Living in Varanasi and learning the sitar

I loved living in Varanasi. The energy in that place is can be really intense at times, but it sure does grab hold of you. During my first month in Varanasi, I was staying at a guesthouse next to a temple and I would wake up to the sounds of bells ringing and people doing their morning prayers. I did not mind that at all. I would then go out and walk the crowded narrow streets of the Bengali Tola, trying to make my way through people, motorcycles, cows, dogs, monkeys and trash to get to one of my regular breakfast places. With a filled belly I would then be on my way to my daily lesson at the International Music Centre Ashram. After having my lesson I would head back to my room and struggle through another hour or so of practice to repeat what I had learned in class. As my body started to get more adapted to the instrument I gradually started to increase the amount of time put in to practicing. In the evening after my practice was done for the day, I would hang out with friends.

The first raag I was introduced to was raag Bhairav. Along side with raag Yaman(which was the secound raag I was introduced to), Bhairav is one of the most common raags for beginners to start learning. It is an early morning raag that is set to be played at around 5am. (Have a listen here).

Now I am sure some of you might be wondering what a "raag" is. Well, there doesn't seem to be any simple answer to that question. But I will try to explain it the best I can. In the north indian classical music there are no "songs" in the same way that we have "songs" in western music. Instead, there are raags. In north indian classical, they make use of ten diffrent scales known as "thaats". Raags are essentially derived from these thaats, and each thaat can have numerous diffrent raags belonging to it. Each raag has a certain fixed rules to it that determines how it is to be played. For example a certain raag might exclude some notes while ascending the scale, and allowing them when descending. There are also certain "catch phrases" that are essential to each raag.

Raags usually carry certain types of moods with them. For example, some raags when rendered properly may convey a romantic feeling. Others may inspire hope and some are claimed to even have certain healing properties such as curing headaches, relieving stress or even helping to deal with depression. Most raags will also be set to certain times. Some raags are seasonal, while others are to be played during certain times of the day.


Here is me after about a week or so of playing. There are quite a few mistakes here and there, but the point of this is to give you an idea of what you can expect to learn in a few days time.

Here are some non-music related pictures that I really like:

Hanging out at Bana Lassi, located close to the main ghat. To the left we have Jagan from Switzerland, he was staying in Varanasi during the same time period I was and was learning Kathak dance. He became a really good friend of mine. To the left we have Gilad from Israel trying to light a giant bidi.

I used to hang out quite alot at the resturant "Spicy Bites" during my first couple of months. This is a picture with me and Sanyay. Sanyay is an artist who specilaises in carving bamboo. He is as kind as he is skilled in his arts. If you are ever in the neighborhood I strongly suggest you take the time to have a chat with him!

Rooftop sunrise

That will be all for this post! I am planning to put together a complitation showing my learning curve up untill today, and I am currently writing a post about being dedicated to your instrument. So stay tuned for more ^^!

The painful road of beginning sitar

Getting myself into this, I had no idea of how painful and physically demanding learning this instrument would be. First of all, lets talk about the fingers. Going in to this I had been playing guitar for quite some years. Sure, I never really practiced the guitar seriously. But I still felt that I had some decent calluses on my fingers. Well, turns out I was wrong. To begin with, the strings of the sitar are pretty thick. Next of, you'll find that you are mainly playing all the melodies on just one string. So what does this mean? Well, doing this is kind of similiar to trying to cut your fingers open with a dull knife. After about 5-10 minutes of playing for the first time you'll start to feel the pain, and you might find yourself a little demoralized. But that is nothing to the day after, the day after and the ones to follow are the absolute worst. Sticking through it is key, and after a couple of weeks you'll find that you've got some serious calluses built up! This is when playing starts to get fun as you are no longer limited by pain.

                            

 

The sitar can be held in many diffrent ways. The most common one, which also is the one I use when playing looks (somewhat) like this:

This position allows the sitar to be balanced between your left foot and your right elbow, while leaning on your knee for support. With a proper posture you should be able to hold it up without the help of your left hand which makes it easier to play up and down the neck. It does however require alot of flexibility, which most people starting to play at adult age don't have.

As a kid I used to do alot of martial arts, and later in my teens I was doing some parkour. Thanks to that I am more felxibel than you're average Joe, and I could kind of get in to the sitting position right of the bat. Although, it did take me about four months before I could feel fully comfortable in it.

Practicing the sitar requires (at least in my opinion) an hour a day, but preferably more. After spending several hour in this position everyday you will start to feel som serious pain in your legs. Putting the sitar aside to stretch your legs, or maybe even a five minute break every once in a while to walk around does help out alot. But there will nonetheless be pain. This is something I've had to struggle alot with and it wasn't until just recently, after about 8-9 months of playing, that my leg pain has gone away.

In my last post I did promise that my next post would be about everyday life in Varanasi and playing the sitar. I am currently writing it and it will probably be up in a few days or so. Stay tuned!

My musical journey begins!

While doing some research before embarking on my musical mission, I had learned that Varanasi was the place to be for the up and coming sitar-pandit/ustad*. So I made my way to the holy city and ended up staying at "Stops hostel".

It was a a great hostel and the social atmosphere was just what I needed at that particular time. Making friends had never been easier! Anyway, the staff would usually organize some kind of activity every evening and a couple of days after arriving there was a music concert being held at a place called "International Music Centre Ashram". The hostel had managed to get a group discount on the tickets and so they made that concert into the event of the evening. I had read about the International Music Centre Ashram during the time I was doing my research and it was supposedly a good place to begin learning, so it only seemed fitting that I would join in.

Before the concert started I had been strolling around along the narrow streets of the Old city area and walked along the ghats of the ganga with two of my new made friends. As the clock started to get close to show-time we started to make our way to the ashram, and arrived a bit late due to the tricky-to-navigate narrow streets that all seem to look the same. Upon entering, the show had already started, and for me it felt like entering another world. It was a fairly small room, and the lights where dim and pointed towards the stage where two musicians where sitting cross legged next to each other. The one to the right was Sandip Rao Kewale, a crazy good tabla player, and the one to the left was Siddharta Banerjee, a virtuous siddha veena* player. The audience was sitting in silence on the floor infront of them and the atmosphere was intense. We made our way to an empty spot at the corner of the room and sat down, and for the next hour I was just drowning in that sweet enchanting sound that is Indian classical music. I was now convinced that learning how to play like that was something I just had to do.
When the concert came to an end, Sandip (who is the school-owners son) informed the audience that they hold concerts like this every wednesday and saturdayand that they provide lessons in classical music for those interested. After a small chat with him I had now finally booked my very first lesson!

Two days later I made my way back to the ashram and waited in excitement for my teacher to arrive, and I must say that I was really surprised when I first layed my eyes on him. He looked so young! There I was expecting some old sitar guru with a huge beard to walk in the door, but instead there stood this clean shaved young looking fellow with his motorcycle helmet under his arms. His name was Hardik Verma, and I soon found out that he was a 24 year old student doing his masters on sitar at the BHU (Benares Hindu University). And what he lacked in age, he sure made up in skill!
We sat down on the same stage where Sandeep and Siddharta had played their concert a couple of days ago and Hardik started to tune up a sitar for me to use during the lesson. It was a beautiful instrument, and I fell in love with it at first glance. I asked him if it was his, but it wasn't. It belonged to the school and would soon belong to me. I got a pretty good deal on it. For those of you who want to know what it cost, I payed 16.000 INR (about 240 usd) for the sitar and a hardcase to go along with it.
Anyway, the lesson went on and I was happy with my new teacher. He would be the one teaching me during the rest of my first stay there in Varanasi.

Shortly after beginning my lessons, I felt I had to move out of the hostel. Hostel life can be fun no doubt, but when it comes to staying long term and learning an instrument, a bunk bed just won't do it. I had to find a place with my own space where I could focus on my sitar studies in peace and quite. And what more was that the hostel was located quite far from my music school.
One evening while attending another concert I met a guy who would soon become a really good friend. He told me that he was staying at a guesthouse that happend to be located really close to the music school. And if that wasn't enough, their rates for private rooms was at about half the price of a bunk bed at my hostel(!). So the very next day I moved there, and with that my musical quest was officially on!

A first on my look my new companion 

The holy city, my new home for the months ahead

That will be all for now. In my next post I will go more in depth into what my everyday life looked like and I will also try my best to explain some music theory. I might also include a short video clip of me playing after barely a week of practice.

See ya!


*When a musician has mastered his or her instrument and gained a respectful reputation within the musical community, he or she will be "awarded" the title of pandit (for hindus) or ustad (for muslims).

*The siddha veena is a very unique instrument deigned by Siddharta Banerjee him self to suit his own playing style. In short you could say that it is a modified guitar played with finger-picks and a slide. It is very reminiscent of another instrument used in north indian classical music called "Mohan veena". Check out this link to get an idea: https://youtu.be/3lL6kv4yBZk

Hello world

Hey!

I am Joe, and I welcome you to my blog. At this point I am not really sure if this will be something I'll share publicly. But if you are reading this then I guess I did make it official.

At this moment of writing I am temporarily situated in my home country, Sweden. I am  currently planning for my next trip to India where I will continue to pursue my goal of learning the Sitar. And the main purpose of this blog is to document my progress and share it. It will however, on some occasions, also be used as a simple diary where I will write about general events throughout my travels.

This blog will for the most part be aimed at you who wish to know more about north indian classical music and the process of travelling to India as a westerner to study an indian instrument. But may also be suited for anyone who might just happen to be curious about travelling in general.

A little bit about me:
"I'm just average, common too. I'm just like him, the same as you. I'm everybodys brother and soon, I ain't diffrent than anyone."
Those of you who got the reference might already be halfway to figuring out that I am a huge Dylan fan. I got into music in my late teens, and Dylan has always been one of my biggest inspirational sources in music as well as in life. I bought my first guitar in 2011, the  same day before I was about to see him perform live for the first time in my life. By that time I had been playing the harmonica for about a year. And the first melody I learned to play on that sweet old harp (and probably the only one I still remember) was his classic "Blowin' in the wind".

I know that this will sound like a cliché, but getting into playing music really changed my life and it played a big part in making me who I am today. Not that there is anything overly spectacular about the person I am. I really am avarage, common too. And just like most people in my age I am trying to figure out my place in this world. At this time of writing, I am free from any big "dreams" and "ambitions". I have no idea where I will be in 5 years, let alone a single year or even 6 months from now. All I know is that right now one of my biggest interests is the sitar, and that learning how to play it is what I want to spend most of my energy on.

Why the sitar? one might ask. Well.. I am not really sure my self. But ever since I first heard the sound of this beautiful instrument it just stuck with me.
Playing it makes me feel good and relaxed. And I may not know alot about life or the purpose of living. But if there is anything I am absolutely sure of, it is that choosing to live in conditions that systematically makes you stressed out and leaves you feeling like shit is a waste of life.

That will be all for now. My upcoming posts will be a two or three -part summary of my last trip going to India and embarking on this musical quest that I am currently taking on.

See ya!