University of Alberta 'Indo-Jazz Fusion'
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University of Alberta ‘Indo-Jazz Fusion’: Jazz and Karnatak Music in Contact by Tanya Kalmanovitch A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Music Edmonton, Alberta Spring 2008 Abstract An inherently intercultural music, jazz presents a unique entry in the catalog of interactions between Indian music and the west. This dissertation is situated in a line of recent accounts that reappraise the period of Western colonial hegemony in India by tracing a complex continuum of historical and musical events over three centuries. It charts the historical routes by which jazz and Karnatak music have come into contact in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, both in India and abroad. It presents a detailed account of the history of jazz in India, and Indian music in jazz, and examines jazz’s contact with Karnatak music in three contexts—jazz pedagogy, intercultural collaboration, and the Indian diaspora in the United States—illustrating the musical, social and performative spaces in which these musics come into contact, and describing the specific musical and social practices, and political and social institutions that support this activity. Case studies in this dissertation include an educational exchange between the Jazz and Contemporary Music Program of the New School University (New York, NY) and the Brhaddhvani Research and Training Centre for Musics of the World (Chennai, India), directed by the author in December 2003 – January 2004; a 2001 collaboration between Irish jazz/traditional band Khanda and the Karnataka College of Percussion; and analyses of recent recordings by pianist Vijay Iyer, saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa and drummer Ravish Momin. These accounts are situated in historical, political and social contexts to serve as a case study of jazz in contact with the non-Western world. This research contributes to the body of ethnomusicological research on Karnatak music, which has been under- represented in Indian music studies. It also serves as an important addition to literature concerning Indian music and the West and forms a substantial contribution to existing accounts of jazz in India. This research provides a nuanced and comprehensive account of jazz’s international character, explicating the musical, social and performative features which sustain its identity and cultural permeability. Ultimately, this account aims to go beyond interpretations which characterize the West’s relationship to non-Western music as oppressive, highlighting important sites of collaborative potential despite global inequity. Acknowledgements This dissertation would not be possible without the performers whose work and words has inspired it. I am grateful to Dr. Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer Subramanian. As teacher and mentor, Dr. Subramanian inculcated in me an awareness of the fundamentals of Karnatak music and provided me with a set of musical tools that continue to inspire and aid me in learning and performing a broad range of musics. As the founder and leader of Brhaddhvani, Dr. Subramanian has enriched the lives of countless musicians from all walks of life. The exchange program would not have been possible without the dedication of considerable resources by Dr. Subramanian and the staff of Brhaddhvani, who provided all of the participants with a musical home and an unforgettable introduction to South Indian hospitality. I am grateful to Ronan Guilfoyle for inspiring this project by providing me with my first introduction to Karnatak music, and for introducing me to Ramesh Shotham, whose extended family provided me with my first home in Chennai. Ronan Guilfoyle, Conor Guilfoyle, Vijay Iyer, Rudresh Mahanthappa, R. A. Ramamani, T. A. S. Mani, Ravish Momin and Ramesh Shotham each contributed musical and personal narratives with candour and generosity. Claudia Atkinson, Evan Herring-Nathan, Kristina Kanders, Sankiri Krishnan, Arun Luthra, Nicholas Menache, Usha Narasimhan, Woody Shaw III and Johannes Weidenmuller each contributed this project by dedicating themselves to intercultural exchange on the level of the local and personal. David Liebman and Martin Mueller contributed valuable administrative and artistic support to the exchange program. Although their words and music are not represented directly in the text, I wish to thank Sean Carpio, Oene van Geel, Mark Haanstra, Ned McGowan, Chander Sardjoe, Rafael Reina, Eero Haminiemi, Fabrizio Cassol, Madhav Chari, and B. C. Manjunath, whose perspectives have informed much of this work. This project has also depended on an extended family of scholarly supporters. My supervisor Regula Qureshi has patiently supported me in a slow and sometimes painful transition from performer to performer-scholar, challenging me to question my assumptions and urging me to deeper levels of inquiry with her timely and insightful suggestions. I am especially grateful to her for never expecting that my career as a performer and work as a scholar could be anything less than compatible, even if the challenges prove to be more enduring than I had anticipated. Committee members David Gramit and Michael Frishkopf have each contributed practical and supportive suggestions on my scholarly work and progress in professionalization. Finally, I am grateful to Hank Stam and Lorraine Radke of the Department of Psychology at the University of Calgary both for creating in me an awareness of the potentials of intellectual inquiry, and providing me with essential conceptual, analytical and practical skills. This dissertation has been a steady companion through considerable change. It has been written, revised, plotted and protested at homes in six cities on four continents, and on the road in Europe, Central Asia and across North America. Just as a musical performance depends as much on the performers as on the actions of a cast of unseen players who create the context for performance. Accordingly, I would like to acknowledge the invaluable support of innumerable friends, colleagues, and strangers who have contributed their encouragement over the past several years at various homes and on the road. Here, I name but a few of them. In India Clair Ludenbach, Robert Grace and Simon Irvine contributed drinks, meals and much-appreciated companionship. In Boston and New York, Allan Chase, Lara Pellegrinelli and Niko Higgins have offered valuable scholarly, professional and moral support. Forteini Samatzi and Jane Wilson coordinated a language proficiency exam across great distance and at short notice. Sean Carpio and Madalay Fleming edited musical and verbal texts with accuracy and alacrity. Michael and Seamus Durney, Pamela Habibovic, Claudia Wigent, Stafford Horne, Nick Menache, Katy Maddox, Janet Benton and Aryeh Kobrinsky each helped to keep body and mind in the same place. Finally, a diffuse but profound wave of appreciation goes out to the many individuals who have patiently accepted the deferral of musical projects and social invitations that were no less valuable to me for my unavailability. No words can repay my debt to my mother, Dr. Phyllis Sandals, who paved my way in this and so much else. TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTACT ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS LIST OF FIGURES INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................1 Chapter I. SITUATING JAZZ AND THE EXOTIC..........................................................13 Situating Jazz .......................................................................................17 Jazz is Dead..........................................................................................16 Theoretical Referents............................................................................19 Defining Globalization .........................................................................20 Musical Studies of Globalization ..........................................................22 “Schizophonia and “Pastiche”: The Aesthetics of World Music ............24 Studies of Musical Exotica ...................................................................27 Postcolonial Analyses of Power............................................................29 Jazz, Musical Modernism, and Their Others .........................................31 Structures of Representation and the Curious Resilience of Exoticism ..33 Discourses Resolving Inequality...........................................................34 Jazz and Identity...................................................................................36 The Indian Diaspora in the United States ..............................................39 II. SITUATING KARNATAK MUSIC IN RELATION TO JAZZ..................41 Introduction Situating Karnatak Music ..................................................................42 Jazz in India before Independence .....................................................49 Jazz in India after Independence ........................................................52 The Voice of America and the Jazz Ambassadors ..............................54 Jazz Yatra Festival.............................................................................58 The History of Indian Music in Jazz ..................................................59 After Coltrane: Playing Modally, Playing Spiritually.........................65 “Fusion” or Confusion? .....................................................................69 III. JAZZ AND KARNATAK MUSIC: INTERCULTURAL COLLABORATION