courtesy Melharmony Music
A person and an Indian musical instrument.
Indian master Chitravina N Ravikiran is appearing in Madison.
What would have happened if German Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach had met his 18th century Indian classical counterpart, Ootukkadu Venkata Kavi (OVK), on the concert stage? The pair just may have laid the groundwork for a contemporary musical movement known as melharmony.
To get a sense of what that early superduo might have produced, plan to attend the OVK-Bach Festival 2019, sponsored by the Melharmony Foundation. The event takes place Nov. 9-10 at various west side Madison and Middleton locations. For two days, Indian musical superstars join Western artists and high school musicians in exploring the curious musical blend of Eastern melodies and Western harmonies.
“The concept of harmony is not inherent to Indian music in general,” says Vanitha Suresh, a native of Chennai, India, and director of the Dane County-based foundation. “The melodies are provided by Indian Carnatic music, while the harmonies are all Bach.”
As a musical style, melharmony explores chords and counterpoints based on melodic progressions in Indian music, an approach that contrasts with the conventional Western music that’s based on harmonic progressions. Melharmony creates a classically structured synthesis of new chords and harmonies anchored in the aesthetics of the evolved melodic structures, with principles that can be applied to any 12-tone musical system, Suresh says.
For fans of Indian music, two contemporary superstars will anchor the proceedings. Composer Chitravina N. Ravikiran, virtuoso of the 12-string slide, is credited with inventing melharmony. The prolific composer has worked with Taj Mahal and Paul Simon, as well as various orchestras in the U.S. and Europe.
Mike Anthony
Lakshminarayana Shankar
Former child prodigy Lakshminarayana Shankar is master of the 10-string stereophonic double violin, an instrument of his own design. He has worked with everyone from George Harrison to Bruce Springsteen to Frank Zappa. Both musicians will perform in collaboration with the Wisconsin Melharmonic Orchestra.
Before that, however, a variety of Indian musicians will join music teacher Ben Jaeger and his James Madison Memorial High School Wind Chamber ensemble to explore melharmony, incorporating the music of Venkata Kavi and Bach. The day-long series of solo and ensemble performances will run Nov. 9, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in Memorial High School’s Theater 300.
On Nov. 10, the entire event moves to the Middleton Performing Arts Center. An operatic dance performance, “The Almighty Trinity,” created by Ravikiran, opens the festivities at 9:30 a.m., followed by a 2 p.m. Melharmonic Orchestra performance that features Ravikiran and Shankar.
“We talk of the U.S. as a cultural melting pot,” says Suresh, “and these events can bring various groups of people together in musically and culturally important ways.”
