Violinist L. Subramaniam has recently published his doctoral thesis as a book. Chord harmony (Westland) The book explains how he integrated the Indian raga system with the harmonic structure of Western classical music.
Subramaniam proposes a unique concept of 36 scales, which will make it possible for Indian ragas to be played by Western orchestras. He acknowledges in the book that such attempts have been made by Hindi cinema composers, especially during the times of Shankar-Jaikishan, RD Burman and Laxmikant Pyarelal. However, they were able to accomplish this only with the help of Goan arrangers who were trained in Western music. What Subramaniam suggests, citing the example of the popularity of Indian film music, is that with a method and concept, it will allow non-Westerners to create Western compositions and Western composers to use other tones. This will serve as a method to create a truly global composition. Chord harmony The aim is to provide a system that enables such a musical concept.
L. Subramaniam with Yehudi Menuhin during an interview in East Germany. | Photo Credit: Courtesy: indianviolin.com
Subramaniam has been thinking in this direction for the last several decades, based on the rigour of his practice, contemplation and performance. This book is, in a way, the culmination of these thoughts. Chord harmony The album includes interesting photographs of the composer directing the Leipzig and London Philharmonic Orchestras, playing with Yehudi Menuhin, conducting his composition ‘Global Symphony’, etc.
Some excerpts from the conversation.
This is a very specific area of discussion. Who do you have in mind as a reader?
L. Subramaniam (Lok Sabha): My readers are musicians, composers, and especially Indian musicians who are not familiar with Western systems of harmony but still wish to compose for the orchestra. Being Indian musicians they will be familiar with the concepts of raga. They can create soothing, powerful, new harmonic structures even without knowing Western theory.
L. Subramaniam at the Houston Symphony. | Photo Credit: Courtesy: indianviolin.com
Musicians who want to improvise on Western harmonic progressions can do so if they understand the chord on which the harmony is built. Having said that, this system is even more useful for those who are well versed in Western music harmony and theory. Western classical harmony has seen changes and innovations throughout its history. The concept of chord harmony is also a new system of composition, allowing for endless innovation and new possibilities.
Even for non-musicians, this will serve as a useful insight into harmonic composition. In music, there is horizontal movement and vertical movement. Horizontal movement involves melodic lines. Vertical movement involves additional tones that support the melody, creating harmony. Even though a Western classical orchestra may have 80 musicians, not everyone plays the same melodic lines at the same time. Different instruments play different melodies to create harmony. Indian music is largely based on melodic or horizontal movement while Western music is largely based on vertical or harmonic movement. Raga Harmony bridges the gap between these two approaches.
You have worked together for several decades to build bridges between Karnataka, Hindustani and Western languages. Do you want to start a different kind of dialogue now?
Musical dialogue between L. Subramaniam and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. | Photo Credit: Courtesy: indianviolin.com
Lok Sabha: My dialogue between Carnatic and Hindustani music began in the late 1970s with my jugalbandi with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. We performed at Lincoln Center and Berklee in New York and made a few albums together. The dialogue with the West also began for me around the 1970s when I began writing choral compositions for my albums, featuring some of the great jazz artists like Herbie Hancock, George Duke, Stanley Clarke, Hubert Laws and of course Stephane Grappelli. On the Western classical front, I wrote a composition called Travel For my collaborations with Yehudi Menuhin, different compositions for Jean Pierre Rampal and many more. I used a new term for this kind of music – Global Fusion concept. The orchestral composition started with a major composition titled Double Concerto for Violin and Flute in 1983 and I premiered it in Los Angeles with Hubert Laws at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on March 14, 1983. In 1985, Fantasy on Vedic Mantras The piece I wrote for maestro Zubin Mehta was premiered in New York by the New York Philharmonic, with four concerts that season. Since then, I have written a lot of orchestral compositions for major orchestras.
L. Subramaniam with Kavitha and Bindu at the Lakshminarayanan Global Music Festival 2023. | Photo Credit: Courtesy: subramaniamfoundation.org
Recently, I have also had the opportunity to write for Indian voices using the tones of Kavita or Bindu. This dialogue with the orchestra started long ago and is now reaching a higher level. When I started composing, I was trying to create a new system inspired by my Carnatic music heritage. This attracted many composers, critics and conductors from around the world. This inspired me to move in this new direction.
Unlike Western music, a large part of which is written and therefore fixed, Indian music, despite a strong theoretical base, is innovative and improvisational. Do you think an artist can make these theoretical positions a part of his conscious process?
L. Subramaniam playing the violin with Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar. He says when he started composing music for Western orchestra, he was trying to create a new system inspired by his Carnatic music heritage. | Photo Credit: Courtesy: indianviolin.org
ls: Knowing the power of counting in Carnatic music will help create complex polyrhythmic structures in compositions and also make it possible to improvise polyrhythmic cycles. Familiarity with these rhythmic concepts will allow musicians around the world to play in different polyrhythmic structures such as 5 and 3/4, or 21 and 3/4; or divide each beat into a number of pulses (notes) such as 3, 4, 5, 7, 9 and its multiples.
Learning the concepts of chord harmony bridges the gap between the two systems. While students can use it to create new music, it also gives them the vocabulary to explain their work to non-musicians.
L. Subramaniam conducting the Halle Orchestra. | Photo Credit: Courtesy: indianviolin.com
You have talked about your experiments with Raag Harmony, how you created it and your experience of guiding the musicians on your team.
ls:After completing my master’s degree in Western classical music, I wanted to create a system that was different from the existing systems in both the West and India. I started writing a lot of compositions keeping different ragas in mind and started creating complex harmonies that are pleasant and effortless to listen to. Since then I have continued to develop this system. When I went to Moscow, a professor came up to me and asked me how I create harmonies Fantasy on Vedic Mantras, Which I also played at the Tchaikovsky Hall with the Moscow Symphony Orchestra. This made me think. So I decided to write a book on chord harmony. Instead of just writing it as a book I thought of making it a thesis for my PhD so that it could be examined by others and accepted by scholars.
In this regard, how do you view Ilaiyaraaja’s experiments? nothing but air, How to name it?And Thiruvasagam,
ls:My friendship with Raja goes back several decades. He will be known as one of the greatest composers of Indian cinema. Initially, my elder brother, I and Raja learnt from my father Prof. V. Lakshminarayanan. During the Lakshminarayanan Global Music Festival in 2021, Raja spoke about a piece he wrote in 1993, which was recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Incidentally, we are also working on a collaborative special project.
