Indian music is really great fun stuff in the first place, with fast and intricate drumming, often fast and intricate singing/chanting, interesting time signatures and lightning fast out-of-the-blue changes. Dances that follow that music and make it look as easy and natural as a waltz... wow. :)

(Though I do wish live musicians had been there too, rather than a recording... with all of it together it would have been just too cool to cope with.)

The second part of the performance was "Tara, the Wish for Peace" -- a hybrid Hindu/Buddhist performance in four parts. There were moments in the music that contrasted the two religions more than integrating them, and I don't think I liked that aspect of it as much. But then, the fast-and-furious slow-and-ponderous fast-and-furious contrast is something I've caught myself making into a formula in my music and so I'm maybe overly conscious of it now.

During that part of the performance, and to some extent in the earlier dances for/about various Hindu gods, I was thinking: they do in dance what I do with music.

Without the program book I would still have recognized Ganesha (from costume) and Tara (from pose and context). But I wouldn't have recognized Krishna, Shiva, or Parvati, nor the other dance for Ganesha, though I do have at least a vague clue about each of those. With the book though, the dances really did seem to fit appropriately and make sense.

So I settled some of my worry that my songs don't all scream the names of the gods they're about. :) The only concern is if I wind up with a song that isn't at all reminiscent of its supposed subject.

Posted 08:14 PM CST [Link] [Archives] [Index]