Visit to Indian Music Experience, Bangalore
For a student of music of
"Indian" music (and not just "Indian classical" or
"Carnatic"), few years of training teaches that Indian music is diverse,
and it represents the living diversity of the country that India is. So, when I
read about an attempt of "experience all Indian music", I have to admit
that I was sceptical. So, when I got a chance to be in Bangalore, the first
thing in the morning I did was to head to Indian Music Experience on Brigade Road.
And I am very happy that I did so because to say that this place pleasantly
surprised me would be an understatement.
Indian Music Experience (IME) is
a museum of Indian music, started recently (June 2019 as per the news report I
found on Google). It is spread across 3 huge floors full of multimedia
including audio-visual samples, interactive exhibits, wall paintings etc.
Pioneering Indian ethnomusicologist Dr Ashok Da Ranade theorised that Indian
music flows in 6 categories: 1. Primitive, 2. Folk, 3. Art, 4. Devotional, 5.
Popular and 6. Confluence. IME has been, more of less, successful to represent all
these categories. I am sure several people must have worked hard to envision,
design and bring this into reality. My sincere thanks to all of them.
Visit starts from the 3rd
floor and then we walk down as we see each exhibit. 3rd floor starts with
confluence music, also referred as fusion. Must visit: Hybrid Sounds
interactive. This allows you to mix instruments of several culture and create
new sound of your own!
Then is the section of religious
/ bhakti sangeet. Just listening to the wide range (while knowing that few
things could are missing - e.g. Marathi kirtan) makes you wonder at the expanse
of just one category of music. I spent quite a lot of time here.
Since I learn Hindustani music, I
didn't really spend a lot of time in that section. Instead I checked the Carnatic
section, which has a very good audio-visual explanation of the different
compositional and creative forms. As a student of a different tradition, I
found this section wonderful and educative. There is a full-length concert video
recording by Ranjan - Gayatri along with annotations explaining the form, and a
separate explanation about the nature and aesthetic beauty of the form by N
Ravikiran. (On a side note, I have always found that Carnatic music is more
complex than Hindustani - I may have this feeling because I don't understand Carnatic
music that much - but I had this feeling again going through the exhibit about
the various forms, their own structure and relative structure in a concert).
Then comes the section of folk
music. There is a very good attempt to categorize the songs: songs of work,
songs of functions (birth, death, marriage etc). There are several examples
from several languages, regions.
2 things that I found missing (or
maybe they were there, and I skipped them by mistake? not sure): 1) primitive
music seems to be missing or there is no explicit mention of this. 2) Although
in the folk music, there are examples form different states, I feel that
another categorization based purely on the states / regions could also have
been exhibited.
There is also a large gallery for
instruments. By this time, after standing for about 2 hours, I was tired and
hence I am not sure if the names of the instruments are missing, or I missed
them.
Popular music section is
represented by the indie (I did not know that indie in ‘indie music’ means independent)
music in the confluence section and the film music. We all know about different
eras and personalities in Hindi film music and everyone will agree that to
represent them is going to be a challenging task. But IME has been successful
is making the exhibit comprehensive.
Again, one of the highlights is
the interactive exhibit about background music. We all take the background
music for granted, so much so, that we don't even realize it's there. But what
is Sholey's iconic scene of gabbar asking "kitne admi the" is re-done
with different background music? You can find that out yourself.
And that is why, I think IME has
been successful. The name seems to have been chosen wisely. It is Indian Music
"experience" and not Indian Music "museum". You get to
experience the music in a way, that it makes you realize the diversity,
richness and the though behind the music making.
Make sure to visit IME when you
are in Bangalore. I am sure you will love it.
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