29 Dec 8am / Asian classical crossover music @ Music Academy

[T M Hoffman]

Vanakkam from Japan today, Ahmedabad tomorrow, Chennai 24 Dec... Please allow me to invite you to a sample of a most promising kind of development in the traditional/classical music world - North-South Asian classical crossover. NOT to be confused with anything-goes East-West fusion!

* If you are in Chennai on 29 Dec, please attend my lecture-demonstration at Music Academy, 8 - 9 am.
I am touring India from mid-Dec and early Feb.

<<< here is the topic of the lecture demonstration >>>

Authentic Indian music on traditional Japanese instruments - koto & shakuhachi
Asian crossover through ‘Indian software’ (raga) & ‘Japanese hardware’ (instruments)
by T M Hoffman
USA 20 years / Asia 38 yrs (Japan 27, India 7, Sri Lanka 2, etc)
Director, Indo-Japanese Music Exchange Association (estab. 1989) http://www.ijmea.com
Lecturer, Keio University (Tokyo); formerly at Musashino Music Academy (Tokyo, 16 yrs)

While cultural exchanges across the East-West plane have been pursued through millennia, communication and development along the North-South axis has been relatively sporadic, particularly in Asia. (The China-Korea-Japan relation is geographically one of West-East, as well as that of Persia-West Asia-South Asia.) In music of the world, major instruments of classical traditions both East and West have emanated laterally from the Middle East.

In South Asia, many classical instruments have origins in cultures to the west – sitar (sehtar of Iran), tabla (naqara of Turkey), sarangi (rebab of Afghanistan), violin of Europe – but none from the cultures to the north and east. In the modern era, Western instruments – keyboard and guitar, most prominently – have found their way into cultures throughout Asia, even though many are not well suited to requirements of sruti, gamak, and application with Asian vocal styles.

However, within the past two decades, two Japanese musical instruments - five-holed flute shakuhachi and 13-stringed koto - have been recognized as ideally suited for Indian classical music, and as such been featured in scores of events in major venues and broadcast media throughout South Asia, Japan and USA. ...(continued)

This 5-minute clip http://www.youtube.com/user/TMHoffman21 (the other 4 minutes optional!) and the National Netrwork of Education interview http://www.indiaedunews.net/conversatio ... offman.asp demonstrate the whys and hows.

<<<<< >>>>>
Best regards,
Tim Hoffman

T. M. Hoffman, performing artist and ethnomusicologist
Lecturer in Musicology and Linguistics
Keio University International Center (Japan)
Senior Performing and Creative Artist Fellow
American Institute of Indian Studies AIIS (USA & India)
Director, Indo-Japanese Music Exchange Association
130 Yoshizaki, Shimonita-machi, Kanra-gun, Gunma-ken 370-2604 JAPAN
tel/fax: 81-0274-82-3160 mobile in Japan 090-5447-1903
e-mail: [email protected]
website: http://www.ijmea.com (for English or Japanese sites)
http://www.youtube.com/user/TMHoffman21
http://www.myspace.com/tmhoffmus
http://translate.google.com (to translate sites into English, Hindi, etc)
blog/schedules: http://ijmea.exblog.jp/
http://www.indiaedunews.net/conversatio ... offman.asp
detailed interview by National Network of Education, India
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/columns/0003/inroads017.htm
"American musician finds East meets East" (June 2006)
text/photos from 01 June 06 'Daily Yomiuri' feature story

[rshankar]

Mr. Hoffman, best wishes!!

[vasanthakokilam]

Tim Hoffman, I noticed that your lec-dem is featured on the 29th at the Academy. It sounded interesting and I very much wanted to check it out but I would not be in Chennai on that date. I am sure you will have a very attentive, inquisitive and appreciative audience similar to what I had seen with other lec-dems I attended this year. If some "interesting" personalities attend, you may even encounter some good debates during the Q&A. All the best!!

[ajit]

I would make every effort to attend this lec-dem as I am very much interested in wind instruments in general.

[uday_shankar]

Mr Hoffman
Would have loved to attend...it's a subject that particularly interests me. I have played on the shakahachi flute. Unfortunately I have to travel on that day. Best wishes...

[vasanthakokilam]

Any impressions from those who attended? Ajit?