The pitch is set to G sharp. The hum of tambura fills the air. The “Sa…Pa…Sa” tells you that a Carnatic music class is in progress. The earthy, deep-throated voice of Bhuvana Subramanian renders the swaras and it is closely followed by an operatic, high-pitched voice. The diction is different. The ‘Ri’s and ‘Sa’s sound stretched out and softer. That’s because Melodie Michel, a French musician is singing them. She has come all the way to Coimbatore to learn about Carnatic music.
The bassoon player is touring the world to learn about different forms of traditional music. She found herself knocking on the doors of Bhuvana Subramanian, a Carnatic music teacher. Says Bhuvana, “When she said she wanted to learn music, I could not say no.”
Melodie wakes up each morning to the smell of vibhoothi and shlokas. She lives as a part of the family and Bhuvana teaches her music whenever she gets the time. And in return, Melodie plays compositions of Bach and Italian lullabies on her bassoon for them.
The teacher and the student have shared not just music but their cultures as well. Bhuvana is fascinated by the ancient wind instrument. And Melodie is in awe of the way Bhuvana takes skype classes for her students living abroad. “We never do this in the West,” she exclaims. And she loves the Tamil recipes. She has learnt to enjoy rice, morukuzhambu and thayir saadham . “The South Indian food is as structured and varied as its music,” she says.
Once the Carnatic session is over, Bhuvana asks her to play the bassoon. Melodie picks up the heavy wind instrument and plays a folk tune. The deep, bass notes sound almost funny. “We call it a funny instrument. One needs a sense of humour to play this. We look like fish each time we try to catch some air in the middle of a performance!” But, the mood shifts when Melodie plays a Bach piece on the bassoon. It is moving and melodic.
She teaches baroque bassoon in the Polytechnic School of Arts in Porto in Portugal and has played modern and baroque bassoon in many orchestras in Europe. When the rest of her friends learnt piano and violin, Melodie found her love in bassoon, which did not get its due place in concert halls in the West. “In Europe, every child, who is gifted with music, is asked to learn either piano or violin. I too had to learn piano.” But the heterogeneous culture of France offered her varied music experiences. “I used to listen to Nusrat Fateh Ali khan, Sufi music and Albanian music. People used to think I was weird.”
In Europe, the Western music is highly homogenised, she says. “There is a predominance of modern Western music. Many of us do not know ancient music of our land, and I think it is a shame. All the compositions of early European music are not written down like the modern Western music. And, I feel that restricts an artist.”
That’s what made her take up this global music expedition. “In Europe, young musicians want to learn more about the traditional forms of music in other countries. For instance, Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, the Swiss school where I studied, focuses on early music.”
Since August, Melodie has been on the move. She has travelled to Iran, Bulgaria, Uzbekistan and Italy. “The experience was different in each country. I attended a festival called Notte Della Taranta in Italy. It means the night of madness. Lakhs of people turn up for this festival. It is all about going back to one’s roots. A lot of medieval and folk musicians perform here.”In Iran, she was introduced to Persian music. She stayed with her friend, who is a pianist. “Persian music is way different from Western and Indian music. The melodies are not metric. The notes keep fluctuating, rising up and down,” she explains.
Different people have different notions of ancient and that is funny, she says. “In Tashkent, I was travelling in a cab to a concert. The driver was playing loud disco music of the 80s. He was telling me it is ‘really old music’. And here I was, on my way to give a performance on music from the 12th century!” Music has gifted her friends from all over the world. “In Schola Cantorum, there were very few Swiss people. The majority came from different parts of the world. So I thought if I visited each of them, then I would cover all the continents.” The tour will finish in August 2016. Melodie wants her last destination to be Iceland. There, she says she will play the bassoon all alone, with nothing but snow for company. “Just me and my bassoon, and a rush of icy air… That’s how I want to end this trip.”
(Melodie will perform in the city on December 21. To know more about her, follow her on >https://www.facebook.com/melodiearoundtheworld or email >http://melodiearoundtheworld.com/ )
