Here's my interpretation of multi-cultural music & it's purpose - Ganathipan
'Our ability to reach unity in diversity will be the beauty and the test of our civilization.' This quote from Mahatma Gandhi has not rung truer than now. Globalisation has brought our world closer in many forms. Technology. Sport. You name it. But I do wonder what progressions we have seen through art. Is Western mainstream music and K-Pop what everyone listens to nowadays?
If you happen to be reading this, you may already know about Ganathipan and the multicultural music I make. But what is multicultural music, you might ask? Isn't that just world-music?
I could have never imagined a song originally performed with 3 musicians could quintuple in size
Ecstasy - Gana's Musical Melange. PC: Film Drop
Let's take a look at some definitions. Oxford Languages says 'traditional music from the developing world, sometimes incorporating elements of Western popular music.' Wikipedia says World music 'is an English phrase for styles of music from non-Western countries, including quasi-traditional, intercultural, and traditional music.' So that'd means you could take Japanese traditional music or Flamenco music and proclaim it as World-Music. Interesting indeed...
The making of multicultural music, to me, is two-fold. The main purpose is synergising diversity through sound. I'm of the opinion that art has the same theoretical tools presented in different forms, dictated by available resources or culture amongst others. But what if aspects of its roots were similar to other cultures?
Our Multiculturally-Created Dance featuring ballet and bharathanatiyum
Balance - Ganathipan: The World Experience. PC: Asaf Luft
Take the violin. Most people are familiar with it as a solo or ensemble instrument performed in Western classical or mainstream pop. But sit with it cross-legged, turn it perpendicular, add more sliding ornamentation... shabash, it transforms into Carnatic violin playing. In a separate vein, the Erhu, a Chinese violin, also has a similar timbre but with its own tonal nuances when a traditional Oriental vibrato is applied.
Grateful for discovering this expressive instrument
Erhu - PC: Ruoyu Li
This one of many examples of what I call 'instrument equivalency', which essentially is to say that instruments of different cultures can play similar roles in other types of music. Why? Because of their natural/potential similarity in tone colour and pitch range. Thus, the potential of replacing a melodic guitar with veena, or a flute with a tin whistle or a dizi holds a replication in the notes sustained, but a tonal and ornamentation difference in its application. Relevance with differentiation.
Who knew experimenting with guitar sliding could change the way I appreciated music?
Mahatma - Gana's Musical Melange. PC: Film Drop
Why is this important? Well, it comes back to the globalisation idea. It's often the case that roots of origin can be hidden away through the vastness of the world we live in. Only through a higher power dictating mainstream culture are we shown to be enlightened by these. Through my own exploration and compositional work, I hope to introduce to listeners the significance and beauty of these traditional instruments and show, in a non-traditional way, how these instruments can create their own musical magic.
Could you imagine a flamenco dancer moving to the melody of a bul-bul tharang?
Extrana Rapida Bulerias - Gana's Musical Melange. PC: Film Drop
The 2nd part of this, to paraphrase a recent president, is about making instruments (& instrumentalists) 'great again'. Giving instrumentalists the accolades they deserve are opportunities that are, relatively, few and far between. At times, other more celebrated arts are subtly driven by unique instrumental capabilities.
I've been fortunate to work with some amazing dancers who have been able to wow audiences and encourage them to clap or move to the music. But in those moments, it's easy to forget that dance is rhythmic movement and a grooving drum beat, bass line or guitar/piano pattern could in fact be the entertainment's cornerstone.
One more point about instrumental playing. The music isn't restricted by language barriers, which means the meaning of the song isn't constricted by words within it. Thus, the audience is allowed to have their own interpretations. People from different continents can absorb and take different meanings from the same musical composition. Whilst having lyrics of a person's mother-tongue and a singer is traditionally what speaks to humans, I intend to challenge this theory using the musical philosophies I've just mentioned in my creative work.
The Guzheng... a saving grace during lockdown
Lake - Ganathipan: The World Experience. PC: Asaf Luft
The ability to infer diverse cultural stories/landscapes is something that I'm hopeful to convey through multicultural music. It has, arguably, been the case that each culture has a focal point in a narrative to convey a mood or character. But, perhaps, it is possible for them all to co-exist in a musical landscape?
The culmination of positive artistic energies; all in a different form
Shaadi Shindig - Ganathipan: the World Experience. PC: Asaf Luft
So, that's a bit of a taste for what the Ganathipan music has to offer. I hope to share more around my exploration of this through my weird and wonderful anecdotes, explanations, ideologies and analogies soon.
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