carnatic vs fusion vs light

sung · Post by **sung** » 28 Jul 2011, 19:03

Don't know whether the following has already been discussed here. If so, I apologize, and please point me to the thread(s).

I've been recently wondering about the subject of this thread and I have a question to the experts of this forum. I sincerely appreciate any comments and responses.

I often used to listen to Maharajapuram's nagumomu ganaleni. Recently I ran into Aathirai Sivapalan's rendering of the same in a carnatic fusion version with music by Mugunthan Sivapalan (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO5K8Z8mars). I just love it. And, Aathirai also has mokshamu galatha and orajupu in the fusion version on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVl-l-IZnzo and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YqDI90h ... re=related). All three are so exciting to listen to. Incidentally, my grandson (who is completing 4 months in a few days) is always excited whenever I play these. Specifically, orajupu always brings about a nice smile and happiness on his face. We regularly and frequently listen to these.

And, much more recently, by way of practicing some zumba moves, I started listening to jai ho from slumdog millionaire. Undoubtedly, the music seems to bring about a lot of excitement (even more than the fusion version of carnatic music, which in turn seems to bring about more excitement than the carnatic music itself). I purchased the sheet music for jai ho from musicnotes.com. The notes for the beginning part are all the natural ones, and they go like:
M M GA (jai ho), and
g m g m g m g m g m g S SA S g
r g g m m p p d d n n S S R M M GA ... (aaja aaja jinde shaami ...)
I am wondering what additional attributes make these notes sound so exciting. I am wondering whether the same notes, when sung in the carnatic form, would bring about a similar excitement.

So, my question is: What attributes does the music composer of a fusion version (such as Mugunthan Sivapalan) add to the simple carnatic version to make it sound lighter and more exciting to listen to, and what attributes does the music composer of film music (such as A R Rahman) use to make a song even lighter and even more exciting to listen to?

I apologize if I sound very dumb and ignorant not knowing the answer.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 28 Jul 2011, 19:28

Recently I ran into Aathirai Sivapalan's rendering of the same in a carnatic fusion version with music by Mugunthan Sivapalan (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vO5K8Z8mars). I just love it.

I didn't, and couldn't.

Let me explain/demonstrate why I could not listen to more than a minute or two of this kind of arrangement. I shall have to ask you to play a few minutes of just about any straight classical version of this beautiful song. Listen to the rhythm, as played by the mridangist and his colleagues. Observe the variety in it, observe how the mridangist will craft the basic patterns to fit the lines and lyrics of the song and how, even when he is playing those basic patterns (sarva laghu), he will change them almost quicker than you can keep up with. this, to me, is part of the magic of Carnatic music, and, where this kind of fusion is concerned, to me it is not a question of what is added, but of what is taken away.

I have strong views. Do not take that as any sort of personal attack. I hope you will undertake my experiment, and see what I mean --- which version you then prefer to listen to is entirely your personal freedom

. What's more, if it makes your little grandson grow up with an attraction to carnatic music, then it will have been more than worthwhile. I think this was a function of film music of the past, when it was closer to classical roots.

As to whether we discussed it before or not... I guess we've driven the subject into the ground on many occasions. Some of us are just a bunch of oldies who don't even like what some of the youngsters get up to on the classical stage, let alone the popular stage. "Oldies" is metaphorical: some of our elder-in-years members have very wide musical tastes.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 28 Jul 2011, 20:09

Well written, Nick. Quite true.

The steady and heavy beats in the background can contribute to that excitement. It is immediately 'hooksy' and a vast range of people relate to it instinctively. In addition, more excitement is caused by changing that background beat timbre. Other than that, I do not see anything different there. She is after all singing the song straight ( on the melody side ) and not fusing it with anything. May be, her 'clean' voice is attractive to some people. No pisiru. But she is singing quite conservatively and in a safe manner, not taking much risk. That may be another reason. As per Jai-ho, it is all on the layam, how those swaras are segemented, stressed etc ( uccharippu is the word that comes to my mind ), along with the background beats.

So in both cases, it is more the rhythmic side of things that attracts the casual listener.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 28 Jul 2011, 20:14

Yes, I enjoyed the lady's voice. I've heard very much worse under the heading of fusion. This would be, in my opinion, a much better stepping stone to the nearest sabbha than a version of the same song that I heard in a restaurant, with flute, mandolin and drum kit. That one made me want to stamp on the CD!!

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 28 Jul 2011, 20:24

And these fairly simple background beats are much less complex and sophisticated, compared to what a Mridangist will play, but they manage to get the casual listener's attention almost instantly. I can pretty much get those steady background beats with my iPad, for the most part, in a matter of seconds. If you take a good representative sample of film songs of the past few years, majority of them are not much more than some melody ( mostly quite weak ) overlaid on top of some catchy heavy beats, sung by well trained singers with good voice culture.

So the things that catch the attention of a wide audience seem to be: Good clean voice, a likable and stylistic manner of singing, attractive background beats with occasional changes to that pattern and then may be some good melody..

sung · Post by **sung** » 28 Jul 2011, 21:13

vasanthakokilam wrote:So in both cases, it is more the rhythmic side of things that attracts the casual listener.

Thank you, Nick and Vasanthakokilam.

I was actually going to ask in my original post whether the excitement created is due to any rhythmic effect, but then decided to leave it out, as I wanted to hear the actual response from the experts. It makes sense.

I would like to hear others' opinions also, if any. Thanks.

VK RAMAN · Post by **VK RAMAN** » 28 Jul 2011, 21:45

What makes majority of the listeners happy will prevail and comparing anything to anything is futile and this true for CM vs fusion.

Musicranga · Post by **Musicranga** » 29 Jul 2011, 05:00

Dear Raman,

Here goes some more fusion by the same artist- Only surprising to note that even foreigners (Srilankan) are doing full justice to our songs.

http://youtu.be/k1l3hBxqk40

http://youtu.be/GGMNilF6MaI

http://youtu.be/gPAM5NwRy8k

Also please find the following by Jananiy very sweet to listen.

http://youtu.be/oofWoiZQP2E

http://youtu.be/ROA6DMBPlNM

Regards, S.Ranganathan, Dammam

Musicranga · Post by **Musicranga** » 29 Jul 2011, 05:11

Dear Raman,

Here goes one more fusion by upcoming singer (from UK i suppose)

http://youtu.be/ky9SatRoyCY

Regards, S.Ranganathan, Dammam

srikant1987 · Post by **srikant1987** » 29 Jul 2011, 10:12

I will probably like nagumOmu without any percussion.

I think the 1.5-eDuppu, 1-kaLai Adi of OrajUpu can be greatly enhanced by interesting percussion. I will like the variations Nick mentioned more.

Another thing is these "remixes". They tiresomely repeat a pattern on a synthetic percussion instrument -- the original songs would have used natural instruments, with an occasional "roll". And these remixes intersperse some English lines (usually rapped) in between.

They seem to accentuate that pretty much all songs are a caturashranaDai, caturashra Eka tALam by repeating the same patterns for many remixed songs. Besides, intra-song absence of rolls seems to be like "rhythm for dummies", where every stress-point is rubbed in your nose -- you aren't expected to be able to "catch" it without that.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 29 Jul 2011, 12:15

"rhythm for dummies"

The general experience is that people who do not understand Western percussion think that they are enhancing a piece of music by misusing it. I am amazed that serious musicians (and some do) can even get past the idea stage of this process without ditching it as having no merit.

Is it just a marketing exercise? Karnatic for Kiddies? The Microsoft of Music?

sung · Post by **sung** » 29 Jul 2011, 17:51

Nick H wrote:Let me explain/demonstrate why I could not listen to more than a minute or two of this kind of arrangement. I shall have to ask you to play a few minutes of just about any straight classical version of this beautiful song. Listen to the rhythm, as played by the mridangist and his colleagues. Observe the variety in it, observe how the mridangist will craft the basic patterns to fit the lines and lyrics of the song and how, even when he is playing those basic patterns (sarva laghu), he will change them almost quicker than you can keep up with. this, to me, is part of the magic of Carnatic music, and, where this kind of fusion is concerned, to me it is not a question of what is added, but of what is taken away.

Nick, that seems to say a lot. Thank you very much. I want to read it again and again, and try to understand what all you have buried into that message. It is going to be hard for me. But, I am going to keep trying and applying the ideas you have shared here.

Nick H wrote:I have strong views. Do not take that as any sort of personal attack.

No, not at all. It is no attack. On the other hand, it is a very big help. Very eager to read the continuation of discussions in this thread.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 29 Jul 2011, 19:02

I want to read it again and again

Thanks for your nice reply ... but do the listening again and again to get what I'm saying. Try focussing on different elements of the music. Try to ignore the vocal and listen just to the mridangam. Different ways of listening!

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 29 Jul 2011, 21:30

While I can understand what a hard sell it is to a take a carnatic song and "non-carnaticize" it and present it to carnatic fans, I think in general it is a hard-sell to do that with any non-carnatic music, or perhaps at best non-indian-classical music.

IMHO, the fundamental problem is that carnatic rasikas are in general unable or more accurately unwilling to appreciate anything other than what you are used it. So they are in general, very poor judges of other forms music unless they are able to temporarily banish their carnatic-hat away completely and this is where the unwillingness comes for many. The only fusion music they can relate is not fusion at all since it is probably one where all the elements of carnatic music are retained (i.e. "not compromised") as such. Of course then they would then complain about how the non-carnatic elements are 'interfering' with their enjoyment - like here

.

Fusion music is dead on arrival to a carnatic fan. The death actually arrives the second one puts the word "carnatic" next to the word "fusion" (or anything other than 'classical'). If you simply say this is "music" and dare not breathe a word related to carnatic next to it, you may stand a better chance!

We unconsciously try to see everything through the carnatic glasses - trying to assign ragas even to songs where raga wasn't even an inspiration, and tie ourselves into knots marveling about sruthi/gati bedhams in songs with scale/key changes thinking that's how the composer must have come up with these changes.

Arun

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 29 Jul 2011, 22:34

I'd plead only half guilty to that.

The kind of repetitive drum-machine type rhythm of the example, for me, kills any music stone dead. I've had the same response since before I started listening to Carnatic.

I can watch a performer like Sivamani and enjoy. I'm happy even if he starts up the loop machine, effectively playing and then dubbing over what he has just played. On the other hand, I cannot think of any live-music occasion where the simple use of press-a-button rhythm has not made me want to go home.

Thus, it is not the introduction of a drum kit, in itself, into carnatic music that turns me off, it is the way it is done.

There's an old joke, that dates back to sixties pop, if not earlier...

Q. What do you call people who hang around with musicians?

A. Drummers.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 30 Jul 2011, 00:24

(Note: I am not necessarily defending this piece or its style - again trying to make a more general point)

Agreed although there are a boatload of classic rock songs with monotonous (albeit not drum machine) beats except for some drum-rolls around refrains. In general from what I have observed in rock/pop/etc. music, the beat is constant through much of the melody line - sarvalaghu-like it is.

But perhaps consider this: your criticism didn't wonder why a less-monotonous but still western (or non-carnatic) style could be employed - particularly in a fusion piece. Instead it said that compared to the carnatic rhythm (which i believe has no equivalent in non-carnatic world) this sucks, and why taking out sucked all life out of it. But if the carnatic style rhythm was employed, and the singer sang it the same way, then how much of a fusion is it? Replace for (the drone-like

) chords with the tampura drone - then you have a standard carnatic song rendered in carnatic fashion.

While i do find your criticism of a steady western beat as proxy for fusion to be valid, to me, what is perhaps needed is more creative use of chords and harmony.Yes rhythm could have been varied too - but I guess I am used to the extreme steady beat (relatively speaking of course) of western rock/pop songs.

Arun

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 30 Jul 2011, 00:51

I'm just wondering ... how a really creative and imaginative rock, jazz, western-classical or even Afro percussionist would handle this? I'm not against the experiment. One evening of deeply thrilling and satisfying fusion that I witnessed featured mridangam, tabla, and Pete Lockett playing every other kind of drum. Pete is just pure musician in every nerve cell --- and it probably helps that he studied mridangam and tabla as well.

As to playing, say, the carnatic beat on the drumkit, for instance, I think that "playing our music on your instrument" is a valid form of fusion, though one has to be careful of the shoe-horn-it-in-for-popularism approach. I also think that the "sing-your-music-in-our-style" approach is valid too. I really love hearing how Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star sounds in different Indian styles including classical: it is not only educational and funny, it is, to me, actually musical too.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 30 Jul 2011, 01:24

Nick H wrote:I'm just wondering ... how a really creative and imaginative rock, jazz, western-classical or even Afro percussionist would handle this?

It is an interesting question - I have wondered about it too.

Arun

sung · Post by **sung** » 30 Jul 2011, 02:47

My daughter found the following this morning (just on her own; nothing to do with my question or discussion here) during her efforts to review her 'vara veena' lesson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZqZQYYw ... re=related
When she drew my attention to it, I was happy about the timeliness and coincidence.
I found the following link later today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpIT1gIe ... re=related
It appears to be from a particular movie listed there. (The first one is said to be another version.)

So, Nick (and others), if it is not too much, can you please explain your ideas regarding carnatic vs light using this example? As it is a simple example and I know this geetham well, I should be able to follow the ideas much more clearly and easily. Thanks a lot in advance.

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 30 Jul 2011, 03:26

Very pretty.

Oh, wait... you wanted to know what I thought about the music?

It is pretty professional, and I don't object to it, I wouldn't hide under the desk if my wife played it, but it would not be my choice. If arun listens to it, he will give us a more technical and informed viewpoint.

As to the lesson link: you'll have to ask the musicians/students

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 30 Jul 2011, 03:34

The lesson format is a great idea. I can also use it to go from words to swaras which is my major deficiency. On the light music, oh well, they could have done much more with it. If you remove the background beat, I think we will perceive it to be quite ordinary.

In addition, at least one thing that is a strong point in many film music songs is the lyrics are somewhat related to the scene. I do not know how the meaning of vara veena fits into the scene, especially with the actress shown to sing the song. ( if it is in the background as it is in the latter part, we can interpret it differently )

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 30 Jul 2011, 03:46

Counterbalance...

I prefer this ... where the repetitive beat is completely appropriate to one of my favourite childhood songs

Or ... this ... which is rather older, I guess.

sung · Post by **sung** » 30 Jul 2011, 04:41

sung wrote:My daughter found the following this morning (just on her own; nothing to do with my question or discussion here) during her efforts to review her 'vara veena' lesson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZqZQYYw ... re=related
When she drew my attention to it, I was happy about the timeliness and coincidence.

Oh, my goodness. Sorry about the confusion. I didn't mean to give the above link. The one I meant to give is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovu4cKpwEaU&NR=1
When I heard this, I felt happy about its timeliness and coincidence, since I thought I could post this and ask for help.

I do not have any question about the vara veena lesson link I indicated earlier by mistake. I should have checked the link before posting it. Sorry again.

So, referring to the above corrected link and the other one from the film, I like to request the experts to explain carnatic vs light (vs fusion). Thanks a lot.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 30 Jul 2011, 04:56

The new link sounds a bit more listenable, though the initial crooning with a false voice was a bit annoying. Even through out the song, though it sounds pleasant, the singer is not letting it out. I am sure that is intentional and may be one of the differences between carnatic and light, in carnatic people expect/enjoy full throated singing.

That lesson video actually gave me an idea to work on. I will post if something comes out of that effort.

sung · Post by **sung** » 30 Jul 2011, 05:44

vasanthakokilam wrote:That lesson video actually gave me an idea to work on. I will post if something comes out of that effort.

Wow! Was my mistake meant to be?! Hope the idea works out. All the best.

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 30 Jul 2011, 14:42

The idea is to take the classical rendition from that lesson ( there was no percussion ) and do something with it. By definition, it is not light. Here is what came about, it evolved as I kept playing with it.

http://soundcloud.com/dabbler125/varaveena-lesson-5

http://soundcloud.com/dabbler125/varaveena-lesson-1 ( a different mix - higher tempo )

Added 7 layers of sounds on top of that single vocal. I intentionally went overboard just to see what happens. Towards the end withdrew them all except for mridangam. It can use further experimentation. Headphones almost mandatory for this. It did not sound good at all on my laptop speakers.

sung · Post by **sung** » 30 Jul 2011, 23:35

vasanthakokilam wrote:The idea is to take the classical rendition from that lesson ( there was no percussion ) and do something with it. By definition, it is not light. Here is what came about, it evolved as I kept playing with it.

http://soundcloud.com/dabbler125/varaveena-lesson

http://soundcloud.com/dabbler125/varaveena-lesson-1 ( a different mix - higher tempo )

Added 7 layers of sounds on top of that single vocal. I intentionally went overboard just to see what happens. Towards the end withdrew them all except for mridangam. It can use further experimentation. Headphones almost mandatory for this. It did not sound good at all on my laptop speakers.

OMG! What a great experiment!! Simply superb!!!

I was amazed when I noticed how my physical system automatically underwent a transition in its response as the other rhythmic effects were withdrawn except for mridangam. Earlier my body was dancing to the rhythm along with my fingers snapping. Later, only the fingers continued to snap, but the body automatically stopped moving.

The second one in higher tempo brought about more of a response from my physical system than the first one.

So, from this experiment, is it safe to conclude that with *exactly the same* vocal and rhythm (from mridangam) as in normal carnatic music, one can make it a fusion music just by adding suitable rhythmic effect or make it a light music by adding even more suitable rhythmic effect?

Are there terms to distinguish between the rhythm of mridangam and the other kind of rhythms that you added in the experiment?

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 31 Jul 2011, 00:47

Good feedback, sung. My thinking behind withdrawing everything except Mridangam is for such purposes . Well stated. I relate to that. Pretty much the same thing happened to me. When I played it to another person, she first noticed the removal of the tambourine sound since to her that was the main attraction when it was present.

Here are two more.. Same vocal, different mixes, taking it more in the fusion direction. And I let all instruments flow through to the end, no withdrawal. Both of the following are the same mix, except for the tempo.

http://soundcloud.com/dabbler125/varaveena-lesson-2

http://soundcloud.com/dabbler125/varaveena-lesson-3

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 31 Jul 2011, 22:09

Are there terms to distinguish between the rhythm of mridangam and the other kind of rhythms that you added in the experiment?

I will let others comment on it, I am not really sure. The 'bass' is part of the rhythm section. Let me list what all I added vertically (terminology as used by Garageband on the iPad.)

1) Indian Pakawaj Drum ( the mridangam sounding one )
2) Tamborine ( the khanjira like sound )
3) African Udu Drum
4) Indian Dholak Drum
5) Cuban Timba Conga
6) Nu-Jazz Jam Electric Guitar ( the crow caw sound )
7) Alt. Pop Acoustic Guitar ( the strumming sound in the background )

The above experiment yielded more than what I expected. I will share my thoughts on that later. But before that I would like to hear the impressions of others.

To me, the discussion of classical/fusion/light is more interesting if it is recast as follows.

a) Majority public's positive attraction to strong and heavy repeated beats
b) CM's mridangam using a much wider gamut of exploring rhythm in a very sophisticated way, but not many relate to it initially like the body moving strong but simple repetitive beat patterns.
c) Appropriation of CM elements to non CM contexts
d) Appropriation of non-CM elements in to CM.
e) "Timbre Change and Spread": different music uses timbre differently, how they vary them for maximizing effectiveness to both lay and seasoned rasikas. How does CM/Light/Fusion music fare on the Timbre Spread Coefficient? For example, Khanjira and Ghatam entering the song after a line or two is an effective use of changes in timbre that is part of CM.
f) What aspects produce physical ( body ) reactions vs sounding calm to the mind ( sowkhyam )
etc.
g) We can look at other cousin Indian music but non classical generes and see where the body/mind mix stands. For example, at one extreme therukkoothu ( street dance performers ) is definitely skewed towards the physical side but there are folk systems that use naDai effectively to create some body related reactions while still having a good dose of Sowkhyam. Ilayaraja had read this part just right and exploited/appropriated it to the maximum with excellent results.

BTW, I realized that some of my links I posted in the iPad thread are somewhat appropriate examples for this thread.

http://soundcloud.com/dabbler125/21harmonicminor This is the sort of in the reverse of the Vara veena experiment. It is Non CM with mridangam and western drums. The western drums in this case are not monotonous repetitions. This also features 'only mridangam' at the end.

http://soundcloud.com/dabbler125/mohanam ( Parts of the charnam of Mohanam varnam - unconventional )

Nick H · Post by **Nick H** » 01 Aug 2011, 15:47

The idea is to take the classical rendition from that lesson ( there was no percussion ) and do something with it. By definition, it is not light. Here is what came about, it evolved as I kept playing with it.

Very clever, VK ... If I'm ever tied down and forced to listen to a drum machine, I want you to be the person "playing" it.

Actually, if it wasn't for that horrid chhk snare drum beat, the whole things sounds remarkably pleasant!

Sung, we are concentrating on rhythmic aspects, but no, I don't think you can say that that is what defines "fusion". Fusion just means combining things together, and there are many aspects of music that can be combined, and ways in which it can be done. The more you listen to CM, the more you will find your toe tapping to its beat. In fact, watching works for me far better than listening. I don't know why the live-music experience has taught me so much more than days of listening to CDs, but it has, even to the extent that I don't play much music at home between concerts!

EDIT

After reading your last post...

The song that "suffers" the most from the imposition of repetitive playing on the rhythm, is the mohanam --- perhaps because it is the more complex song.

arunk · Post by **arunk** » 01 Aug 2011, 21:19

Nick H wrote:If I'm ever tied down and forced to listen to a drum machine, I want you to be the person "playing" it.

- that is funny!

I agree that with fusion, we are combining genres, and thus there are innumerable ways to doing that. The mix can be weighted towards one or other or neither in varying degrees.

In all of the above, the attempt is to keep the melody quite carnatic, but the rhythm and harmony is western, and even there you have varying degrees. I actually liked what was done in that movie with vara-veena - with the sax-like instrument. The other one where you just have a drum-machine beat and understated chords is a different mix (but pay attention to the bass-line).

In film music, you also have the same i.e. various shades - where the melody can be more faithful to a raga, to one that is either simply inspired by a raga (and thus showing faint traces of the origins) to something which sounds classical/classical-inspired and happens to resemble shades of various ragas. What you do have in many film music is fairly significant orchestrations in the melodies that may or may-not deviate from the raga and/or its "mood", but then come back to it for the stanzas. IMO, Ilayaraja's music is extremely strong in that aspect - i.e. interludes can be quite western for a song where raga flavor is quite perceivable.

I think in general when we come across carnatic fusion, perhaps the most common variant is one showcased above i.e. where the melody is kept closer to carnatic style, but harmony is where aspects of other genre(s) come in. This is definitely understandable and makes sense, since in CM, melody is king, and more importantly in CM harmony is absent. It does have a significant rhythmic component to it, but IMHO, in CM rhythm is structured to a close "interpretation" (for a lack of a better word) of the melody, and thus it in many ways shadows it. Hence you have a very tight coupling between the complex melody and its associated complex and uniquely cm-like rhythm (cm IMO employs a LOT of notes and note-changes even within a line compared to melody in western-pop/indian-film-music)

(Note: although in the above argument, I believe one can also use HM and be mostly right? In the sense that Indian classical percussion in general is quite different from western/pop/film percussion)

I also do some "fusion-like" experimentation which (so far) is purposely not of the same kind as above, and so i am not sure it can be called fusion. It does borrow the scale of the carnatic raga but the melody and orchestration attempts to be "very western". So it is a marriage of sorts between concepts of 2 genres. But in almost all cases, the raga's identity is "lost". Depending on how much the raga's identity is present in "flat" versions of the notes that make up it, it either is completely lost or is simply "hidden"/"camouflaged"

Some examples:

http://soundcloud.com/arunksunson/a-spring-union/ - in this one you can perhaps make out the raga (2nd solo in particular)
http://soundcloud.com/arunksunson/rainmaker/ - more difficult but still possible (some people have guessed the raga right because it reminded them of a film song in the same raga)
http://soundcloud.com/arunksunson/a-tri ... spiration/ - should be easy from the 1st solo - but then it becomes more and more western. If I had taken that first solo out, I think it probably would be much harder
http://soundcloud.com/arunksunson/ether ... ute-fifty/ - this is perhaps much harder.

Note: In almost all cases, the beat is steady. There are rolls and such, but overall it is steady, and monotonous

Arun

vasanthakokilam · Post by **vasanthakokilam** » 09 Aug 2011, 06:36

Good work Arun. I have listened to them before, as you know. In the context of this thread, I guess we can call it fusion in the sense of western music with inspiration from carnatic music in some of them, ( in the right proportion while maintaining the western identity ), especially rainmaker and spring-union.

rasikas.org

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