Interestingly enough I can’t do accents or impressions either, or tell slight differences in accents apart. I guess listening is an actual talent.
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Another data point: I find the harmonium (pumped reed organ) extremely grating. It’s an equal-tempered western instrument sorta hacked into service as an approximately just-tempered accompaniment instrument in semi-classical and pop Indian music.
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Classical purists hate it and will only use a just-tempered instrument like the tanpura for accompaniment (these things are used as scale-setting drones) but I don’t have the refined ear to have such subtle preferences. Yet I dislike the harmonium at a visceral level.
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The only genre in which I can tolerate it is qawalli where it adds a weird rough edge
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Hmm. Duffy (begging you for mercy), some Adele, some Maroon 5, Dance Monkey (dance for me) seemed to hook me in a vaguely “raga” way.
Oddly enough no conscious fusion attempts like George Harrison’s or John McLaughlin seems to hook me at all. I find that stuff dull.
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Replying to @vgr
are there examples of such songs that come to mind?
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What I was listening to today is this. I suspect most westerners wouldn’t like it at all.
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Oddly enough I don’t really like jazz either though it’s often compared to raga. But besides the improv and call-and-response aspect, it’s actually quite different.
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And I now think improv vs composed is a relatively surface level aspect of music. I like a lot of semi-classical Indian music genres (ghazal, qawalli, kirtan) which is raga style but composed rather than improv.
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Heh the dominant tempo of raga music is very slow/slow/medium but it’s an acquired taste. Only the last 10-15% of a piece *might* go hard allegro and maybe allow the tabla or mridangam a solo riff.
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i know nothing about the tabala but HOLY this goes hard especially in the last 5 minutes or so
music.youtube.com/watch?v=059QnV
(thx @vgr)
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Replying to
goes back to your why-did-this-cross-over question earlier. the buildup to a wild, frenetic ending feels familiar to my unfamiliar ears... so again, the appeal comes from the most genre-atypical elements
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It’s not atypical so much as broad appeal… snobs tend to look down on such stunt performances a bit
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Haha, well Zakir solos are for you then. His father Allarakha Khan was Ravishankar’s accompanist. Zakir is capable of high-level sedate accompaniment too (equally difficult but in a different way). He’s 71 and slowing down now though. His 80s/90s performances were fiery.
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