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27/01/202327/01/2023

De tambura

Het belangrijkste begeleidingsinstrument van India – ook bekend als tanpura – sierde de salons van vorsten, kooplieden en courtisanes lang voordat het ruim een eeuw geleden zijn intocht deed in het openbare concertleven. Zijn huidige vorm, meestal met vier snaren, is sinds de zeventiende eeuw bekend. Het verenigt in zich kenmerken van de Indiase citer (vina of bin) met die van de langhals-luit. Van gelijkvormige instrumenten uit aangrenzende regio’s onderscheidt het zich zowel door haar functie als door de wijze van bespelen: waarschijnlijk al vanaf de dertiende eeuw gebruiken Indiase musici namelijk de grondtoon ‘Sa’. Deze wordt vrij gekozen overeenkomstig de stem van de zanger of het stemregister van het solo-instrument. Als steuntoon (bourdon) vormt hij het uitgangspunt voor melodische vormen, die men als raga (kleurschakering) aanduidt. Een rijke schat van zeer uiteenlopende raga’s maakt het zowel componisten als musici mogelijk elke denkbare stemming (rasa) uit de drukken

Tekst: Ludwig Pesch, vertaald door Mieke Beumer | Art: Arun VC

Luister naar de klank van deze tambura, bespeeld door Ludwig Pesch

Tanjore-style Carnatic tambura.JPG — Photo © Martin Spaink Wikimedia

Deutsch | English | oor_spel >>

19/01/202322/01/2023

Enriching town and village life alike: Suitable, ecologically responsible venues with local materials and expertise

“To talk about the future is useful only if it leads to action now … with new methods of production and new patterns of consumption: a lifestyle designed for permanence.” – E.F. Schumacher in Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics as if People Mattered, p. 16 (Abacus 1984 ed.)

“If the town life was rich, the village life was equally so. … The villagers were not altogether cut off from the activities of town life. … The monotonous life of the villager was often enlivened by rural amusements of varied character. Every village had a common dancing-hall (kalam). Even the village women took part in these public performances like the tunankai, a kind of dance .” – V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar, The Cilappatikaram (Tinnevelly: The South India Saiva Siddhanta Works Publishing Society, 1978), chapter on “Village and Village Life”, pp. 61

More Things I recommend: Worldcat.org >>

Download, read in full screen mode or listen to A Theatre For All: Sittrarangam—the Small Theatre Madras by Ludwig Pesch (open domain) on Archive.org >>

Bibliography >>

04/11/202204/11/2022

Creation, Kabir says again and again, is full of music: it is music – Rabindranath Tagore

Kabir was essentially a poet and musician: rhythm and harmony were to him the garments of beauty and truth. Hence in his lyrics he shows himself to be, like Richard Rolle, above all things a musical mystic. Creation, he says again and again, is full of music: it is music. At the heart of the Universe “white music is blossoming”: love weaves the melody, whilst renunciation beats the time. It can be heard in the home as well as in the heavens; discerned by the ears of common men as well as by the trained senses of the ascetic. Moreover, the body of every man is a lyre on which Brahma, “the source of all music,” plays.

Everywhere Kabir discerns the “Unstruck Music of the Infinite”—that celestial melody which the angel played to St. Francis, that ghostly symphony which filled the soul of Rolle with ecstatic joy.
Songs of Kabir by Rabindranath Tagore, p. 19
https://archive.org/details/songs-of-kabir

Listen to Tagore: Unlocking Cages: Sunil Khilnani tells the story of the Bengali writer and thinker Rabindranath Tagore: https://bbc.in/1KVh4Cf >>
The acclaimed BBC 4 podcast series titled Incarnations: India in 50 Lives has also been published in book form (Allen Lane).

“I was moved by how many of these lives pose challenges to the Indian present,” he writes, “and remind us of future possibilities that are in danger of being closed off.”¹

Sunil Khilnani quoted in a review by William Dalrymple in The Guardian, 14 March 2016[↩]

19/10/202228/09/2023

find publications by Ludwig Pesch on worldcat.org

His publications include a critically acclaimed reference work, The Oxford Illustrated Companion to South Indian Classical Music (“the most thorough study of Carnatic music” according to historian of religions and musicologist Guy L. Beck), and articles for journals and exhibition catalogues. Find his publications on www.worldcat.org >>

“Thinking and learning in South Indian Music” in: Cslovjecsek, Markus, and Madeleine Zulauf. Integrated Music Education: Challenges of Teaching and Teacher Training, 2018.

“Raum für Ideen? Zeit zum Spiel! Zum Sinn eines unbefangeneren Umgangs mit der ‘klassischen’ Musik Indiens” in: Schmidt-Hahn, Claudia. Über Europa Hinaus – Indiens Kultur Und Philosophie: Disputationes 2015, 2016.

“Serenading the World: The Music of the Santals” in: Beltz, Johannes, Marie-Ève Celio-Scheurer, and Ruchira Ghose. Cadence and Counterpoint: Documenting Santal Musical Traditions, 2015.

“Eine kleine Weltmusik: Die Musik der Santal” in: Beltz, Johannes. Klangkörper: Saiteninstrumente Aus Indien. Zürich: Museum Rietberg, 2014.

“Musik und Tanz in der indischen Mythologie” in: Wiegand, Hermann, and Arnd A. Both. Musik Welten. Heidelberg: Verlag Regionalkultur, 2011.

Pesch, Ludwig. The Oxford Illustrated Companion to South Indian Classical Music. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2009 [2nd rev. ed.].

Article on South Indian music (in Dutch) in: Preludium: Concertgebouw-nieuws [uitgave ter gelegenheid van het India Festival in november 2008 ]. Amsterdam: Blikman & Sartorius, 1943.

Entries on South Indian composers in: Wolpert, Stanley A. Encyclopedia of India. Detroit: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 2006.

Arun, V.C, and Ludwig Pesch. Vaitari: A Musical Picture Book from Kerala. Kerala: Natanakairali, 2006.

Pesch, Ludwig. Vaitari: Ein Musikalisches Bilderbuch Aus Kerala. Amsterdam: Eka.grata publications, 2006.

Pesch, Ludwig. A Theatre for All: Sittrarangam-the Small Theatre Madras. Amsterdam: Eka grata publications, 2002 [2nd rev. ed.].

Pesch, Ludwig. “Cosmic Order, Cosmic Play: An Indian Approach to Rhythmic Diversity” in: Rhythm, a Dance in Time ( “Ritme, dans van de tijd”). Amsterdam: Tropenmuseum, 2001.

Pesch, Ludwig. The Illustrated Companion to South Indian Classical Music. Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999 [1st ed.].

Pesch, Ludwig, and TR Sundaresan. Eloquent Percussion: A Guide to South Indian Rhythm, with Descriptions of All the Major Karnatic Tālas and Practical Lessons for Self-Study. Amsterdam: Eka.grata publications, 1996.

Pesch, Ludwig. Vom Klang Des Glücks: Ein Leitfaden Zur Konzert-, Tanz Und Tempelmusik Südindiens. Amsterdam: Eka.grata publications, 1996.

Pesch, Ludwig. Ragadhana: An Alpha-Numberical Directory of Ragas. Irinjalakuda, Trichur District, Kerala, India: Natana Kairali, 1993 [2nd rev. ed. ].

Pesch, Ludwig. Sittrarangam: A Theatre for All, the “small Theatre“, Madras. Udipi, India: Indo-German Society, Manipal, 1988 [1st ed.].

Pesch, Ludwig. Raga Dhana: A Practical Guide to Karnatic Ragas. Udupi: Indo-German Society Manipal, 1986 [1st ed.].

+ Museum Rietberg >>

16/08/202216/08/2022

Voice culture and singing in intercultural perspective

Full screen viewing link: https://archive.org/details/voice-culture-and-singing-kalakshetra-quarterly-1983

Voice Culture and Singing by Friedrich Brueckner-Rueggeberg

Peter Calatin (left) and Friedrich Brueckner-Rueggeberg (centre) with students at
Kalakshetra in 1983 © Ludwig Pesch

This course material was originally produced for – and used by – teachers and students at Kalakshetra College of Fine Arts, today known as Rukmini Devi College Of Fine Arts | Learn more >>