Uday Bhawalkar on Dhrupad :
http://swaratala.blogspot.in/2007/04/uday-bhawalkar-dhrupad-is-not-guarantee.html
Dhrupad of the Dagar Tradition and Nada Yoga :
http://www.dhrupad.info/article4
Rudra-Veena :
http://www.dhrupad.info/rudraveena.htm
Dhrupad Maestros :
http://www.dhrupad.info/maestros.htm
Dhrupad Film :
http://www.dhrupad-film.de/film.htm
Dhrupad.org website :
http://dhrupad.org/
Vichitra Veena :
http://oriental-traditional-music.blogspot.in/2012_06_01_archive.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadi_(yoga)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lataif-e-sitta
Superb collection of Yoga Music :
http://mantrika-shakti.blogspot.in/
Playlist of Indian Classical Music Video Documentaries : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIbhddB3QKSZ771-UnX1pIjs2kBsErAjk
The System of Indian Classical Music : An Introduction in Samskrit : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXeND_eFd8s
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Saw a Films Division documentary 'Hans Akela' on Pt. Kumar Gandharva yesterday.
Came to know many things about him for example :
Why he was called Kumar Gandharva
How come he started singing bhajans etc esp. Kabir Bhajans.
He lay invalid and strictly forbidden from singing for 4-5 years while in Devas (M.P.).
He apparently went through a lot of introspection on self and singing.
However, when he came out of convalescence, he'd suddenly transformed his singing style.
He'd adopted many components of Nath panthi jogis and Malwa folk songs.
He also started tuning his Tanpuras meticulously since (I suspect) he found the connection between music and Nada/Laya yoga.
There are many Ragas in Hindustani Classical the origins of which are lost.
These origins find mention in SamaVeda or other ancient texts.
As per one of the close friends of Kumar-ji all of them were derived from folk songs.
The recurrance of few notes is seen in most folk songs.
What Kumar-ji did was to use the seven notes as in Classical songs
while retaining the character of both folk and classical songs.
He was able to re-discover the roots of many Ragaas as well as show the parallels and missing links between many of them.
Also with this insight he was able to create a jugalbandi between
sister Ragas in a particular song and termed this as Mishra-Raaga.
Will post this as a blog later on when I got enough material on the subject.
Also came to know that there is a biography called 'Gaan Yogi' by Vasant Potdar on Kumar-ji.
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What I'm mostly trying to understand is various Margas of Yoga by doing basic Swadhyaay.
"Life is change" is a common saying.
Why does change happen and When does it happen and How does it happen?
Energy flows from one state to another in our world and in our body.
But it does so in more or less predictable or at least observable ways.
Meditation is a way to Observe these changes, become aware of them and to find the deep calm in the eye of the storm of change.
Meditation in any form - Music, Karma, Jnana,
Raja, Hatha, Tantra - all are ways to reach this part of yourself and
the Universe. Our bodies and minds are considered to be a reflection of
the Universe itself.
Came to know something about these types of Yoga:
Swara Yoga:
It
is the science of observing changes in our breathing which indicate
changes at lower levels in mind-body. Learning to co-operate with energy
changes helps to avoid friction between current state of mind-body and
task we want to do. We do this instinctively when we schedule tasks as
per our energy levels. Being able to observe these changes accurately
and also to an extent controlling these changes is the idea of Swara
Yoga. It is closely related to Pranayama i.e. 'Control of Prana'
Nada Yoga/Laya Yoga:
There is a saying "All Roads lead to Rome".
In the case of Yoga... "All Paths lead to Om" !! :-)
Whatever be your profession, education, personality or favourite things...
All of them are paths leading to Om - the unstruck sound - Nada.
This 'unstruck vibration' is found in the Anahat chakra near the Heart (as the name suggests).
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"Seek and you'll find". Found this superb collection of notes from Mukkam Vashi a 2 day workshop by Pandit Kumar Gandharv on the thought behind his music. There are also a set of youtube video snippets of his talks on music.
Going by the deep thought behind his selection of Kabir dohe's I feel it should be intimately connected to Nada/Laya Yoga.
This book is available on flipkart for Rs. 150 and I've ordered it.
Details Of Book : Kumar Gandharva : Mukkam Vashi : 2 Nd Ed
Book: Kumar Gandharva : Mukkam Vashi : 2 Nd Ed
Author: Bhatawadekar Mo. Vi.
ISBN: 8174866310
ISBN-13: 9788174866318
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Mouj Prakashan
Language: Marathi
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Superb Article about Vasantrao Deshpande on Rajan Parrikar's site:
http://www.parrikar.org/vpl/?page_id=215
Rahul Deshpande "Nirbhay Nirguna" :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcuOB_NAfp8
Rahul Deshpande "Sunta Hai Guru Gyani" :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMLBq2I3Fzc
Listening to Rahul Deshpande's version of 'Nirbhay Nirgun' made me feel really absorbed in the song. I just can't stop humming it throughout the day. If you read the lyrics in fact Kabir is talking about Nada/Laya Yoga as a way of reaching unity.
Did you know that there is a form of Yoga called as Nada/
Laya yoga which forms the basis of our Hindustani Classical Music which traces its origins back to the Sama-Veda.
Dhrupad (Dhruvpad) in fact requires its students to practise with japa-malas for most part of the day. It started as a form of meditative singing for meditation on Atma/Parmatma link. Dhruvpad in fact means 'the refrain' i.e. the repeating part of a bhajan.
Khayal - form of singing is a more recent version more suited to court singing and as a way to show off the skills of the singer in the court.
Dhrupad : http://www.chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/dhrupad.html
Dadra : http://www.chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/dadra.html
Dhamar : http://www.chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/dhammar.html
Thumri : http://www.chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/thumri.html
Tappa : http://www.chandrakantha.com/articles/indian_music/tappa.html
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Facebook conversation with Shankar Rege. He wrote:
".. 1. Hath Yoga : Physical Exercise (Dance, Playing any instrument / percussion, singing) .. 2. Raj Yoga : Expressing Love .. 3. Bhakti Yoga : Devotion .. 4. Laya Yoga : the main branch for music .. laya is the pace of life .. differs person to person as per pulse rate .. aesthetic playing with laya creates compositions in different taalas .. as per Indian mythological concepts Lord Shiva is the controller of Time that is ''Kaala'' .. if we go back to the history of birth of universe we stop at the point of ''Kaala'' when the universe was separated from the sun .. the origin of ''Kaala'' is beyond imagination of a human being and hence the Lord is called ''Mahaa Kaala'' .. upaasanaa of ''Mahaakaala'' is known as ''Laya Yoga Saadhanaa'' which includes ''Naadabrahma Upaasanaa'' as well .. Naadabrahma is ''Omkaara Dhvani'' the sound ''Aum'' that appeared at the time of birth of universe .. that has no end .. it appears in all beings and objects .. the voice or sound produced by any creature is known as ''Jeeva Swara'' of that being .. for more details do have a session of lecture / demonstration of ''Laya Yoga'' ..."
Shankar wrote: ".. the 5th branch of Yoga is ''Karma Yoga'' .. in case of music, Practice performance and teaching music fall in this category ..."
Gurudutt Mallapur @Shankar Rege. Ati Uttam. Dhanyavaad for superb insight into the fundamentals of Bharatiya Sangeet.
Really interesting to know as it resounds with Music being integral to life and the Universal energy and vibrations itself.
Had a recent conversation with a Tabla player who talked about Jati being 'the beat' related to 'basic time pulse'. Nataraja dances to a beat. I've also heard the term 'Jateeshwaram' who I assume is Lord Shiva/Nataraja. We were discussing how in our Sanskriti all the different arts/sciences are not in separate boxes.
'Jati' the word itself seems to (my limited knowledge of Sanskrit) derive from Ja+Ti = that which gives birth to this(world?). Again 'Kaala' the domain of time is very intimately related to 'Jyotisha'. What are the under-pinnings across Dance, Music and Jyotisha which are ALL Time-based activities. The Nataraja pose is finally a snap-shot of Mahaa-Kaala.
Jati or Pulse-rate of individual is used in Ayurvedic 'Nadi-Parikshana'. The resonance across apparently "different" fields is amazing.
In our Sanskriti even inanimate "things" are considered a reflection of the Saguna Divine - Shankh, Chakra etc. So is it considered that a Tabla has it's own "(Nir)Jeeva Swara" or would it reflect the Tabla player's "Jeeva Swara"? Or are instruments also having "Jeeva Swara" i.e. is life (maybe at a lower/higher vibration) considered to exist in the "inanimate"?
Are beats in Tabla are related to Laya Yoga? Here I assume Nada as being that manifestation of 'Aum Kaara'.
Could you point me at any book or other source which would shed more light on the matter?
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