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Shifting scales

Musical Peter Lavezzoli

Peter Lavezzoli, who is both a pop singer and a student of Dhrupad and tabla, grew up during the heady years when Ravi Shankar, the Hare Krishna mantra, LSD-fuelled trances, yoga and meditation were being assimilated in the popular imagination with r ock and pop music as if they were all part of a package trip to a New World Order, anchored in an anti-war movement. His book, “Bhairavi — The Global Impact of Indian Music” (Harper Collins) was recently released at the Ravi Shankar Institute for Music and Performing Arts (RIMPA) in the presence of the maestro.

Lavezzoli points out that musicians like Harrison and John Coltrane were attracted to Indian music not merely for its technique and melody but also for its spiritual ethos. “Those two especially had a deep spiritual attraction to India, and this is what motivated them to learn more about India,” he notes. “Their use of Indian music allowed them to expose millions to Indian spirituality through music.” Before this revolution, says Lavezzoli, “Hinduism, yoga, Buddhism, vegetarian practices — were only known in the West at a very elite level: artists, writers, intellectuals — a small percentage of people were aware of them.”

When popular musicians introduced such concepts, even if simplistically (remember Harrison chanting “Hare Krishna” in his 1970 chartbuster “My Sweet Lord”?), Lavezzoli says, they brought them into the popular consciousness. “To the point that,” he continues, “now, the practice of Hinduism, Buddhism, yoga, vegetarianism and even meditation is very mainstream in the West.” On the reach of music, Lavezzoli, who has also authored “The King of all, Sir Duke: Ellington and The Artistic Revolution”, says, “People hear the sound and feel something on an intuitive level. He concludes, “When I talk about the global impact it comes down to the spiritual impact which we see was an all-persuasive impact. Our culture — American culture has changed.”

Besides music, adds Lavezzoli, the area “where India has had a profound impact on the West” is Mahatma Gandhi’s concept of satyagraha.

Meanwhile, there is the “overwhelming victory” of Slumdog… and Rahman. Lavezzoli says, “Now people are intrigued by Bollywood. I think we are seeing a western fascination with Indian film music that the West had for classical music in the ’60s.”

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