Traditions: Ohio Heritage Fellows; 301; Roderic Knight interview, part 4 of 4

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Many people have been to concerts of North Indian music, it’s been popular in this country for 50 years now or more. Um, and many musicians, uh, start with the Gi-o-kee Ong style and they move to a more virtuosic, more, uh, frantic you might call it style to, to build to a climax at the end of a performance. Um, this is... this is something that Ravi Shankar made famous, you know, uh, a crowd pleaser style of playing, very flashy. Uh, Gi... Gi-o-kee Ong, uh, um, steers away from that keeping the lyrical style instead. Um, it still involves the tubla, the drum, um, but it... it retains a lyrical and, and more leisurely style and that’s her specialty.

Q:

RODERIC: I don’t think it’s more difficult it’s just, uh, it’s (AUDIO BLIP) it’s a... it... it puts demands in the sense of lyricism as opposed to virtuosity. Um, but I, I think it’s, it’s a specialty.

Q:

RODERIC: There... there aren’t, so, it’s not common to do Gi-o-kee Ong. So, in addition to being one of the only women performers on the sitar she’s one of the only representatives of Gi-o-kee Ong, so.

Q:

RODERIC: The thing... the... I think the impression that virtually everyone has with, uh, listening to Indian music is a calm, uh, it’s... it always starts slowly, uh, the, the melody, the composition or song may not be played right at the beginning, in fact, but, but just... it almost sounds like warming up for people who haven’t heard this music before because the, um, the instrument... the capabilities of the instrument are, are presented sort of one note at a time, a few small phrase and, and so the immediate reaction of an audience is to just relax. Um, (THROAT CLEARING) I have this wonderful quote from a student of mine once about North Indian music. And, it was that, listening to this music takes away the headache that I didn’t know I had. So, it’s... it’s a calming effect, listening to this music and, uh, that calming effect, you know, in the, the, uh, the more flashy style of performance goes away as you listen to the, the performers racing to the, uh, climactic finish where as in Gi-o-kee Ong the calming effect, uh, goes from beginning to end.

Q:

RODERIC: Um, North Indian performers, uh, are all composers in one sense, that is they play pieces that they’ve learned but they also compose their own. Um, so they might compose a short... we would call it a song or a composition which they will then present, um, in concert with their improvisations. But, Hasu G goes beyond that, she’s, uh, written pieces that she would solo on with an orchestra for example, a concerto basically, a sitar concerto. She’s done more than one, uh, and, and they’re wonderful. It’s a genre that’s very rare, um, and underappreciated I would say. Um, it’s the sort the thing that, um, uh, various musicians from Japan, India, Indonesia, uh, try, you know, how, how can I incorporate my music into the western genres, um, such as an orchestra or a string quartet and sometimes it’s very successful, other times not. But, um, the sitar lends itself, the tuning of the instrument is, um, can be even adjusted to match as needed, uh, an orchestra, uh, but it does match anyway. Uh, sitar is tuned on c-sharp. Um, and the, um, the genre as I said is underappreciated because it’s, it’s not what you expect to see or hear but, um, Hasu G’s con... concertos are very nice, they, they do a nice bridge between the two cultures.

Q:

RODERIC: I think... I think, uh, the awards that Hasu G has won are, uh, just nice public evidence that she’s someone special. Uh, it’s not just that she’s a great musician even, it’s that she’s a great teacher, that she’s dedicated and, um, and involved and, um, it’s part of that mission she has to keep the music alive, you know, uh, and people notice it.

Q:

RODERIC: Hasu G’s legacy will be her students. I think, uh, I mean, she teaches privately, uh, at home and she teaches young children too. Um, at Oberlin we had the, uh, the thrill of seeing some of the younger students of hers taking part in the Oberlin Student Recitals, uh, at the same time. Uh, so, uh, even if she hadn’t come to Oberlin and taught many dozens of students to play sitar and tubla she would still be well known as a teacher of, uh, any one who, who was interested in her music. Um, I know quite number of, um, adult teachers, uh, adult... I know quite a number of adult, uh, students of hers in fact, you know, people from other towns who come to Cleveland to study private... privately with her. So, uh, that will definitely be her legacy as a large crop of very fine students, uh, and performers.

Q:

RODERIC: Uh, the, uh, the tradition of, of classical music in India, uh, Raga Sung Geet is something that, that, that began in the... in ancient times, really, with this devotional, uh, basis but the more immediate, um, um, ancestry is the Mughal Courts of the 16th Century in, uh, North India and, and so this music used to be heard only at court basically, it was for the... for the, uh, the leaders of the country for their, their friends and guests and, uh, for special occasions. And, so as happened in many parts of the world this kind of royal music you might call it has become the people’s music in the present-day world. Um, but there’s that root behind if of, uh, uh, of, uh, a tradition steeped in formality and also in this calmness that I talked about. I mean, there... there’s something about, uh, uh, music for royalty that is expressing that, um, that status of a, a royal court. And, so, I think that even though the music became, uh, the latest thing for, uh, young people in this country say, you know, uh, for a long time, um, Ravi Shankar used to point out that, uh, this is serious music and you should just be listening and paying attention and getting what you can get out of it. And, of course, this is what Hasu G also believes. Um, she was quite strict when she was a teacher. Um, uh, charismatic and friendly as can be but strict about practicing and about, uh, how you sit and how you present yourself because it is a formal tradition and she taught that, um, to her students.

Q:

RODERIC: Indian music is among the music’s of the world, uh, just as significant as western classical music let’s say or as Indonesian gamelan music in the sense that a, a global audience can appreciate it. And, in our globalized world, um, western music has a way of finding its way into every corner, um, and so it’s important I think to... for all the performers who have a skill in another music of the world to make sure their performing, teaching and presenting it so that we remember that the music world is vast and varied.

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