New Delhi, 4th April, 2021
Taking Indian Music Worldwide A Research Collaboration between some of the Highest Awarded Indian Artists of Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama, New Delhi, India; Ithaca College in New York, USA; and the University of Geneva, Switzerland.
By Dr Bharat Bhushan Research Scholar UGC’s Junior & Senior Research Fellowship Holder Consultant (Music), Sangeet Natak Akademi - India’s National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama (An autonomous body of Ministry of Culture, Government of India) and Assistant Professor (Music) in Department of Higher Education, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Dr. Luis De La Calle has recently produced a musical album, Rainbow of Endless Love, which was inspired by the magical lyrics of eight poems from the Gita Govinda written by Jayadeva Goswami, and used its ragas and talas. The eight compositions were composed and performed by Dr. Luis De La Calle and released by Sony Music International, Japan. This is the first time in history that a music album based on the Gita Govinda has been produced and released worldwide by an international music company such as Sony Music. This album aims to create a niche for Indian music in the international music field and industry. As the world continues to be plunged into a period of insecurity, socio-cultural and solidarity initiatives such as the Rainbow of Endless Love show the most beautiful facets of humanity and its creativity. This is an album that promises to promote intercultural unity and innovation in music on a global level by combining the classical music elements of three cultures, i.e., Indian, Inca, and European. The De La Calle Quena Flute featured as the main instrument in Rainbow of Love, is an innovative design by Dr De La Calle and showcases his cross-cultural ingenuity by combining the Inca head joint (the pre-Inca Andean flute) with the key mechanism of the European transverse flute.
Cover album by Sony Music Japan, with Radha and Krishna dressed in Andean outfits set in Machu Picchu, Peru, and with a backward Vedic Yantra, symbolizing the Inca empire (Chacana)
The album Rainbow of Endless Love was featured on the website and the cover of "Record Collectors" magazine, along with a 2-page article interviewing Dr Luis De La Calle about this album. The Record Collectors magazine (the Japanese Billboard) is one of the most prestigious and popular music magazines in Japan. Rainbow of Endless Love has been chosen by Record Collectors as one of the best musical productions of 2020, appearing together with the albums of Elton John, Eric Clapton, Elvis Presley, Charlie Parker, Santana, Bruce Springsteen, AC / DC, and Jimmy Hendricks. Furthermore, Pipers Q&A, the most prestigious wind instruments magazine in Japan, dedicated a 5-page article to Rainbow of Endless Love and Dr Luis De La Calle’s unique and international career. Dr Luis De La Calle also produced four music videos for four of the songs in the album which are available on the official Sony Music YouTube channel.
The following lyrics from the following video clip of the “Rainbow of Endless Love” album belongs to a poem from the Gita Govinda originally sung by Shrimati Radharani where she reveals her secret feelings to her intimate female companion by describing the spellbinding beauty of Sri Krishna's form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YY1apYi-Q0 "His black hair with His peacock feathers, From my sweet young boy, Is like a thick black cloud, Surrounded by a colourful rainbow,
I'm unable to stop thinking of My Shyamasundara, Because He’s My soul, He is playing on His flute, Mohana, Music flows out from His lips, Sweet as Bandhu, flowers from Vraja.
Shyam, My life, We will see each other at the Kadamba tree, His amazing love inspires Me to sing this song, Cupid immerses Me in endless love, Prince My beloved, My sweet love, My beautiful young boy, He is My Shyamasundara”.
Here is the link to the whole album: https://smdr.lnk.to/XuBkLM
The De La Calle Quena Flute ™, a flute innovation at the heart of the album The De La Calle Quena Flute design combines the traditional quena head joint with the key mechanism of the European transverse flute’s body. The quena is the pre-Inca Andean end- blown flute (of over 5000-year-old tradition) which has the same head joint as ancient flutes such as the Shakuhachi from Japan and Xiao from China. The De La Calle Quena Flute is a demonstration of Dr De La Calle’s mastery of multicultural integration of four music cultures in one musical instrument: the three mentioned ancient cultures with the Western European culture in music. After winning first prize in an invention/innovation competition organized by Lund University in Sweden, the De La Calle Quena Flute was accepted as a musical instrument in the study programmes of this university.
Dr. Luis De La Calle performing on the flute that he invented, the De La Calle Quena Flute TM
An exceptional innovator and leader in the music world Genius, multiculturalism, innovation and philanthropy define Dr Luis De La Calle. Dr Luis De La Calle is one of the most exceptional innovators in the music world. His artistic work is a multifaceted integration of ancient eastern and western cultures in the fields of research (e.g., how music education impacts transversal learning with Vedic maths), education, performance, composition, the innovation of musical instruments, and philanthropy. The United Nations has used his unique contributions to promote the achievement of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals as per the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in areas of critical importance for humanity and the planet. Dr Luis De La Calle is a member of the Research Team on the Didactic of Arts and Movement (DAM) at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, a member of the International Council (CID) at UNESCO in Paris, France, and a Sony Music Recording Artist, Japan (flautist and composer). Three decades of intense training artistically, intellectually, and spiritually with great masters from India, Japan, Europe (Music Conservatories and Universities in Denmark, Sweden, and Switzerland) and South America brings the aesthetics of his music to the soul of human nature and helps to solve, in peace and with beauty, the problems of today. After living and studying in Peru, Japan and India for 27 years, Dr Luis De La Calle moved to Europe in 1999 and lived in Denmark for 14 years. He studied the European transverse flute at the Copenhagen Pre-Conservatory of Music in Denmark. He was also awarded two masters degrees (in education and educational sciences) and one bachelor’s degree by Lund University, Sweden as a soloist on the De La Calle Quena Flute. Lund University recognized Dr Luis De La Calle as the first individual in the history of music to earn a university degree based on his musical invention. Dr Luis De La Calle earned not one but two degrees, i.e., a bachelor’s degree in performance and a master’s degree in music education. Dr. De La Calle’s performance of his compositions on the De La Calle Quena Flute at the galas of the National Flute Associations in Sweden, USA, UK, and Australia, earned him official recognition as one of the world’s most talented flautists. At these performances, he shared the stage with individuals such as Hubert Laws, Robert Aitken, Shashank Subramanyam, and others who are also recognized as some of the world’s most talented flautists in western and non-western traditions. The President of the Parliament of Peru, the Mayor of Lima, and other mayors from the country awarded Dr Luis De La Calle with medals and diplomas, due to his international achievements on the De La Calle Quena Flute, as a revolutionary multicultural musical instrument. Cultural background: his life and realizations within Vedic culture
Dr Luis De La Calle was born in Peru, the land of Inca culture. At the age of five, following the oral tradition of observation, listening, and imitation, he learned to play Latin folk music on both the quena (Andean end-blown flute) and the siku (Andean pan flute). During his ten years of study, he learnt playing the original character of the ancient quena, which dates back more than five thousand years (Baumann, 1996), “an opening where the soul gives the best of oneself; if the player doesn't have a cultivated spirit, the result will be poor”.
At age fourteen, Dr Luis De La Calle won first prize in three national music competitions as best quena and siku player (professional level) in Peru, organized by the Ministry of Education of Peru and the Embassy of Germany in Lima. Upon visiting Peru and hearing Dr Luis De La Calle’s solo concerts, a famous Japanese actress, Jun Arai, proposed that he further his career in Japan. Following her advice, at age 16, Dr Luis De La Calle became a disciple of the Noh theatre Master Hideo Kanze, one of the most talented descendant-masters of the Kanze school, which was founded in the fourteenth century. During his study in Japan, Master Kanze was the director of Dr Luis De La Calle’s solo concerts. Under his direction, Dr Luis De La Calle learned how Zen Buddhism (whereby one meditates on unity of the mind, the instrument, and the body) is incorporated into the ritualization of Japanese music. It was here that Dr Luis De La Calle took his first step in cross-cultural music integration by applying this traditional Zen Buddhist meditation with his performance on the quena and siku.
The Ministry of Culture in Japan considered Dr Luis De La Calle the world's most talented performer on the quena and the siku because of his integration of the Andean and the Noh traditions; the release of solo albums (on Victor, JVC World Sounds); and the performance of hundreds of concerts throughout Japan (sponsored by Sony Music) and on TV and radio shows. Dr Luis De La Calle also performed in concerts and released an album (released worldwide by Sony Music) in collaboration with the 4 times American Grammy nominee, the Japanese classical composer Isao Tomita, and the world famous Japanese taiko drumming group “KODO”.
At the age of nineteen, after four years of study and performance in Japan, his Noh Master Hideo Kanze presented him with two potential paths: continuing a successful solo artistic career in Japan and Europe or doing research on the Vedic origins of the Zen Buddhism philosophy used in Noh. Dr De La Calle chose the second option.
For seven years, he studied Vedic philosophy and Vaishnava music by adopting the life of a bhakti-yogi living in a brahmacharya ashram. He received Harinaam and brahminical initiations from His Holiness Jayapataka Swami (ACBSP). In 2015, Dr Luis De La Calle received the Iskcon Europe Excellence Award, for “the scientific presentation of Vedic knowledge” in Brussels, Belgium. This prestigious award acknowledged 25 years of his artistic, scholarly and social contributions to the western world through the Bhakti Yoga Tradition.
Since 2006, Dr Luis De La Calle has been a flute student of the Bansuri Master Shashank Subramanyam (the most talented and famous artist in Carnatic music), Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardee, India.
Left: Dr Luis De La Calle with his Andean flute, quena, for this album Right: Bansuri Master Shashank Subramanyam who is teaching Dr Luis De La Calle Carnatic Indian flute playing at his home in Chennai, India
Dr Luis De La Calle visited in 2018 Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama, an autonomous body of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. In the academy, he met the Deputy Secretary, Publication who recommended Dr Bharat Bhushan (Consultant, Music) to Dr Luis De La Calle to help him with the Rainbow of Endless Love project. In 2019, Dr Luis De La Calle met Dr Bhushan who then introduced him to the Secretary of the National Academy who was enthusiastic about Dr Luis De La Calle’s work and eagerly supported his project. Under Dr Bharat’s guidance, Dr Luis went to Odisha in February 2019 to study the ragas and talas, and the asthapadis from the Gita Govinda with Pandit Gopal Chandra Panda, Sangeet Natak Akademi Awardee, India.
Pandit Gopal Chandra Panda instructing Dr De La Calle how to compose the music of the Gita Govinda by using its ragas, talas, and lyrics at his home in Orissa.
Likewise, for the realization of this album, Dr Luis De La Calle met and studied in Chennai with the Bansuri master in Carnatic music, Shashank Subramanyam. Both of these Indian artists have received the highest music award from Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s National Academy of Performing Arts. During Dr De La Calle’s research, he delivered the following lecture-performances - In February 2019 in Utkal Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, Odisha; In October 2019 at Sangeet Natak Akademi, National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama, an autonomous body of Ministry of Culture, Government of India; and again in October 2019 at the Faculty of Music, University of Delhi, India.
In the midst of a pandemic, multicultural melodies of love and hope inspired by the Gita Govinda
The entire production of Rainbow of Endless Love, from inception to completion, took place under complex conditions during the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, between March and May 2020. In honour of this, the artists dedicated the album with great empathy, to all the loved ones who were lost to Covid-19.
Rainbow of Endless Love was born from the instruction of His Holiness Jayapataka Swami (ACBSP) to Dr Luis De La Calle to compose the music not only from the Gita Govinda (written by Jayadeva Goswami) but also from the whole Vaishnava Padavali which has more than 300 poems written by the Vaishnava Acharyas. Dr Howard J. Resnick (His Holiness Hrdayananda das Goswami), who holds a PhD in Sanskrit and Indian Studies from Harvard University, was the artistic director of this album.
Rainbow of Endless Love presents 11 songs, including 8 musical compositions written by Dr Luis De La Calle inspired by the eight ashtapadis from the Gita Govinda (6 instrumentals and 2 sung in Spanish as requested by Sony Japan). The album represents a true mix of three music continents: Afro-Peruvian and Andean styles from Peru fused with European harmonies, as well as Indian ragas and talas from the Gita Govinda and its messages. The album also includes three famous Japanese songs carefully selected by Sony Music of Japan. These 11 songs are performed with the innovations of Dr De La Calle: the Andean Chromatic Pan Flutes and the De La Calle Quena FluteTM. Among the instruments that accompany the performance by Dr Luis De La Calle in this album, we have the acoustic guitar, cello, violin, drum set, double bass, as well as Latin-European instruments such as congas, bongos, charango (small guitar with 10 strings), tiple (a Caribbean guitar), and cajón.
The following eight musical compositions with their styles in “Rainbow of Endless Love” are inspired from the eight ashtapadis from the Gita Govinda; the following descriptions are summaries of these eight ashtapadis from Jayadeva Goswami: 1. Sadness of Radhika (Andean pasacalle): The moon rises brightly in the sky. Radha is lamenting Her delay in meeting Krishna. She ventilates Her grief to Her friend that if He is not here, how can She endure the sadness of separation? 2. Before the Date (Huayno): Krishna is now waiting for Radha in a cottage near beautiful bowers. Radha’s companions say to Her: “Please follow Him happily and please listen to His melodious flute, which entices everyone. Don't delay!” 3. Maid’s Desolation (Cueca): Radha's abode is now like a forest and She feels like a lone deer. She is chanting “My Krishna, oh! My Krishna” yearning for Him: She is desolate and desperately yearning for Him.
4. Showing My Love Deception (Panalivio): Radha expresses Her broken heart because Krishna was not with Her the other day: She always wishes Him the best in whichever circumstances He would feel happier. 5. Shyam’s Beauty (Huayno): Radha describes the beauty of Krishna: His black hair is decorated with peacock feathers beautifully; it is like a thick black cloud encircled by a colourful rainbow while He plays on His flute Mohana melodiously. 6. Qhari (Landó): Radha praises the bravery of Her beloved Krishna who fought and defeated enemy warriors. His face shines like the disc of the sun and His love drives away all sorrow and the tears of Radha, bringing all joy and peace. 7. Loneliness from Separation (Huayno): Shyama is overcome with grief due to separation from Radha who is suffering from the pangs of separation. She is restless due to the fever of love and is requesting Him not to turn His face away from Her. 8. Falling in Love in Spring (Festejo): It's springtime, and Radha is desperately looking for Krishna. Radha delicately describes the beauties of the spring season: fresh spring flowers like Jasmine inspire even the minds of shy women like Her.
Rainbow of Endless Love is truly a product of international collaboration with contributions from five different countries. The album was recorded between France, Geneva, and Tokyo. José Mendoza, a Latin Grammy (USA) winner, and sound engineer, completed the mixing and mastering in Spain. Prof. Jorge Grossmann, Professor of Composition and Orchestration, and Director of the contemporary orchestra at Ithaca College in New York, USA participated by appointing one of his colleagues, Emmanuel Berrido to collaborate with Dr Luis De La Calle in writing the musical arrangements.
Dr Luis De La Calle’s research in his doctoral dissertation helped him with the composition and performance of the Rainbow of Endless Love album which was recorded not only with the various Andean instruments but also by the De La Calle Quena Flute as the main instrument. His doctoral dissertation in music education was awarded by the University of Geneva, Switzerland, and it was an unprecedented contribution to the academic art community for investigating the music didactics of an ancient culture within a western context (research in music education and music performance). The conclusion of his dissertation, is, therefore, that tradition is not a museum object but a living reality with a historical construct in constant transformation.. This research was conducted under the direction of Prof. Isabelle Mili, Director of the University Institute for Teacher Training of the Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Geneva. Prof. Mili approved the research project that fructified in the Rainbow of Endless Love album.
A group of professional musicians from South America and Europe The musicians who accompany the solo flautist, Dr Luis De La Calle, offer a high level of musical performance and are internationally recognized. Among them are the guitarist Sergio Valdeos and the percussionist Cali Flores, who are considered among the best performers of Peruvian music in the world. Josefa Silva Ibarra and Jaime Caicompai lend their unique and moving voices to the album, while the talented Christian Goza (charango), Fernando Cleves (violin), Vladislava Kisselova (cello), Tomás Fernández (double bass), Julio D'Santiago (percussion), and Juan David Molano (piano) color it with their precious musical gifts. Each one of them performs regularly in different symphony orchestras and prestigious musical groups in Switzerland. This album is proving a global sensation, a product of Dr Luis De La Calle's comprehensive effort, leaving no stone unturned in taking a historical/mythological work into a musical album on the global stage. This kind of intelligence inspires others to come out of their shells and do exceptional work.
The adventure of the Rainbow of Endless Love album will continue in 2021 with the organization of solidarity concerts in Switzerland, the proceeds of which will be donated to the Luis De La Calle Foundation in USA and Peru and his association “Wings to Learn, Empowering Children” in Switzerland in order to support the education of underprivileged children in India. Dr Luis De La Calle is a Food for Life Global Ambassador, a nonprofit organization that works to provide an invaluable source of plant-based food for the hungry all across the world over 60 countries. Volunteers provide up to 2,000,000 free meals daily.
Dr. Luis De La Calle performing on his De Le Calle Flute with his group during the recording of the album Rainbow of Endless Love
The album is now available to listen to on all music platforms: https://smdr.lnk.to/XuBkLM A video from the album is now available on the Official Sony Music Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YY1apYi-Q0 More information about Dr Luis De La Calle: https://www.luisdelacalle.com/ Learn more about Wings to learn Empowering children: https://wingstolearn.org/
Dr Bharat Bhushan UGC’s Junior & Senior Research Fellowship holder & Consultant (Music), Sangeet Natak Akademi – India’s National Akademi of Music, Dance and Drama (An autonomous body of Ministry of Culture, Government of India). Assistant Professor (Music) in Department of Higher Education, Jammu and Kashmir, India