Music and Worship

I'm in India on business which may make it a little tougher to blog about music. On the other hand, I have evenings and a 3 day weekend free, and Delhi is a large city with plenty of live music. Well, at least some live music, anyway.

My first musical experience here was an unexpected pleasure. I went with a couple of locals to Gurdwara Bangla Sahib on Wednesday night. We removed our shoes and socks, leaving them in our car, and walked to the gurdwara. The view is amazing.
A Gurdwara (translates as gateway to the guru) is a place of worship for Sikhs. The Sikh faith is interesting, most men of this faith take the surname Singh, and it's at least to some degree a warrior faith; I believe every male Sikh has a sword as both a symbol of their faith, and in the past as a tool for fighting. As a fantasy geek and D&D gamer from way back, any faith that includes swords is definitely cool!

This particular gurdwara is considered the most prominent one, and it's easy to see why. The site is beautiful in it's architecture and use of water, and the gurdwara itself is a feast for the eyes (intricate stonework, beautiful water features and golden towers) and ears.

The ears in particular: for the hour we were there they had a group in the central area, somewhat like an altar, playing and singing songs related to their faith. The vocalist sang solo and almost continuously with a strong, rich and attractive tenor. He was backed by a tabla and a couple of harmoniums. The combination of instruments, especially the tabla, the different use of intervals while singing, and the foreign language gave it an exotic (to me) Indian flavor and greatly enhanced the vibe in the temple.

There are little intricate rituals being performed all over - as you go up the steps to the gurdwara, people stop and touch each step, then make a motion towards their mouths and hearts which reminded me of our Catholic ritual of crossing ourselves over our forehead, mouth and chest during mass - committing our mind, words, and heart to Christ. Other rituals are performed at various places in different ways around the gurdwara and its grounds.

A mixed crowd of Sikhs and Hindus were worshiping (meditating? I'm not sure what the terminology is) inside the gurdwara and we sat down on the floor, my local Hindu friends meditated while I prayed for a half hour. By typical Western standards it was a pretty humble musical experience - not much flash, fairly repetitive, just good solid musicianship in a beautiful setting.

For me it was more than that. Praying with my eyes closed, asking for help with my issues and for all of those around the world who are in such difficult positions, the sound and it's exotic associations made me feel more connected to the locals, even though their language is incomprehensible to me and their culture is fairly foreign too. To quote a perhaps trite Led Zeppelin song and theme, even though we are all different "The Song Remains the Same." I hadn't brough my Flip since I wasn't sure that would be acceptable, turns out I could've brought it. I wish I had, it would be wonderful to share more of the experience.

I was greatly comforted by my prayers and the atmosphere in the gudwara, and it was a nice first step into the Indian experience in Delhi. After that we walked around the gudwara grounds doing some of the traditional activities like petting the catfish in the reflecting pool, getting a handful of a porridge-like substance handed to us to eat while we walked around (I was warned to avoid anything prepared in carts but I went ahead, I was feeling very connected and it seemed important to participate; it gave me no problems at all), circling the flag pole while praying - you're supposed to make a wish and if it comes true then you must go back again. Meenakshi had been granted her wish (she didn't say what it was) so she was returning to pray in thanks.

Afterwards we headed back out of the gurdwara and walked through the Connaught Place district, the high end shopping district in Delhi. The area is an interesting mix of familiar (McDonalds, Benetton, Sony and other familiar stores and brands) and exotic (the architecture was quite different, the climate is hotter and more humid than I'm used to, the way the pedestrians deal with traffic and crossing streets, even the food are all quite exotic to my Seattle sensibilities).

We visited a park and ate at a local tea shop. It was an interesting evening and I'm looking forward to more trips into Delhi, and a little more live music too if I can arrange it. Next time I'll be sure to bring my Flip so I can share the sounds and sights as well.

The Far Side of the Earth

My normal posting efforts have broken down a bit - busy with family issues and work, I've fallen way behind. I still haven't blogged about the Capitol Hill Block Party yet, so figuring out which photos and videos are of what bands is going to be a bit challenging. Hopefully the CHBP schedule is still up on the internet, since it's the main tool for figuring who the heck a given band is. Saw all kinds of good stuff, finally caught a TacocaT show (I'm a freak for palindromes so I was pretty much guaranteed to like it, and the fact that they put on a great show only made it better). More about that later, because now I'm out of town. Way out of town - in Gurgaon, next to Delhi in India. I do have an expense account and a car and driver though, so I think I can catch some live music while I'm here. As long as jet lag doesn't knock me out too completely, anyway.

There are a couple of clubs in the mall right next to my hotel that feature live music, I feel like I have to at least check out Beer Island based on the name alone! I'm not sure if I want to try the live music in the bowling alley, we'll see, and there's still another club or two in the mall that has live music beyond that too. Several other venues in Gurgaon have been recommended to me, and Delhi has a pile of them too, especially in the Connaught Place district.

I'm not sure exactly what (if anything) I'll manage to see, but that's half the fun. The locals tell me that most of the clubs that feature live music have cover bands, so I may even be familiar with the material. Of course if they cover Indian standards then it'll all be new to me. I haven't heard a lot of live music in foreign languages recently (although I did enjoy Ser.0, which had several songs in Spanish) like this song called Disco:
...and I grew up in the sixties listening to an odd bootleg tape that my dad had of a Beatles performance in Hamburg that I really liked. I have no idea where he got it, and unfortunately Mom gave his tapes away when he passed on, so the Jack Straw Foundation now has that odd old bootleg, if they didn't toss it out. Oh yeah, and I also listen to Latin, German and Italian songs in church. Hmm, I guess I listen to more songs in foreign languages than I had realized.

I've been visiting with some of the Indian folk for months now, talking about music and swapping links to favorite bands and interesting youtube videos of performances and so on. One interesting thing I've noticed is that the major Western styles are reflected in modern Indian music which can be fascinating.

I've listened to what could pass for mainstream pop in the US, except for the language, and I've heard bands with distinct heavier metal-ish sounds, and even rap influences. Don't get me wrong, the results aren't completely derivative and they usually only show influences merging with the Indian approaches. The "rap" influenced performer I listened to had the rap cadences and rhythms and relative lack of melody down, but the backing music was more traditional rock and roll than rap. The heavier sounding stuff apparently had a very clean and non-offensive message in it's lyrics, so while it sounded somewhat like heavy metal in a foreign language, the subject matter was much lighter than most heavy metal in the US.

The reverse is also very apparent - Bollywood musicals have influenced American pop; didn't Madonna do a song along those lines? It started way back in the sixties (if not earlier) when the Beatles spent time in India and produced songs like "Within You and Without You" that used traditional Indian percussion and sounds, and "Across the Universe" that directly quoted the Hindu faith in Hindi with it's "Jai guru deva, om" chorus.

With a little luck I'll be able to catch a few performances, get a song or two from each on video, and post the videos and blog about it.

Belated post script: the clubs in the mall did not play live music. When I went to the Rock and Roll bar and asked if they featured live music they gave me odd looks. They clearly had no idea what I was talking about. At least the beer was good.