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Topic: Debashish Bhattacharya |
Tim Tweedale
From:
Vancouver, B.C., Canada
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Posted 25 Jun 2003 5:40 pm |
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Just thought I'd resurrect the thread on Indian slide guitarists to mention that Debashish Bhattacharya's self-titled album contains by far the best slide guitar I have ever heard. The album contains two ragas and a short piece.
The speed, precision, intonation, and polyrhythmic sensibility that defines his playing is on another level completely. I have had the good fortune to see him live three times too. Every steel player should hear Bhattacharya. You will not be able to find it in your record store; I believe you have to order it from India, but you will be glad you did!
-Tim |
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Steinar Gregertsen
From:
Arendal, Norway, R.I.P.
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Russ Young
From:
Seattle, Washington, USA
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Posted 25 Jun 2003 9:03 pm
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| You can hear a little about Bhattacharya and Brozman's recent collaborative project on Public Radio International's "The World." [This message was edited by Russ Young on 25 June 2003 at 10:04 PM.] |
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Jesse Pearson
From:
San Diego , CA
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Posted 26 Jun 2003 6:33 am
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Thanks for that link Russ, that was cool. 
I feel it's pretty easy to play Indian style on steel and a nice side road to venture down once in awhile. |
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David Mason
From:
Cambridge, MD, USA
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Posted 27 Jun 2003 1:14 am
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| "Easy?" The Indians divide the octave into 22 notes, and within that there are 64 subdivisions. The rhythms are basically impossible to play if you haven't started learning by the age of 10 or so. I remember from Ravi Shankar's autobiography that he practiced under his teacher for 10 to 12 hours a day for seven years before he was allowed out in public. |
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Jesse Pearson
From:
San Diego , CA
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Posted 27 Jun 2003 6:06 am
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Yea, easy as pie. Listen to an Indian movie's musical score and grab the repeating figures for your theme and go from there. I like Indian violin players, they don't interrupt the flow of their notes much or lift their fingers up much. "What need have I for this, what need have I for that, all is bliss, all is bliss, slide slide slide etc". The Mixolydian mode gives a great Indian sound bite if you know how to run the notes. Indian division of notes is involved, but I don't have to go there to get a good Indian sound. You can sound real Indian on a regular Spanish guitar or non pedal steel. I mean, if you want to get deep into it, walk in to the packed room that you are going to perform in and sense the collective vibration of the audience, that will tell you what Raga to use. Got that, yea right!  [This message was edited by Jesse Pearson on 27 June 2003 at 07:23 AM.] |
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