When one thinks of Lexington, MA and music, the sound of Colonial style fife and drum is easily and immediately remembered – along with images of revolutionary history and the annual April reenactment on the Battle Green. For modern listeners, Lexington luminaries including jazz musician Alan Dawson, singer/songwriter Amanda Palmer, and the Lexington Symphony might also come to mind. However over the last ten years, and in ever widening circles those Lexington musical associations have expanded to include the masterful classical music of India – represented by instruments including sitar, tabla, bansuri, and mridangam, and master musicians like Kaushiki Chakraborty, Pandit Rajan-Sajan Misra, and Ustad Shahid Parvez among others. These maestros and instruments are now frequently heard and celebrated in Lexington thanks to the passion, dedication and hard work of Rajesh Godbole and his world-class, Lexington based, grassroots organization, Shadaj. Upon first consideration the “birthplace of American Liberty” might seem to be a surprising location to hear the best of India’s musicians in concert, but there is actually a long history of the music of India in America. And while Emerson and Thoreau were reading the philosophers of India long before recorded music was widely available, many native New Englanders were first introduced to the tonality of the music of India through the Rock and Roll of the 1960s. The Rolling Stones, the Beatles and the use of Indian instruments on songs like “Paint it Black” and “Norwegian Wood” awakened a whole new musical experience to listeners in the west. While that introduction was brief and contained within the limits of rock song settings, the tone of the Indian instruments was arresting and unforgettable. The sound of the sitar acted as a doorway to a new, yet somehow familiar feeling of encountering a large, warm, vital and welcoming soundscape of mystery and depth.
Many can credit John Lennon and George Harrision for an introduction to the music of India, and perhaps some misrepresentation regarding the mysticism attached to it. And many stopped making cultural and consciousness connections with those hit songs and records. For curious others, Lennon’s interests led to an exploration of Transcendental Meditation, yoga, and mindfulness; and Harrision was the doorway to his eventual sitar teacher, Ravi Shankar. Shankar did a great service to the West on his The Sounds of India album by starting the record with a concise explanation of the structure of the music. He ends his audio tutorial by saying, “The Western listener will appreciate and enjoy our music more if he listens with an open and relaxed mind, without expecting to hear harmony, counterpoint, or other elements prominent in Western music. Neither should our music be thought of as akin to Jazz – despite the improvisation and exciting rhythms present in both kinds of music.”
Although Shankar encouraged differentiation with jazz, the genre’s jazz musicians were paying close attention and incorporating eastern approaches in jazz sound aesthetics. From John and Alice Coltrane, to Don Cherry and Pharoah Sanders to many, many others, India’s musical understanding was a portal to a new pallet of musical expression. Perhaps no western musician did a better job than virtuoso guitarist John McLaughlin who created an East-West fusion of musical and technical mastery with his Mahavishnu Orchestra. McLaughlin collaborated with musicians including the late percussion master Zakir Hussain, L. Shankar, and T. H. “Vikku” Vinayakram with their Shakti band, tours, and recordings.
My personal story with India and its wide range of influence on my life continues and is lengthy, lovely and multifaceted…and perhaps best left for a different article, but all of it put me in a perfect place of preparation to saying yes to collaboration with Rajesh Godbole 10 years ago.
As a long-standing and self-supporting program of the Lexington Public Schools, Lexington Community Education curates and creates life-long learning opportunities for people of all ages. In addition to our classes for adults and children, LCE hosts musical concerts almost every term. We have had a wide range of representation in musical genres featured, with outstanding performances by many of today’s best musicians – but many of the most memorable and magical have been our co-supporting experience with Shadaj. We have helped fill the seats in sold out Shadaj concerts at Cary Hall, Follen Church, and the Scottish Rite Museum auditorium on many occasions. Attending a Shadaj concert with maestros including Ustad Shahid Parvev and Kaushiki Chakraborty is the equivalent of attending a concert featuring western music masters on the level of a Pablo Casals, John Coltrane, Mitsuko Uchida, or Ella Fitzgerald, all right here in Lexington, MA.
And while he tends to stay behind the scenes and let the music take the center stage it would be wrong to not highlight the reason for the existence and success of Shadaj. The vision, inspiration, and motivation for ten-years of world class music here in Lexington is embodied in the mind, heart, hands and feet of Lexington resident, Rajesh Godbole. The classical music of India is his passion. I have never met someone as knowledgeable about Indian Classical music, or so well respected. Music needs musicians; musicians need listeners; listeners need venues; and venues need promoters and patrons. Rajesh Godbole is a recognized great patron, promoter, scholar and friend to this music. It is his hard work and heart-work that has made Lexington a new center space and destination place for the greatest Indian musicians.
Beyond our concert collaboration, LCE (along with our larger Lexington Public School family) and Shadaj are embarking on a new branch of musical education and are working to introduce instruments of India to students in the Lexington Public Schools. It’s an exciting program that hopes to help pass the baton of appreciation and participation to future generations. One of LCE’s favorite non-musical guest speakers was the late great poet Robert Bly who came to Lexington twice to give poetry readings for our program. On one such occasion he read with sitarist David Whetstone alongside to accompany his Kabir, Ghalib and Mirabai poetic versions. At one point in the reading Bly encouraged us to attentively listen to the sitar player and to hear in the music a message from a loved one, or a therapist, or a god. He said that he loved the instrumental music of the sitar most of all because the music carried nothing but the truth.
Mystical, mathematical, intricate, virtuosic, emotive, transformative, complex, colorful, educational – any and all descriptors used to describe the listener’s experience of Indian Classical music are true. Being a believer in the educational and community connecting power of music, and as a beneficiary of the music of India for most of my life, I am proud of Lexington Community Education’s ten year history of supporting the work of Shadaj. Congratulations to Shadaj on ten years! And congratulations to Lexington, MA for once again becoming a revolutionary town, blending traditions and cultivating a strong and intelligent community through the appreciation of the very best in Indian classical music.
Craig Hall, Director
