Indian Music

He isn't Jimi Hendrix. But Grammy Award winner Vishwa Mohan Bhatt's creative use of a guitar has added a new twist to classical Indian music. Bhatt and Sukhvinder Singh performed live Tuesday at Houston Hall for students interested in world music and cultures. The event was sponsored by the department of South Asia Regional Studies. Bhatt began by demonstrating a "rag," which is an improvisational piece with seven notes played in an ascending and descending order, he explained. "There are certain steps in each performance," Bhatt said. "The first part is an instrumental solo." In the second part, which is called jor, the pace of the music quickens, Bhatt said. At this point in the performance, Singh played the tabla, or two small drums. "Ninety-five percent of the performance is based on improvisation," Bhatt said. "If we play the same rag tomorrow, it will be different from what we played [today]." Each rag has its own particular mood, he added. Some rags are meant to be played in the evening, while others are intended for the afternoon, or morning. Bhatt said he departs from the traditional way in which classical Indian music is performed by using a guitar as opposed to Indian instruments. The guitar is modified to include four main melody strings, five drone strings and 10 sympathetic resonating strings, which make the notes echo, explained Indian music lecturer Allyn Miner, who spoke at the event. Throughout the performance, Bhatt slid a steel rod across the strings in order to achieve a wavering effect with the sound. "It's an important type of world music," Miner said. "To have it here at Penn is a big opportunity and to have people of this standard [come] is a real treat." Bhatt's album, A Meeting By The River, is a collaboration with bottle-neck blues guitar player Ry Cooder. It won Best Album at this year's Grammy awards. Professor Marina Roseman said she had her "World Music and Cultures" class attend the performance. "There is nothing like the students having a chance to hear the music live, to be able to ask questions, to have the music explained by people who play it," Roseman said. Many members of the audience said they enjoyed the performance. "For me it's the first Indian performance I've ever heard," said College freshman Jessica Schruck. "I loved it."