Music Review: Asad Qizilbash - Sarod Recital/Live In Peshawar

It's always with a certain amount of trepidation that I take on the task of reviewing anything from a culture other than my own. Much of what I take for granted when it comes to the creative process is wedded to my cultural background, meaning I lack the context to place something in outside of those circumstances. For all I know, the indicators I'm used to looking for to recognize the emotions expressed by a composer are different in another culture's music than what I've come to expect from my own.

In the past few years I've been fortunate enough to have some exposure to the culture and philosophy of the Indian subcontinent. It has become increasingly obvious to me that trying to understand some of the basic differences between the two cultures is a task sufficiently large to keep me occupied for the rest of this life, and maybe even the next one or two lifetimes as well. So when I do attempt to review something like Asad Qizilbash's Sarod Recital/Live In Peshawar (Sub Rosa), the first thing I try and do is find out as much as I can about the music and the instrument the performer is playing.

Thankfully Asad Qizilbash has made a career out of performing his music not only at home in Pakistan, but around the world in an attempt to establish bridges between musical traditions. His website is a valuable resource for anybody wishing to learn about him and his music. One of the first things he makes clear is a key difference between our society and his: Indian culture, he says doesn't divorce spirituality from everyday life, so there is a spiritual dimension in all artistic creation. As music, at least traditional classical music, is regarded as a reflection of the divine spirit, the musicians role is often spoken of in terms of a sadhana, or spiritual quest.

Rāga is a melodic concept within Indian classical music based upon a scale of five or more notes organized in both ascending (aaroha) and descending (avroha) directions with two notes (vadi and samavadi) acting as the "destination" in either direction toward which the rāga flows. This framework allows for endless variation, as the musician creates an improvisation around the basic scale and pattern movements. According to Asad, the life one lives becomes the essence of the rāgas one sings or plays, which is why a musician must have an amazing sense of self in order to carry out their sadhana. Like any artist, the musician will draw upon personal resources for their inspiration, but unlike most art in the West one of those elements is the artist's awareness of his or her connection with the divine. While its true that a great deal of Western classical music has been composed as an expression of an artist's adoration of God - think of Beethoven's "Ode To Joy" in his Symphony No. 9 - this only emphasizes how we compartmentalize spirituality and keep it separate from our day-to-day existence by not expressing anything else about the composer.

Article Author: Richard Marcus

Richard Marcus is the author of the recently published What Will Happen In Eragon IV? and has had his work published in print and on line all over the world. The not so long-haired Canadian iconoclast writes reviews and opines on the world as he sees …

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