Sublime Sangeet: Experiencing North Indian Classical Music and Culture

This session is co-presented by the Schulich School of Music at McGill University

The Beatles and sitar maestro Ravi Shankar were the ambassadors of North Indian classical music to the Western world. While many have heard examples of Indian classical music and appreciate its great beauty, most are left with questions regarding what is going on. North Indian classical music is a subtle and refined art form, based on a rich tradition of improvisation. With the goal of better understanding and appreciating this extraordinary music, we will discuss the concepts of raga (melody), tala (rhythm), and rasa (mood); the instruments of the Indian music tradition, such as the sitar, tabla, bansuri, santoor, and the voice; and Indian culture as it applies to music, such as the guru-shishya-parampara (teacher-disciple-tradition) method of learning, and philosophical or spiritual aspects associated with the practice and listening of this music. The session will include live demonstration as well as audio and video, and audience participation.


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Facilitator
Shawn Mativetsky is a versatile percussionist who performs in a variety of musical genres with dynamism and skill. Equally at home in Indian classical music, world music, and contemporary/new music, Mativetsky also composes and performs for dance and theatre. Exponent of the Benares gharana, and disciple of the legendary Pandit Sharda Sahai, Shawn Mativetsky is a highly sought-after tabla performer and educator. He is active in the promotion of the tabla and North Indian classical music through lectures, workshops, and performances across Canada and internationally. Based in Montreal, Mativetsky teaches tabla and percussion at McGill University, and is director of the McGill Tabla Ensemble. His solo CD, Payton MacDonald: Works for Tabla, was released in 2007, and Cycles, his new CD of Canadian compositions for tabla was released in the fall of 2011.

As a practitioner of Indian classical music, Shawn Mativetsky regularly gives solo tabla performances, as well as accompanying kathak dance, voice, bansuri, sarod, santoor, sarangi, and sitar artists. Since 2003, Shawn has been affiliated with the Pandit Ram Sahai Foundation (UK/India). In the summers of 2006 and 2008, he hosted tabla maestro Pandit Sharda Sahai’s annual summer tabla workshop, and since 2011 is continuing the tradition with his own series of summer tabla workshops at McGill University