Carnatic music in Slovenia

[emilija]

I would like to share my experience of bringing Carnatic music to my country Slovenia.

Slovenia lies in the heart of Europe. Even though it's a very small and relatively young country, it shows great interest in different cultures. Many Slovenians feel very much connected to India through religion, philosophy, music and even language (you wouldn't believe the similarities between Slovenian and Sanskrit language, sharing the same words and even grammatical structure).

Anyhow, after some years of being in touch with Indian music, I felt a strong wish to learn Carnatic vocal. Months (probably even years) of search and prayers to find a teacher (as there was non even near my country) I found my Guru who is one of the best Carnatic musicians Chitravina N. Ravikiran. He graciously accepted me as his student although I am a beginner with a capital B :) and is patiently repeating over and over again the things my western mind is not familiar with.

After my visit to Chennai he accepted my invitation to come to Slovenia in May 2010. In his four day visit he gave classes, conducted a workshop on voice culture and gave interviews for Slovenian magazines. His trip concluded with a chitravina recital at the residency of the Indian Ambassador, presenting some beautiful Carnatic compositions and answering to audience’s intriguing questions. Not only did his visit enrich all who were a part of it, but he also established stronger foundation for the development of Carnatic music in my country. I am sure many Slovenians will be keen on exploring this beautiful and reach legacy of south-indian musical system.

[mahakavi]

Your keen interest in and passion for Carnatic music are to be commended. Best wishes for success in learning and enjoying it.

[VK RAMAN]

Your passion to Indian culture, religion, philosophy and music is adorable; your effort to channel that passion to learning CM will succeed. Good Luck

[arasi]

Thank you for your report and for your interest in CM. Your choice of a guru and his visit to your country is such good news to hear.

[rshankar]

Many Slovenians feel very much connected to India through religion, philosophy, music and even language (you wouldn't believe the similarities between Slovenian and Sanskrit language, sharing the same words and even grammatical structure).

Emilija - Thanks for being the conduit for the propagation of CM in Slovenia.

Is Slovenian similar to German? I ask that, because of the many European language scholars, it is the Germans I think who have studied sanskrit extensively, and at an institutionalized level (the Max Muller bhavans stand testament to that). I was given to understand (and to an extent, I have found it to be so) that sanskrit and german share many rules of grammar and phrasing of words in sentences*. Is that the case with Slovenian as well?

*: This similarity between sanskrit and German is used as evidence to support the theory that the Aryans were descended from the group of the people who migrated south from the North Pole, with one group settling in Europe, and the Aryans were the group that braved the Khyber pass to enter the Indian Subcontinent (which in those days extended to present-day Afghanistan) - an argument that favors the 'Arctic Home of the Vedas' theory. However, the genetic footprints left as people migrated from Africa into various other parts of the world, I think speak to the fact that people who moved further east to India and beyond did pass through Europe.

[emilija]

Is Slovenian similar to German? I ask that, because of the many European language scholars, it is the Germans I think who have studied sanskrit extensively, and at an institutionalized level (the Max Muller bhavans stand testament to that). I was given to understand (and to an extent, I have found it to be so) that sanskrit and german share many rules of grammar and phrasing of words in sentences*. Is that the case with Slovenian as well?

Some studies were done about the similarities between the two languages, see here if you are interested in detailed reading http://www.korenine.si/zborniki/zbornik ... j_indo.htm. But Slovenian is Slavic language whereas German is Germanic, so they have very little in common (similarity is only about 6%).

Thank you and others for kind words.

[vasanthakokilam]

Thanks very much emilija. I have been looking for such material, especially between Latin and Sanskrit given their common ancestry as theorized by Linguists. And this detailed description between Sanskrit and Solovenian is a pleasant surprise and bonanza. This is my cup of tea though my knowledge is minimal. I never occurred me to connect Sanskrit dantam and English dental until it was pointed out by srkris in this forum.

A Russian friend and I talk about this kind of stuff and I will share this link with him. With the 80% similarity between Slovenian and Russian and 20% similarity between Slovenian and Vedic Sanskrit there has to be some overlap between Russian and Vedic Sanskrit. May be he will find simiarities in the extensive list in the link provided.

I am quite glad to learn about your efforts to bring carnatic music to your country.

[ragam-talam]

emilija - thank you for a very interesting thread. Both the CM part of it and the linguistic details of how Slovene and Sanskrit are related make for interesting reading.

I have read that the Romany language (spoken by European gypsies) is an old form of Punjabi and other Indian languages. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romani_language
- and an interesting description of its features:
"In terms of its grammatical structures, Romani is conservative in maintaining almost intact the Middle Indo-Aryan present-tense person concord markers, and in maintaining consonantal endings for nominal case – both features that have been eroded in most other modern languages of Central India."

Based on the article you cited that talks about how various Indic languages including Sanskrit, Hindi and Punjabi have similarities to Slovene, it would be interesting to find out if the Romany language also shares any similarities. Do you know of any studies in this area?

Finally, have you learnt any Carnatic music kritis in Sanskrit (e.g. by Dikshitar), and have you found them easier to learn in terms of the lyrics?

[rshankar]

Not surprising that the Romany language is similar to Indian languages - given the fact that DNA analyses (mitochondrial, ITRC) have proved that they originated from India.

[emilija]

Based on the article you cited that talks about how various Indic languages including Sanskrit, Hindi and Punjabi have similarities to Slovene, it would be interesting to find out if the Romany language also shares any similarities. Do you know of any studies in this area?

Finally, have you learnt any Carnatic music kritis in Sanskrit (e.g. by Dikshitar), and have you found them easier to learn in terms of the lyrics?

I am not that much into linguistic studies, I'm sorry, I cannot help you there.
As for CM, I am still not at the level of kritis but I am familiar with Sanskrit through bhajans, Vedas and other resources. I don't find it that difficult to learn or prononunce it but it' s still far from perfect pronounciation or understanding.

[srkris]

Emilija,

You definitely deserve the credit for introducing Carnatic Music to Slovenia. May more Slovenes find joy in it.

It is great to know about your country, looks very picturesque. Yes the languages (and culture) of our countries are related, the deeper we dig, the more will they appear similar to each other. Slavic languages being satem languages are closer to Indic (sanskrit) than to centum languages like Greek or Italic (Latin).

You chose a very able guru.... Ravikiran is one of the senior performers of the art, and with his help you must be able to pick up Carnatic Music faster than otherwise. Hope other carnatic musicians help spread the art in your part of th world.

[kssr]

Dear Emilija,

First of all, congratulations on your bold effort and on behalf of all Carnatic music rasikas (fans) , wish you the very best of luck.

Just for your information and for the benefit of all other like minded Slovenians, I can say the following: On this forum you must have noticed hundreds of participants in different discussions on CM. Almost all of us have learnt the music to a greater or lesser extent. Learning CM is part of the cultural fabric of certain communities in the southern part of India. But, except for very few, most of us do not qualify to the level of a performing artist. However almost all of us have developed the "ability to appreciate" carnatic music. It is truly an elevating, enriching experience for any human being. Although I would like to wish you to learn the art to the level of being able to perform on stage, I can say that even if you learn enough to be able to enjoy this great art form, your effort is not a wasted one.

Good Luck!

[seemohan]

Dear Emilija,

Thanks a lot for your efforts in stoking the interest in CM in Slovenia and for taking the initiative to inform us here about your efforts. It is fascinating to learn about other cultures. Good luck in your endeavors. Keep us informed of your progress. You might be interested in reading my wife Kalpana Mohan's article on the early days of CM in USA - http://bit.ly/CMkmUSA If you can, try to spend a week or more in Chennai during the December music season - see http://bit.ly/7UuFQg for links to visual treats of the 2009 season. Alternatively, you might wish to be at the Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana - see http://bit.ly/8j5GAf

C. Mohan

[smala]

VK...."never occurred me to connect Sanskrit dantam and English dental until it was pointed out by srkris in this forum. ..."

pepper originates from pippali (thipili) too.

Spanish - naranja.... Serbian - narandza....Arabic - naranjah...Hindi - narangi... is traced to origins in Sanskrit, nagaruka.
Etymology experts further suggest that the term is not native to sanskrit itself, that it was imported from Tamil - narangai, nagarukam...

A slight difference and losing the "n" it became arancia in Italian, orange in English....

[...under Etymology.........see http://www.uni-graz.at/~katzer/engl/Citr_sin.html]

European languages have modified the Sanskrit name in various degrees: While Spanish naranja and Serbian narandža [наранџа] "orange" as well as Greek neratzi [νεράτζι] "bitter orange" preserve the original sounds quite faithfully, the word was much modified by subsequent loans to other European tongues. It first lost its initial n (Italian arancia) and then changed the new initial vowel under the influence of French or "gold", ending up with, for example, with English orange...]