemble (for which he still performs on keyboards), as well as operas, musical theatre works, eight symphonies, ten concertos, solo works, string quartets, and film scores. Three of his film scores have been nominated for Academy Awards.

Glass counts many artists among his friends and collaborators, including visual artists (Richard Serra, Chuck Close), writers (Doris Lessing, David Henry Hwang, Allen Ginsberg), film and theatre directors (including Errol Morris, Robert Wilson, JoAnne Akalaitis, Godfrey Reggio, Paul Schrader, Martin Scorsese, Christopher Hampton, Bernard Rose, and many others), choreographers (Lucinda Childs, Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp), and musicians and composers (Ravi Shankar, David Byrne, the conductor Dennis Russell Davies, Foday Musa Suso, Laurie Anderson, Linda Ronstadt, Paul Simon, Joan LaBarbara, Arthur Russell, David Bowie, Brian Eno, Roberto Carnevale, Patti Smith, Aphex Twin, Lisa Bielawa, John Moran, Bryce Dessner and Nico Muhly). Among recent collaborators are Glass's fellow New Yorker Woody Allen, Stephen T. Colbert, and poet and songwriter Leonard Cohen.

Life and work

:For a list of works, see List of compositions by Philip Glass

Beginnings, early education and influences (1937–1964)

Glass was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Ida (née Gouline) and Benjamin Charles Glass, and the grandson of Jewish immigrants from Lithuania. His father owned a record store, and consequently Glass's record collection consisted to a large extent of unsold records, including modern music (Hindemith, Bartók, Schoenberg, at a very early age. He then studied the flute as a child at the Peabody Conservatory of Music and entered an accelerated college program at the University of Chicago at the age of 15, where he studied Mathematics and Philosophy. In Chicago he discovered the serialism of Webern and composed a twelve-tone string trio. In 1954 Glass went to Paris for the first time, encountering the films of Jean Cocteau, which made a lasting impression on him. He visited artists' studios and saw their work; "the bohemian life you see in [Cocteau's] Orphée was the life I ... was attracted to, and those were the people I hung out with."

Glass then went on to the Juilliard School of Music where the keyboard became his main instrument. His composition teachers included Vincent Persichetti and William Bergsma and fellow students included Steve Reich. During this time, in 1959, he was a winner in the BMI Foundation's BMI Student Composer Awards, one of the most prestigious international prizes for young composers. In the summer of 1960, he studied with Darius Milhaud at the summer school of the Aspen Music Festival and composed a Violin Concerto for a fellow student, Dorothy Pixley-Rothschild. After leaving Juilliard in 1962, Glass moved to Pittsburgh and worked as a school-based composer-in-residence in the public school system, composing various choral, chamber and orchestral music.

Paris (1964–1966)

In 1964 Glass received a Fulbright Scholarship and went to Paris, where he studied with the eminent composition teacher Nadia Boulanger from autumn of 1964 to summer of 1966, analyzing scores of Johann Sebastian Bach (The Well-Tempered Clavier), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (the Piano Concertos). Glass's years in Paris as a student of Boulanger had a lasting impression and influence on his work ever since, as the composer admitted in 1979: "The composers I studied with Boulanger are the people I still think about most – Bach and Mozart."

Glass later stated in his autobiography Music by Philip Glass (1987) that the new music performed at Pierre Boulez's Domaine Musical concerts in Paris lacked any excitement for him (with the notable exceptions of music by John Cage and Morton Feldman), but he was deeply impressed by new films and theatre performances. He encountered revolutionary films of the French New Wave, such as those of Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut, which ignored the rules set by an older generation of artists., and Glass made friends with American visual artists (the sculptor Richard Serra and his wife Nancy Graves), actors and directors (JoAnne Akalaitis, Ruth Maleczech, David Warrilow, and Lee Breuer, with whom Glass later founded the experimental theatre group Mabou Mines). Together with Akalaitis (they married in 1965), Glass in turn attended performances by theatre groups including Jean-Louis Barrault's Odéon theatre, The Living Theatre and the Berliner Ensemble in 1964 to 1965. These significant encounters resulted in a collaboration with Breuer for which Glass contributed music for a 1965 staging of Samuel Beckett's Comédie (Play, 1963). The resulting piece (written for two soprano saxophones) was directly influenced by the play's open-ended, repetitive and almost musical structure and was the first one of a series of four early pieces in a minimalist, yet still dissonant, idiom. on a film score (Chappaqua, Conrad Rooks, 1966) with Ravi Shankar and Alla Rakha, which added another important influence on Glass's musical thinking. His distinctive style arose from his work with Shankar and Rakha and their perception of rhythm in Indian music as being entirely additive. He renounced all his compositions in a moderately modern style resembling Milhaud's, Aaron Copland's, and Samuel Barber's, and began writing pieces based on repetitive structures of Indian music and a sense of time influenced by Samuel Beckett: a piece for two actresses and chamber ensemble, a work for chamber ensemble and his first numbered string quartet (No.1, 1966).

Glass then left Paris for northern India in 1966, where he came in contact with Tibetan refugees and began to gravitate towards Buddhism. He met Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, in 1972, and has been a strong supporter of the Tibetan independence ever since.

Minimalism: From Strung Out to Music in 12 Parts (1967–1974)

Shortly after arriving in New York City in March 1967, Glass attended a performance of works by Steve Reich (including the ground-breaking minimalist piece Piano Phase), which left a deep impression on him; he simplified his style and turned to a radical "consonant vocabulary".

Between summer of 1967 and the end of 1968, Glass composed nine works, including "Strung Out" (for amplified solo violin, composed in summer of 1967), Gradus (for solo saxophone, 1968), Music in the Shape of a Square (for two flutes, composed in May 1968, an homage to Erik Satie), "How Now" (for solo piano, 1968) and 1+1 (for amplified tabletop, November 1968) which were "clearly designed to experiment more fully with his new-found minimalist approach", as the musicologist Keith Potter pointed out. The first concert of Philip Glass's new music was at Jonas Mekas's Film-Makers Cinemathèque (Anthology Film Archives) in September 1968. This concert included the first work of this series with Strung Out (performed by the violinist Pixley-Rothschild) and Music in the Shape of a Square (performed by Glass and Gibson). The musical scores were tacked on the wall, and the performers had to move while playing. Glass's new works met with a very enthusiastic response by the open-minded audience that consisted mainly of visual and performance artists who were highly sympathetic to Glass's reductive approach.

Apart from his music career, Glass had a moving company with his cousin, the sculptor Jene Highstein, and worked as a plumber and cab driver (in 1973 to 1978). During this time he made friends with other New York based artists such as Sol LeWitt, Nancy Graves, Michael Snow, Bruce Nauman, Laurie Anderson, and Chuck Close, who created a now famous portrait of Glass. (Glass returned the favour in 2005 with "A Musical Portrait of Chuck Close" for piano, dedicated to the visual artist.)

With "1+1" and "Two Pages" (composed in February 1969) Glass turned to a more "rigorous approach" to his "most basic minimalist technique, additive process", pieces which were followed in the same year by Music in Contrary Motion and Music in Fifths (a kind of homage to his composition teacher Nadia Boulanger, who pointed out "hidden fifths" in his works but regarded them as cardinal sins). Eventually Glass's music grew less austere, becoming more complex and dramatic, with pieces such as Music in Similar Motion (1969), and with Music with Changing Parts (1970). These pieces were performed by The Philip Glass Ensemble in the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1969 and in the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1970, often encountering hostile reaction from critics, Eno described this encounter with Glass's music as the "most extraordinary musical experiences of [his] life", as a "viscous bath of pure, thick energy", concluding "this was actually the most detailed musics I'd ever heard. It was all intricacy exotic harmonics". In 1970 Glass returned to the theatre with composing music for the theatre group Mabou Mines, resulting in his first minimalist pieces employing voices: Red Horse Animation and Music for Voices (both 1970, and premiered at the Paula Cooper Gallery).

After certain differences of opinion with Steve Reich in 1971, Though he finds the term minimalist inaccurate to describe his later work, Glass does accept this term for pieces up to and including Music in 12 Parts, excepting this last part which "was the end of minimalism" for Glass. As he pointed out: "I had worked for eight or nine years inventing a system, and now I'd written through it and come out the other end." As "Another Look at Harmony", "Einstein added a new functional harmony that set it apart from the early conceptual works". The piece was praised by the Washington Post as "one of the seminal artworks of the century."

Einstein on the Beach was followed by further music for projects by the theatre group Mabou Mines such as Dressed like an Egg (1975), and again music for plays and adaptations from the prose by Samuel Beckett, such as The Lost Ones (1975), Cascando (1975), Mercier and Camier (1979). Glass also turned to other media; two multi-movement instrumental works for the Philip Glass Ensemble which originated as music for film and TV: North Star (1977 for the Documentary "Mark di Suvero, sculptor" by Francois de Menil and Barbara Rose) and four short cues for Jim Henson's TV-series for children, Sesame Street, named (1977).

Another series, “Fourth Series” (1977–79), included music for chorus and organ ("Part One", 1977), organ and piano ("Part Two" and "Part Four", 1979), and music for a radio adaption of Constance DeJong's novel Modern Love ("Part Three", 1978). Part Two and Part Four were used (and hence renamed) in two dance productions by choreographer Lucinda Childs (who had already contributed to and performed in Einstein on the Beach). "Part Two" was included in Dance (a collaboration with visual artist Sol LeWitt, 1979), and "Part Four" was renamed as Mad Rush, and performed by Glass on several occasions such as the first public appearance of the 14th Dalai Lama in New York City in Fall 1981. The piece demonstrates Glass's turn to more traditional models: the composer added a conclusion to an open-structured piece which "can be interpreted as a sign that he [had] abandoned the radical nonnarrative, undramatic approaches of his early period", as the pianist Steffen Schleiermacher pointed out.

In Spring 1978 Glass received a commission from the Netherlands Opera (as well as a Rockefeller Foundation grant) which "marked the end of his need to earn money from non-musical employment." With the commission Glass continued his work in music theater, composing his opera Satyagraha (composed in 1978–1979, premiered in 1980 at Rotterdam), themed on the early life of Mahatma Gandhi in South Africa, Rabindranath Tagore, and Martin Luther King Jr.. On Satyagraha, Glass worked in close collaboration with two "SoHo friends": the writer Constance deJong, who provided the libretto, and the set designer Robert Israel. This piece also was in other ways a turning point for Glass, as it was his first one since 1963 scored for symphony orchestra , even if the most prominent parts were still reserved for solo voices (but now operatic) and chorus. Shortly after completing the score in August 1979, Glass met the conductor Dennis Russell Davies, studying the score in a piano-four-hands version for performances in Germany, and together they started the projecting of yet another opera to be premiered at the Stuttgart State Opera.

Glass also again collaborated with Robert Wilson on another opera, the CIVIL warS (1983, premiered in 1984), which also functioned as the final part – "the Rome section", of Wilson's epic work by the same name, originally planned for an "international arts festival that would accompany the Olympic Games in Los Angeles" (for the Opening of the Games Glass also composed a highly prestigious work for chorus and orchestra, "The Olympian: Lighting of the Torch and Closing"). The premiere of "The CIVIL warS" in Los Angeles never materialized and the opera was in the end premiered at the Opera of Rome. Glass's and Wilson's opera includes musical settings of Latin texts by the 1st-century-Roman playwright Seneca and allusions to the music of Giuseppe Verdi and from the American Civil War, featuring the 19th century figures Giuseppe Garibaldi and Robert E. Lee as characters.

In the mid-1980s Glass produced "works in different media at an extraordinarily rapid pace". Projects from that period include music for dance (Dance Pieces, Jerome Robbins, 1983, and In the Upper Room, Twyla Tharp, 1986), and music for theatre productions Endgame (1984), and Company (1983). Beckett vehemently disapproved of the production of Endgame at the American Repertory Theater (Cambridge, Massachusetts), which featured Joanne Akalaitis's direction and Glass's Prelude for timpani and double bass, but in the end, though, he authorized the music for Company, four short, intimate pieces for string quartet that were played in the intervals of the dramatization. This composition was initially regarded by the composer as a piece of Gebrauchsmusik (music for use) – "like salt and pepper (...) just something for the table”, as he noted. Eventually Company was published as Glass's String Quartet No.2 and in a version for string orchestra, being performed by ensembles ranging from student orchestras to renowned ones such as the Kronos Quartet and the Kremerata Baltica.

This interest in writing for the string quartet and the string orchestra led to a chamber and orchestral film score for (Paul Schrader, 1984–85), which Glass recently described as his "musical turning point" that developed his "technique of film scoring in a very special way".

Glass also dedicated himself to vocal works with two sets of songs, Three Songs for chorus (1984, settings of poems by Leonard Cohen, Octavio Paz and Raymond Levesque), and a song cycle initiated by CBS Masterworks Records: Songs from Liquid Days (1985), with texts by songwriters such as David Byrne, Paul Simon, in which the Kronos Quartet is featured (as it is in Mishima) in a prominent role. Glass also continued his series of operas with adaptations from literary texts such as The Juniper Tree (an opera collaboration with composer Robert Moran, 1984), Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher (1987), and also worked with novelist Doris Lessing on the opera The Making Of The Representative For Planet 8 (1985–86, and performed by the Houston Grand Opera and English National Opera in 1988).

Operas and the turn to symphonic music (1987–1991)

Compositions such as Company, Facades and String Quartet No.3 (the last two extracted from the scores to Koyaanisqatsi and Mishima) gave way to a series of works more accessible to ensembles such as the string quartet and symphony orchestra, in this returning to the structural roots of his student days. In taking this direction his chamber and orchestral works were also written in a more and more traditional and lyrical style. In these works, Glass often employs old musical forms such as the Chaconne and the Passacaglia — for instance in Satyagraha, and Songs and Poems for Solo Cello (2006).

A series of orchestral works that were originally composed for the concert hall commenced with the 3-movement Violin Concerto No. 1 (1987). This work was commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra and written for and in close collaboration with the violinist Paul Zukofsky and the conductor Dennis Russel Davies, who since then encouraged the composer to write numerous orchestral pieces. The Concerto is dedicated to the memory of Glass's father: "His favorite form was the violin concerto, and so I grew up listening to the Mendelssohn, the Paganini, the Brahms concertos. (...) So when I decided to write a violin concerto, I wanted to write one that my father would have liked." Among its multiple recordings, in 1992, the Concerto was performed and recorded by Gidon Kremer and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. This turn to orchestral music was continued with a symphonic Trilogy of "portraits of nature", commissioned by the Cleveland Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra: The Light (1987), The Canyon (1988), and Itaipu (1989).

While composing for symphonic ensembles, Glass also composed again music for piano, the cycle of five movements, titled Metamorphosis (adapted from music for a theatrical adaptation of Franz Kafka's The Metamorphosis, and for the Errol Morris film The Thin Blue Line, 1988]). In the same year Glass met the poet Allen Ginsberg by chance in a book store in the East Village of New York City, and they immediately "decided on the spot to do something together, reached for one of Allen's books and chose Wichita Vortex Sutra", a piece for reciter and piano which in turn developed into a music theatre piece for singers and ensemble, Hydrogen Jukebox'' (1990).

Glass also turned to chamber music; he composed two String Quartets (No.4 and No.5, for the Kronos Quartet, 1989 and 1991), and chamber works which originated as incidental music for plays, such as Music from "The Screens" (1989/1990). This work originated in one of many theater music collaboration with the director Joanne Akalaitis, who originally asked the Gambian musician Foday Musa Suso "to do the score [for Jean Genet's "The Screens"] in collaboration with a western composer", who was finally found in Philip Glass, who had already collaborated with Suso in the film score to Powaqqatsi (Godfrey Reggio, 1986). Music from "The Screens" is on occasion, a touring piece for Glass and Suso, and individual pieces found its way to the repertoire of Glass and the cellist Wendy Sutter. Another collaboration was a collaborative recording project with Ravi Shankar, initiated by Peter Baumann (a member of the band Tangerine Dream), which resulted in the album Passages (1990).

In the late 1980s and early 1990s Glass's projects also included two highly prestigious opera commissions, based on the life of two explorers, Christopher Columbus (The Voyage [1990], commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera, with a libretto by David Henry Hwang), and Vasco da Gama (White Raven [1991], a collaboration Robert Wilson and composed for the opening of the Expo '98). Especially in The Voyage, the composer "explore[d] new territory", with its "newly arching lyricism", "Sibelian starkness and sweep", and "dark, brooding tone (...) a reflection of its increasingly chromatic (and dissonant) palette", as one commentator put it. Glass responded with two 3-movement symphonies ("Low" [1992]), and Symphony No.2 [1994]); his first in an ongoing series of symphonies is a combination of the composer's own musical material with themes featured in prominent tracks of the David Bowie/ Brian Eno Album Low (1977), whereas Symphony No.2 is described by Glass as a study in polytonality. He referred to the music of Honegger, Milhaud, and Villa-Lobos as possible models for his symphony. With the Concerto Grosso (1992), Symphony No. 3 (1995), a Concerto for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra (1995) (all commissioned by conductor Dennis Russel Davies), and Echorus (1994/95), a more transparent, refined, and intimate chamber-orchestral style paralleled the excursions of his large-scale symphonic pieces. In the four movements of his Third Symphony, Glass treats a 19-piece string orchestra as an extended chamber ensemble. In the third movement, Glass re-uses the Chaconne as a formal device; one commentator characterized Glass's symphony as one of the composer's "most tautly unified works" The third Symphony was closely followed by a fourth, subtitled Heroes (1996), commissioned the American Composers Orchestra. Its six movements are symphonic reworkings of themes by Glass, David Bowie, and Brian Eno (from their Album "Heroes", 1977); as other works by the composer it is also a hybrid work and exists in two versions: one for the concert hall, and another, shorter one for a dance work, choreographed by Twyla Tharp. Another commission by Dennis Russell Davies was a second series for piano, the Etudes for Piano (dedicated to Davies as well as the production designer Achim Freyer); the complete first set of ten Etudes has been recorded and performed by Glass himself. Bruce Brubaker and Dennis Russell Davies have each recorded the orginal set of six. Most of the Etudes are composed in the post-minimalist and increasingly lyrical style of the times: "Within the framework of a concise form, Glass explorespossible sonorities ranging from typically Baroque passagework to Romantically tinged moods". Some of the pieces also appeared in different versions such as in the theatre music to Robert Wilson's Persephone (1994, commissioned by the Relache Ensemble) or Echorus (a version of Etude No.2 for two violins and string orchestra, written for Edna Mitchell and Yehudi Menuhin 1995).

Glass's prolific output in the 1990s continued to include operas with an opera triptych (1991–1996), which the composer described as an "homage" to writer and film director Jean Cocteau, based on his prose and cinematic work: Orphée (1949), La Belle et la Bête (1946), and the novel Les Enfants Terribles (1929, later made into a film by Cocteau and Jean-Pierre Melville, 1950). In the same way the triptych is also a musical homage to the work of a French group of composers associated with Cocteau, Les Six (and especially to his teacher Darius Milhaud), as well as to various 18th century composers such as Gluck and Bach whose music featured as an essential part of the films by Cocteau.

The inspiration of the first part of the trilogy, Orphée (composed in 1991, and premiered in 1993 at the American Repertory Theatre) can be conceptually and musically traced to Gluck's opera Orfeo ed Euridice (Orphée et Euridyce, 1762/1774), One theme of the opera, the death of Eurydice, has some similarity to the composer's personal life: the opera was composed after the unexpected death in 1991 of Glass's wife, artist Candy Jernigan: "(...) One can only suspect that Orpheus' grief must have resembled the composer's own", as K. Robert Schwartz suggested.

For the second opera, La Belle et la Bête (1994, scored for either the Philip Glass Ensemble or a more conventional chamber orchestra) Glass replaced the soundtrack (including Georges Auric's film music) of Cocteau's film, wrote "a new fully operatic score and synchronize[d] it with the film". The final part of the triptych returned again to a more traditional setting with the "Dance Opera" Les Enfants Terribles (1996), scored for voices, three pianos and dancers, with choreography by Susan Marshall. The scoring of the opera evokes Bach's Concerto for Four Harpsichords, but in another way also "the snow, which falls relentlessly throughout the opera (...) bearing witness to the unfolding events. Here time stands still. There is only music, and the movement of children through space" (Glass).

Symphonies, opera, and concerti (1997–2004)

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Glass's lyrical and romantic styles peaked with numerous projects: operas, theatre and film scores (Martin Scorsese's Kundun, 1997, Godfrey Reggio's Naqoyqatsi, 2002, and Stephen Daldry's The Hours, 2002), a series of five concerti, and three symphonies centered on orchestra-singer and orchestra-chorus interplay. Two symphonies, Symphony No.5 "Choral" (1999) and Symphony No.7 "Toltec" (2004), and the song cycle Songs of Milarepa (1997) are thematically meditative. The operatic Symphony No.6 Plutonian Ode (2002) for soprano and orchestra was commissioned by The Brucknerhaus Linz and Carnegie Hall in celebration of Glass's sixty-fifth birthday, and originated as Glass's collaboration with Allen Ginsberg (poet, piano — Ginsberg, Glass), based on his eponymous poem.

Besides writing for the concert hall, Glass continued his ongoing operatic series with adaptions from literary texts: The Marriages of Zones 3, 4 and 5 ([1997] story-libretto by Doris Lessing), In the Penal Colony (2000, after the novella by Franz Kafka), and the chamber opera The Sound of a Voice (2003, with David Henry Hwang), which features the Pipa, performed by Wu Man at its premiere. Glass also collaborated again with the co-author of Einstein on the Beach, Robert Wilson (Monsters of Grace, 1998), and created a biographic opera on the life of astronomer Galileo Galilei (2001).

In the early 2000s Glass started a series of five concerti with The Tirol Concerto for Piano and Orchestra (2000, premiered by Dennis Russell Davies as conductor and soloist), and the Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists and Orchestra (2000, for the tympanist Jonathan Haas), which is a popular, often-played concerto. The Concerto for Cello and Orchestra (2001) had its premiere performance in Beijing, featuring cellist Julian Lloyd Webber; it was composed in celebration of his fiftieth birthday. These concertos were followed by the concise and rigorously neo-baroque Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra (2002), demonstrating in its transparent, chamber orchestral textures Glass's classical technique, evocative in the "improvisatory chords" of its beginning a toccata of Froberger or Frescobaldi, and 18th century music. Two years later, the concerti series continued with Piano Concerto No. 2: After Lewis and Clark (2004), composed for the pianist Paul Barnes. The concerto celebrates the pioneers' trek across North America, the second movement features a duet for piano and Native American flute. With the chamber opera The Sound of a Voice, Glass Piano Concerto No.2 might be regarded as bridging Glass's traditional compositions and his more popular excursions to World Music, e.g. with Orion (also composed in 2004).

Songs and Poems (2005–2007)

Waiting for the Barbarians, an opera from J.M. Coetzee's novel (with the libretto by Christopher Hampton), had its premiere performance in September, 2005. Glass defined the work as a "social/political opera", a "dialogue about political crisis", and an illustration of the "power of art to turn our attention toward the human dimension of history"; the composer chose a very understated approach in using "very simple means, and the orchestration is very clear and very traditional; it's almost classical in sound", as the Conductor D. Russell Davies notes.

Two months after the premiere of this opera, in November 2005, Glass's Symphony No.8, commissioned by the Bruckner Orchester Linz, was premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City. After three symphonies for voices and orchestra, this piece was a return to purely orchestral and abstract composition; like previous works written for the conductor Dennis Russell Davies (the 1992 Concerto Grosso and the 1995 Symphony No.3), it features extended solo writing. Critic Allan Kozinn described the symphony's chromaticism as more extreme, more fluid, and its themes and textures as continually changing, morphing without repetition, and praised the symphony's "unpredictable orchestration", pointing out the "beautiful flute and harp variation in the melancholy second movement". Alex Ross, remarked that "against all odds, this work succeeds in adding something certifiably new to the overstuffed annals of the classical symphony. (...) The musical material is cut from familiar fabric, but it’s striking that the composer forgoes the expected bustling conclusion and instead delves into a mood of deepening twilight and unending night."

The Passion of Ramakrishna (2006), was composed for the Pacific Symphony Orchestra, the Pacific Chorale and the conductor Carl St. Clair. The 45 minutes choral work is based on the writings of Indian Spiritual leader Sri Ramakrishna, which seem "to have genuinely inspired and revived the composer out of his old formulas to write something fresh", as one critic remarked, whereas another noted that "The musical style breaks little new ground for Glass, except for the glorious Handelian ending (...) the "composer’s style ideally fits the devotional text".

A Cello Suite, composed for the cellist and his fiance, Wendy Sutter, "Songs and Poems for Solo Cello" (2005–2007), was equally lauded by critics. It was described by Lisa Hirsch as "a major work, (...) a major addition to the cello repertory" and "deeply Romantic in spirit, and at the same time deeply Baroque". Another critic, Anne Midgette of the Washington Post, noted that the suite "maintains an unusual degree of directness and warmth"; she also noted a kinship to a major work by Johann Sebastian Bach: "Digging into the lower registers of the instrument, it takes flight in handfuls of notes, now gentle, now impassioned, variously evoking the minor-mode keening of klezmer music and the interior meditations of Bach's cello suites". Whereas Glass himself pointed out that "in many ways it owes more to Schubert than to Bach".

In 2007 Glass also worked alongside Leonard Cohen on an adaptation of Cohen's poetry collection Book of Longing. The work, which premiered in June, 2007, in Toronto, Canada, is a piece for seven instruments and a vocal quartet, and contains recorded spoken word performances by Cohen and imagery from his collection.

Appomattox, an opera surrounding the events at the end of the American Civil War, was commissioned by the San Francisco Opera and premiered on October 5, 2007. As in Waiting for the Barbarians, Glass collaborated with the writer Christopher Hampton, and as the preceding opera and Symphony No.8, the piece was conducted by Glass's long time collaborator Dennis Russell Davies, who noted that "in his recent operas the bass line has taken on an increasing prominence,(...) (an) increasing use of melodic elements in the deep register, in the contrabass, the contrabassoon – he's increasingly using these sounds and these textures can be derived from using these instruments in different combinations. (...) He's definitely developed more skill as an orchestrator, in his ability to conceive melodies and harmonic structures for specific instrumental groups. (...) what he gives them to play is very organic and idiomatic."

Works (2008-present)

In 2008 Glass continues to work on a series of chamber music pieces which started with "Songs and Poems": the Four Movements for Two Pianos (2008, premiered by Dennis Davies and Maki Namekawa in July 2008), a Sonata for Violin and Piano composed in "the Brahms tradition" (completed in 2008, premiered by violinist Maria Bachman and pianist Jon Klibonoff in February 2009); a String sextet, an adaption of the Symphony No.3 of 1995 made by Glass' musical director Michael Riesman followed in 2009. In 2008, Glass also added a new instrumental piece to the repertory of his own ensemble with Los Paisajes del Rio (premiered in September 2008).

Other works for the theatre: a score for Euripides' The Bacchae (2009, directed by JoAnne Akalaitis), and another operatic biography of a scientist/explorer and Glass's first opera in German, "Kepler" (2008–2009) premiered by the Bruckner Orchester Linz and Dennis Russell Davies in September 2009.

Glass also donated a short work, Brazil, to the video game Chime, which was released on February 3, 2010.

Recently Glass returned to the orchestra with three concert works: the Violin Concerto No. 2 in four movements for violinist Robert McDuffie, titled "The American Four Seasons" (2009) it premiered in December 2009 by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and subsequently performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in April 2010.

The Double Concerto for Violin and Cello and Orchestra (2010) was composed for soloists Maria Bachmann and Wendy Sutter and also for a ballet for the Nederlands Dans Theater.

Another project is an orchestral score to a multimedia presentation based on the novel Icarus at the Edge of Time by theoretical physicist Brian Greene, which premiered on June 6, 2010.

Projected works include more entries in the ongoing series of chamber works: Pendulum (2010, a one-movement piece for piano trio), a Suite for solo violin (2010) for violinist Tim Fain, a string quintet for the recently formed ensemble Glass Chamber Players ("a huge challenge because Schubert did it so beautifully", as Glass states), more instrumental sonatas and a projected second Suite of cello pieces for Wendy Sutter.

Influences and connections

Aside from composing in the Western classical tradition, his music has ties to rock, ambient music, electronic music, and world music. Early admirers of his minimalism include musicians Brian Eno and David Bowie, who attended an early performance of the Philip Glass Ensemble in 1973. In the 1990s, Glass composed the aforementioned symphonies Low (1992) and Heroes (1996), thematically derived from the Bowie-Eno collaboration albums Low and "Heroes" (composed in late 1970s Berlin).

Philip Glass has collaborated with recording artists such as Paul Simon, Suzanne Vega, Mick Jagger, Leonard Cohen, David Byrne, Uakti, Natalie Merchant, and Aphex Twin (yielding an orchestration of Icct Hedral in 1995 on the Donkey Rhubarb EP). Glass's compositional influence extends to musicians such as Mike Oldfield (who included parts from Glass's North Star in Platinum), and bands such as Tangerine Dream and Talking Heads. Philip Glass and his sound designer Kurt Munkacsi produced the American post-punk/new wave band Polyrock (1978 to the mid-1980s).

In 1970 Glass and Klaus Kertess (owner of the Bykert Gallery) formed a record label named Chatham Square Productions (named after the location of the studio of a Philip Glass Ensemble member Dick Landry). Metamorphosis for Piano (1988) was featured in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica in the episode "Valley of Darkness", and in 2008, Rockstar Games released Grand Theft Auto IV featuring Glass's "Pruit Igoe" (from Koyaanisqatsi). "Pruit Igoe" and "Prophecies" (also from Koyaanisqatsi) were used both in a trailer for Watchmen and in the film itself. Watchmen also included two other Glass pieces in the score: "Something She Has To Do" (from The Hours) and "Protest (Act II Scene 3)" (from Satyagraha).

Personal life

Glass describes himself as "a Jewish-Taoist-Hindu-Toltec-Buddhist", and he is a supporter of the Tibetan cause. In 1987 he co-founded the Tibet House with Columbia University professor Robert Thurman and the actor Richard Gere. Glass is a vegetarian.

Glass has four children and one granddaughter. Juliet (b. 1968) and Zachary (b. 1971) are his children from his first marriage, to theater director JoAnne Akalaitis (married 1965, divorced 1980). Granddaughter Zuri (b.1989) is Zachary's daughter. His second marriage to Luba Burtyk was dissolved. Marlowe and Cameron are Glass's sons with his fourth wife, Holly Critchlow (from whom Glass is separated). His third wife, the artist Candy Jernigan, died of liver cancer in 1991, aged 39. Glass lives in New York and in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. He has been romantically involved with cellist Wendy Sutter since 2005.

Glass is the first cousin once removed of Ira Glass, host of the nationally syndicated radio show This American Life. Philip once appeared as a guest on This American Life and his piece "Metamorphosis One" is often used on the show. Philip Glass's cousin is Ira Glass's father.

Films about Philip Glass

1976 – Music With Roots in the Aether: Opera for Television. Tape 2: Philip Glass. Produced and directed by Robert Ashley.

1983 – Philip Glass. From Four American Composers. Directed by Peter Greenaway.

1985 – A Composer's Notes: Philip Glass and the Making of an Opera. Directed by Michael Blackwood.

1986 – Einstein on the Beach: The Changing Image of Opera. Directed by Mark Obenhaus.

2005 – Looking Glass. Directed by Éric Darmon.

2007 – glass: a portrait of Philip in twelve parts. Directed by Scott Hicks.

Awards and nominations

Golden Globe Awards

Best Original Score

Nominated: Kundun (1998)

Won: The Truman Show (1999)

Nominated: The Hours (2003)

BAFTA Awards

Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music

Won: The Hours (2002)

Academy Awards

Best Original Score

Nominated: Kundun (1997)

Nominated: The Hours (2002)

Nominated: Notes on a Scandal (2006)

Other Awards

2010 NEA Opera Honors Award 18th International Palm Springs Film Festival Award

References

Further reading

William Duckworth (1995, 1999). Talking Music: Conversations With John Cage, Philip Glass, Laurie Anderson, and Five Generations of American Experimental Composers. New York, New York: Da Capo Press.

Philip Glass, Robert T. Jones (ed.) (1987, 1995). Music by Philip Glass. New York, New York: DaCapo Press.

Richard Kostelanetz (ed.) (1997). Writings on Glass. Essays, Interviews, Criticism. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press.

Robert Maycock (2002). Glass: A Biography of Philip Glass. Sanctuary Publishing.

Potter, Keith (2000). Four Musical Minimalists: La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass. Music in the Twentieth Century series. Cambridge, UK; New York, New York: Cambridge University Press.

John Richardson (1999). Singing Archaeology: Philip Glass's "Akhnaten". Wesleyan University Press.

K. Robert Schwarz (1996). Minimalists. 20th-Century Composers Series. London: Phaidon Press.

Bartman, William and Kesten, Joanne (editors). The Portraits Speak: Chuck Close in Conversation with 27 of his subjects, New York: A.R.T. Press, 1997

Knowlson, James (2004). Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett, New York: Grove Press.

External links

Philip Glass Q&A;

NewMusicBox cover: Philip Glass (includes video)

Art of the States: Philip Glass Piece in the Shape of a Square (1967)

Category:1937 births Category:20th-century classical composers Category:21st-century classical composers Category:American composers Category:American film score composers Category:American Jews Category:American people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent Category:American musical theatre composers Category:American vegetarians Category:BAFTA winners (people) Category:Baltimore City College alumni Category:Contemporary classical music performers Category:Jewish American composers and songwriters Category:Jewish classical musicians Category:Nonesuch Records artists Category:Juilliard School of Music alumni Category:Living people Category:Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters Category:Minimalist composers Category:Musicians from Maryland Category:Opera composers Category:People from Baltimore, Maryland Category:Postmodern composers Category:University of Chicago alumni Category:Peabody Institute alumni

Name	Nikhil Banerjee
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Born	October 14, 1931
Died	January 27, 1986
Origin	Kolkata, India
Instrument	Sitar
Genre	Hindustani classical music
Occupation	Composer, Sitarist

Nikhil Ranjan Banerjee () (14 October 1931 – 27 January 1986) was a prominent Indian sitar player of the 20th century.

Early life and background

Nikhil Banerjee was born in Kolkata into a Brahmin family, where music as a profession was discouraged, although his father, Jitendranath Banerjee, who was a sitarist by hobby, taught him the instrument. Young Nikhil grew into a child prodigy, won an all-India sitar competition at the age of nine and soon was playing for All India Radio. At the time, his sister was a student of khyal great Amir Khan, who became a life-long influence. Jitendranath approached Mushtaq Ali Khan to take the boy as a student, and Banerjee studied with him for his initial training.

In 1947 Banerjee met Ustad Allauddin Khan, who was to become his main guru along with his son, Ali Akbar Khan. Both were sarod players. Banerjee went to Allauddin Khan's concerts and was desperate to have him as his teacher. Allauddin Khan did not want to take on more students, but changed his mind after listening to one of Banerjee's radio broadcasts. Though Allauddin Khan was Banerjee's main teacher, he also learned from Ali Akbar Khan, the son of Allaudin Khan, for many years.

Maihar gharana

The discipline under Ustad Allauddin Khan was legendary. For years, Nikhil's practice would start at four in the morning and, with few breaks, continue to eleven o'clock at night – a schedule which was naturally hard on his fingers. Among others, Ustad Allauddin Khan also taught his son Ali Akbar Khan, grandson Aashish Khan, and nephew Bahadur Khan on the sarod; Ravi Shankar on the sitar; his daughter, Annapurna Devi, on the surbahar; Pannalal Ghosh on the flute; and Vasant Rai the sarod.

Ustad Allauddin Khan was passing on not only playing technique but the musical knowledge and approach of the Maihar gharana (school); yet there was a definite trend in his teaching to infuse the sitar and sarod with the been-baj aesthetic of the Rudra veena, surbahar and sursringar – long, elaborate alap (unaccompanied improvisation) built on intricate meend work (bending of the note). He was also well known for adjusting his teaching to his particular students' strengths and weaknesses. Consequently, under his teaching, Shankar and Banerjee developed different sitar styles.

Although Banerjee did not have many students and fewer disciples, his eldest and most prominent disciple, Pandit Sukhraj Jhalla, continues to live and teach in Ahmedabad, India today.

Robert Palmer of The New York Times wrote of Mr. Banerjee's Carnegie Hall performance November(1985): "The extraordinary fluidity and assurance of his rhythmic ideas and phrasing set a pace and a standard that would have left most of the international 'stars' of Indian music far behind."

Performing career

After Maihar, Banerjee embarked on a concert career that was to take him to all corners of the world and last right up to his death. All through his life he kept taking lessons from Ustad Allauddin Khan and his children, Ustad Ali Akbar and Smt. Annapurna Devi. Perhaps reflecting his early upbringing, he always remained a humble musician, and was content with much less limelight than a player of his stature could have vied for. For him, music-making was a spiritual rather than a worldly path:

:"Indian music is based on spiritualism; that is the first word, you must keep it in your mind. Many people misunderstand and think it's got something to do with religion – no, absolutely no! Nothing to do with religion, but spiritualism – Indian music was practiced and learned to know the Supreme Truth. Mirabai, Thyagaraja from the South, Haridas Swami, Baiju – all these great composers and musicians were wandering saints; they never came into society, nor performed in society."

Even so, in 1968, he was decorated with the Padma Shri. Banerjee recorded only a handful of recordings during his lifetime but a series of live recordings continue to be released posthumously making sure that his musical legacy is preserved for posterity. He did not enjoy recording within the confines of the studio, though his early studio recordings with EMI India such as Lalit, Purya Kalyan and Malkauns are now considered to be classic renditions of these ragas. The posthumous live albums, many of which were brought out around the turn of the 21st Century by Raga Records in New York, and Chhandadhara of Germany, are widely considered to be the finest documents of his playing. Today, he is regarded as one of the greatest sitarists of the 20th century.

His interpretation of ragas was usually traditional, although he would sometimes take liberties with the raga in a moment of inspiration. Some people say he created a raga Manomanjari of his own, mixing ideas from Kalavati and Puriya, while others attribute it to Ustad Allaudin Khan.

Nikhil Banerjee was in failing health through the 80s, having survived three heart attacks. On January 27, 1986, on the birthday of his younger daughter, at the relatively young age of 54, Nikhil Banerjee died of a fourth heart attack. At the time of his death, he was a faculty member at the Ali Akbar College of Music in Calcutta. He was posthumously awarded the Padma Bhushan title by the Government of India in the same year as his death.

He is survived by his wife Roma and two daughters. His younger daughter Debdutta/Arya is a model and actress in Kolkata.

Partial discography

The following is a summary of some recent CD issues. A more comprehensive discography can be found in the external links.

Afternoon Ragas (1970)

(1982)

(1982)

(1986)

Lyrical Sitar (1991)

(1995)

(1995)

Rag Hemant (1995)

Le Sitar Du Pandit (1996)

Raga Patdeep (1996)

Live in Amsterdam 1984 (1997)

Genius of Pandit Nikhil (live) (1998)

Berkeley 1968 (1998)

(1999)

Pandit Nikhil Banerjee (live) (1999)

Total Absorption (2000)

Banerjee Live in Munich 1980 (2000)

(2000)

Musician's Musician (2001)

(2002)

(2004)

Notes

Allauddin claimed he was teaching Banerjee the sitar "style of Nawab Kutubudaulla Bahadur of Lucknow", a player not otherwise remembered. (My Maestro As I Saw Him, essay by Banerjee printed in the booklet for Afternoon Ragas, Raga Records Raga-211)

San Francisco Chronicle:

Banerjee's technique is a phenomenon, faster than cheetahs, more secure than the dollar. But he does not lean on that as most players do. It is there, at the ready, a strength to be called on when needed. It is his gentle playing that is so singular. The ease of it, highlighted by atypical (for Indian music) bits of literal reiteration create a kind of euphoric effect. The result is remarkably individual. One could spot a Banerjee performance on a radio broadcast or tape, a thing of great difficulty among Oriental musicians.

Manomanjari - a variation: some argue it's a blend of Kalavati & Marwa. In a 1979/80 [not verifiable] Calcutta concert [@Kala Mandir], as per the announcement, Mr. Banerjee played two ragas of his own creation - Manomanjari & Chandrakaushiki.

Further reading

Swapan Bandyopadhyay: "The Strings Broke Long Ago", Ananda Publishers, Kolkata

External links

http://www.raga.com/interviews/207int1.html

Category:1931 births Category:1986 deaths Category:Bengali musicians Category:Hindustani instrumentalists Category:Maihar Gharana Category:People from Kolkata Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri Category:Sitar players

Name	Bismillah Khan
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Qamaruddin Khan
Born	March 21, 1916
Died	August 21, 2006
Origin	India
Instrument	Shehnai
Genre	Indian classical music
Occupation	Musician

Ustad Bismillah Khan Sahib (}}; Telugu:ఉస్తాద్ బిస్మిల్లా ఖాన్; March 21, 1916 – August 21, 2006) was an Indian shehnai maestro. He was the third classical musician to be awarded the Bharat Ratna (in 2001), the highest civilian honour in India and gained worldwide acclaim for playing the shehnai for more than eight decades .

Early life and background

Bismillah Khan was born at Bhirung Raut Ki Gali, in Dumraon, Bihar, as the second son of Paigambar Khan and Mitthan. He was named as Qamaruddin to rhyme with Shamsuddin, their first son. His grandfather, Rasool Baksh Khan uttered "Bismillah" (the basmala) after looking at the newborn, thus he was named Bismillah Khan.

His ancestors were court musicians and used to play in Naqqar khana in the princely states of Bhojpur, now in Bihar. His father was a shehnai player in the court of Maharaja Keshav Prasad Singh of Dumraon Estate, Bihar.

At the age of six, he moved to his maternal house, located close to the Ganges at Varanasi and often played at Hindu temples, including the famous Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, on the banks of the river Ganges. He also performed for spiritual master Prem Rawat.

Career

Bismillah Khan was perhaps single handedly responsible for making the shehnai a famous classical instrument. He brought the shehnai to the center stage of Indian music with his concert in the Calcutta All India Music Conference in 1937. He was credited with having almost monopoly over the instrument as he and the shehnai are almost synonyms.

Khan is one of the finest musicians in post-independent Indian Classical music and one of the best examples of Hindu-Muslim unity in India and had played shenai to audience across the world.He was known to be devoted to his art form that he referred to shehnai as his begum, wife in Urdu, after his wife died. On his death, as an honour, his shehnai was also buried along with him.He was known for his vision of spreading peace and love through music.

.

Performances at Red Fort

Khan had the rare honor of performing at Delhi's Red Fort on the eve of India's Independence in 1947. He also performed Raga Kafi from the Red Fort on the eve of India’s first Republic Day ceremony, on January 26, 1950. His recital had become a cultural part of India's Independence Day Celebrations, telecast on Doordarshan every year on August 15. After the Prime Minister's speech from Lal Qila (the Red Fort,) in Old Delhi, Doordarshan would broadcast a live performance by the shehnai maestro. This tradition dated from the days of Pandit Nehru.

Popular culture

Khan had a brief association with movies. He played the shehnai for Dr.Rajkumar's role of Appanna in the Kannada movie Sanaadi Appanna. He acted in Jalsaghar, a movie by Satyajit Ray and provided sound of shehnai in Goonj Uthi Shehnai (1959). Noted director Goutam Ghose directed Sange Meel Se Mulaqat, a documentary about the life of Khan. He died after four days on August 21, 2006 due to a cardiac arrest. He is survived by five sons, three daughters and a large number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

The Government of India declared a day of national mourning on his death. His body along with a Shehnai was buried at Fatemain burial ground of old Varanasi under a neem tree with 21-gun salute from Indian Army.

Legacy

Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, instituted the 'Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar' in 2007, in his honour. It is given to young artists in the field of music, theatre and dance .

Awards and recognitions

Awards

Bharat Ratna (2001)

Fellow of Sangeet Natak Akademi (1994).

Talar Mausiquee from Republic of Iran (1992).

Padma Vibhushan (1980)

Padma Bhushan (1968)

Padma Shri (1961)

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1956)

Tansen Award by Govt. of Madhya Pradesh.

Three medals in All India Music Conference, Calcutta (1937)

"Best Performer" in All India Music Conference, Allahabad (1930)

Recognitions

Bismillah Khan had honorary doctorates from

Banaras Hindu University

Visva Bharati University

Santiniketan.

Others include

Was invited by the then Prime Minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to play shehnai on the first Independence Day (August 15, 1947) in Delhi's Red Fort.

Participated in World Exposition in Montreal

Participated in Cannes Art Festival

Participated in Osaka Trade Fair

His 80th birthday was celebrated by World Music Institute in New York

Discography

Sanaadi Appanna - Played shehnai for Dr.Rajkumar's role in the movie.

Goonj Uthi Shehnai (1959) - Provided shehnai

Maestro's Choice (February 1994)

Megh Malhar, Vol. 4 (the other piece in the album is by Kishori Amonkar) (September 1994)

Live at the Queen Elizabeth Hall (September 2000)

Live in London, Vol. 2 (September 2000)

References

External links

Times of India: National mourning for Ustad Bismillah Khan

Documentary about Bismillah Khan: BANARAS, MUSIC OF THE GANGES

Chembur.com Ustad Bismillah Khan

Category:1916 births Category:2006 deaths Category:Recipients of the Bharat Ratna Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Hindustani instrumentalists Category:Indian Shi'a Muslims Category:Recipients of the Padma Bhushan Category:Recipients of the Padma Shri Category:Recipients of the Padma Vibhushan Category:People from Bihar Category:Recipients of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award Category:Shehnai players Category:Indian Muslims Category:Artists from Varanasi

Name	Anoushka Shankar
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Born	June 09, 1981
Origin	India, London, England, United Kingdom
Instrument	Sitar
Genre	Indian classical, crossover
Occupation	Sitarist, composer
Years active	1995–present
Label	Angel Records (1998-2007), Deutsche Grammophon (2010-present)
Url	AnoushkaShankar.com

Anoushka Shankar (, born 9 June 1981) is an Indian sitar player and composer who lives between the United States, the United Kingdom, and India. She is the daughter of Ravi Shankar, legendary Indian sitar player, and Sukanya Shankar. Through her father, she is the half-sister of Norah Jones.

Personal life and education

Shankar was born in London and divided her childhood between London and Delhi. As a teenager, she lived in Encinitas, California and attended San Dieguito Academy. A 1999 honors graduate, Shankar decided to pursue a career in music rather than attend college.

Career

Shankar began training on the sitar with her father as a child, and gave her first public performance at the age of thirteen at Siri Fort in New Delhi. By fourteen years old she was accompanying her father at concerts around the world, and signed her first record contract, with Angel Records (EMI) at 16

She released her first album, Anoushka, in 1998. She released "Anourag" in 2000. Both Shankar and her half-sister, Norah Jones, were nominated for Grammy awards in 2003 when Anoushka became the youngest-ever nominee and first woman nominee in the World Music category for her third-album, Live at Carnegie Hall.

2005 brought the release of Anoushka’s fourth album RISE, bringing her another Grammy nomination in the Best Contemporary World Music category. In February 2006 she became the first Indian to play at the Grammy Awards.

Shankar, in collaboration with Karsh Kale, released Breathing Under Water on 28 August 2007. It is a mix of classical sitar and electronica beats and melodies. Notable guest vocals include her half-sister, Norah Jones, Sting, and Ravi Shankar who performs a sitar duet with his daughter.

Anoushka has made many guest appearances on recordings by other artists, among them Sting, Lenny Kravitz and Thievery Corporation. Duetting with acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell, in a sitar-cello duet with Mstislav Rostropovich, and with flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal, playing both sitar and piano. Most recently Anoushka has collaborated with Herbie Hancock on his latest record The Imagine Project.

Anoushka has performed as the soloist in performances of her Father’s 1st Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra worldwide. In January 2009 she was the sitar soloist alongside the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for the series of concerts premièring her Father’s 3rd Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra, and in July of 2010 she premiered Ravi Shankar's first Symphony for Sitar and Orchestra with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at London's Barbican Hall.

On the side, Anoushka has also ventured into acting Dance Like a Man (2004) and writing. She authored a biography of her father, , in 2002 and has contributed chapters to various books. As a columnist she wrote monthly columns for India's First City Magazine for three years, and spent one year as a weekly columnist for India's largest newspaper, the Hindustan Times.

Anoushka is currently in the studio working on a new album in Madrid, Spain.

Benefit concerts

On 29 November 2002, she performed George Harrison's “The Inner Light” and conducted a new composition written by her father, Arpan, which featured Eric Clapton on solo guitar at the Concert for George held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It was held in memory of George Harrison and was modeled after Ravi Shankar's benefit concert with Harrison, the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh.

Anoushka Shankar was invited by Richard Gere and Philip Glass to perform in a concert at the Avery Fisher Hall in 2003 in aid of the HEALING THE DIVIDE FOUNDATION: A CONCERT FOR PEACE AND RECONCILIATION. Shankar and Jethro Tull postponed a concert scheduled for 29 November 2008 in Mumbai [4] after the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. They reorganized the performance as A Billion Hands Concert, a benefit performance for victims of the attacks, and held it on 5 December 2008.[5] Shankar commented on this decision stating that: "As a musician, this is how I speak, how I express the anger within me [...] our entire tour has been changed by these events and even though the structure of the concert may remain the same, emotionally perhaps we are saying a lot more."

Awards

British House of Commons Shield, 1998[1]

Voted Homecoming Queen of San Dieguito High School, Class of 1999

Woman of the Year (shared with Kareena Kapoor, Ritu Beri, and Rhea Pillai) awarded on International Women's Day 2003 Anoushka is also the spokesperson for the United Nations World food program in India.

Discography

Studio albums

Anoushka (1998)

Anourag (2000)

Live at Carnegie Hall (2001)

Rise (2005)

Rise (2006)

Breathing Under Water (2007)

Live and compilations

Full Circle: Live at Carnegie Hall- Ravi Shankar (2000)

Concert for George (2003)

Healing the Divide: A Concert for Peace and Reconciliation (2007)

Live In Concert at the Nehru Park, New Delhi (2005)

Features

Variant Moods - Duet For Sitar & Violin (Abridged Version) Written by Ravi Shankar, At Home With Friends by Joshua Bell 2009

Charu Keshi Rain - Co-written by Nitin Sawhney and Anoushka Shankar, London Undersound 2008

Mandala - Featuring Anoushka Shankar on sitar. Co-written by Hilton Garza, Radio Retaliation

Beloved - by Anoushka Shankar remixed by Thievery Corporation - Versions 2006

Rebirth - Co-written by Gaurav Raina, Tapan Raj and Anoushka Shankar. MIDIval Times 2005

Sacred Love - by Sting 2003

8 classical ragas performed on ShankaRagamala composed by Ravi Shankar 2005

Chants Of India - Ravi Shankar; George Harrison, Featuring Anoushka as Conductor & Assistant 1997

Adarini - In Celebration composed by Ravi Shankar 1995

References

External links

Official site

The show must go on - Video interview about A Billion Hands Concert

Anoushka Shankar: Different Worlds, One Musical Language - Video interview about performing Ravi Shankar's Concerto No. 3 for Sitar and Orchestra.

Category:1981 births Category:American vegans Category:Indian immigrants to the United States Category:Hindustani instrumentalists Category:American musicians of Indian descent Category:Living people Category:People from London Category:Sitar players Category:WEF YGL honorees

Adam Raga (born 6 April 1982 in Ulldecona, Tarragona, Spain) is an internationally renowned Catalan Motorcycle trials racer.

Has won 4 Indoor World Championships and 2 Outdoor World Championships.

Sportive achievements

1999 - 2nd in the European Championship (280 cc)

2000 - Junior world champion (280 cc) and European champion (280 cc)

2001 - Nations world champion

2003 - Trial Indoor World champion (280 cc) and 4th in the Trial Outdoor World Championship

2004 - Trial Indoor World champion (300 cc) and 3rd in the Trial Outdoor World Championship

2005 - Trial Indoor World champion (300 cc) and Trial Outdoor World champion

2006 - Trial Indoor World champion (300 cc) and Trial Outdoor World Champion

2007 - 2nd place in the Trial Indoor World Championship - 2nd place in the Trial Outdoor World Championship.

Titles

2 World Motorcycle Trials Champion (2005, 2006)

4 World Motorcycle Trials Indoor Champion (2003, 2004, 2005, 2006)

4 Spanish Trials Champion (2004, 2005, 2007 i 2008)

4 Spanish Trials Indoor Champion (2003, 2004, 2005 i 2007)

7 Trial des Nations (2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009)

External links

Official website

Category:1982 births Category:Living people Category:Catalan motorcycle racers Category:Spanish motorcycle racers Category:Motorcycle trials riders