Friday, November 13, 2009

Lori Cotler, solkattu

[Thanks to Neeraj]
"Konnakol (also spelled konokol) (Tamil: கொன்னக்கோல்) is the Carnatic music - South Indian classical - performance art of vocal percussion. It is also a comprehensive language of rhythm which allows the composition, performance or communication of rhythms in any style or tradition of music from anywhere in the world."

3 comments:

SAF Spanker said...

If she started something like that in the middle of the night, I'd have to spank her.

And so her percussion would be slightly higher pitched...

Anonymous said...

One of the most known konokol singers is Sheila CHANDRA. Her powerful, crystal clear voice makes her singing a deeply magical experience. Try listening to her albums like "Roots And Wings", "Weaving My Ancestors' Voices" or others for examples of konokol (sometimes she names her konokol songs "Speaking In Tongues")...

neeraj said...

Thanks for reminding me on Sheila Chandra. A really beautiful voice. On youtube I've found e.g. "Speaking in tongues IV" (from "The Zen Kiss") - www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4iXAB5jrBI. It seems to me a bit "modernized Konokol", with some electronic effects. But I like it more when she sings more classical, e.g. singing Bhajans (e.g. www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnC8UaBp9RQ).

Maybe that's personal, but since many years classical Indian music is a door for me, opening into meditation. Especially Northindian music: Hariprasad Chaurasia, Shivkumar Sharma (and his master disciple Nandu Muley, a friend of mine), Alla Rakha and his son Zakir Hussain, of course Ravi Shankar ...

As an amazing experience I have met all of them on a festival of Northindian music in Cologne around the mid-eighties - I felt like being in the silent center of a cyclone. Funny, I remember now that I have given then a lift to a recording studio for Hariji and Zakir in my old VW van, to make one of the first records on CD, and Zakir started to drum in my van (just by tapping at different places of the van with different sounds) to a soundtrack of Andreas Vollenweider running from a tape, exclaiming excitedly "Who's that guy?"


"Music can make you aware of the gaps between: Silence - more beautifully than anything else. Hence I say: Authentic music comes next to silence."
Osho


Namaste