Indian music gets a world-class museum, with IME Bengaluru set to open by end of 2017

This Just In From Seattle Music History!!! IME Bengaluru set to open by end of 2017 LivingNeha KirpalSep, 10 2017 12:14:45 IST

Imagine a repository of everything about Indian music under a single roof. For music lovers, this may no longer be a mere dream, as the country’s first-of-its kind music museum is slated to open in Bengaluru by the end of 2017. An initiative of the Indian Music Trust and supported by the Brigade Group, the Centre for Indian Music Experience (IME) has been modelled on the lines of Seattle’s Experience Music Project, which was founded by Microsoft’s Paul Allen. Dr Suma Sudhindra, director — Outreach, told Firstpost about the project, “The IME is going to be a landmark centre which will change the way Indians look at museums.” Built on a plot of about one hectare in south Bengaluru’s Brigade Millennium Enclave, its state-of-the-art four-storey building consists of eight thematic galleries showcasing various facets of Indian music, an instruments' gallery with 250 musical instruments, and several computer-based interactive installations that allow visitors to experience the process of music-making. With interactive multimedia galleries, performance venues and learning spaces, the centre will be dedicated to exploring India’s cultural nuances through its music — everything from classical to folk, regional and Bollywood. Project director Manasi Prasad told Firstpost, "Visitors can look forward to hours and days of discovering different genres of music, understanding the stories behind the songs, and making music themselves.” The proposed IME building The proposed IME building Gallagher and Associates, which helped create the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, has been roped in for the project. And undoubtedly, its facilities are comparable to any world-class institute. In July, the IME’s Sound Garden opened for visitors. Here, visitors can undertake a guided tour that takes one on a journey through sound, vibration, frequencies and resonances through musical sculptures such as xylophone tables, metallophones, plate gongs, tubular bells, wind chimes, humming stones and reeds. Speaking about the response that the garden has received so far, Dr Sudhindra said, “I am sure that the IME will play a huge role in making music accessible to the common man. Additionally, it will also be the destination point for all music connoisseurs, researchers and music students.” The Hall of Fame features 100 legends from all genres, including Hariprasad Chaurasia, Zakir Hussain and Asha Bhosle. The top floor even has a sound lab, where children can jam or perform using computer-aided interactive and touch screens. There are also photo ops where visitors can pose with a brass band, record a track in a mini studio with mixing consoles and email it to themselves, or create a cover design for a CD. Further, there are several audio/visual kiosks and iPads for people to listen to different forms of music. Various artists, bands and private collectors pitched in to set up the rare museum contributing their collections of unreleased music, high-resolution videos and footage. Further, government institutions such as the All India Radio and the Centre for Cultural Resources and Training, have also shared content. Outdoor music installations at the IME, Bengaluru Outdoor music installations at the IME, Bengaluru DCI_6009DCI_6034 In addition, the IME’s Learning Centre, which started two years ago, already works towards delivering curriculum-based music education in the form of lessons, seminars, workshops and music appreciation courses. “We will be developing an active calendar of performances, workshops and seminars at the centre to make it a musical hub of the city,” added Prasad. Museums across the world are moving to an experiential model where they serve not just as archives but also institutions that tell stories, ask questions and interpret artefacts for their audiences. The team behind the project did extensive research before starting, surveying about 10 similar museums in the US for factors like display, lighting, maintenance, storage, server rooms and archives. They now hope that the Centre becomes not just a cultural landmark that documents the history and diversity of Indian music, but also an active participant in supporting and shaping its future. "We are already being approached by museums and arts centres from across the world to send our travelling exhibitions on Indian music, and to host their exhibitions here,” said Prasad. Needless to say, the target segment is youngsters, as the unique museum hopes to educate people about India's rich musical diversity and inspire creativity through music. “School children are one of our primary target audiences, so we want to create a whole generation of musically aware and engaged youngsters,” adds Prasad. All in all, an educative and cultural journey through India’s rich heritage, the Indian Music Experience promises to rediscover the rich legacy of Indian music through a personal and transformational experience. At Indian Music Experience Trust, Opposite Woodrose Club, Brigade Millennium, JP Nagar 7th Phase, Bengaluru 560078 Published Date: Sep 10, 2017 12:14 pm | Updated Date: Sep 10, 2017 12:14 pm Tags :#Artsandculture#Bengaluru music museum#Centre for indian music experience#Centre for indian music experience bengaluru#Fweekend#Ime#Ime museum#Ime museum bangalore#Indian music museum#Music

‘Music is a lifesaving mechanism’: Screaming Trees drummer traveled globe for new book

This Just In From Seattle Music History!!!

The marriage of landscape, culture and sound is at the heart of Seattle musician Barrett Martin’s new book, “The Singing Earth,” which comes with a soundtrack. Martin’s best known as the drummer for Screaming Trees and Mad Season. Share story By Nicole Brodeur Seattle Times columnist Barrett Martin is always listening. “I can shut it off,” he told me. “But I have always been that way.” Martin, best known as the drummer for Screaming Trees and Mad Season, swiveled slightly on the picnic bench we were sharing on Alki Beach the other morning. AUTHOR APPEARANCE Barrett Martin The author of “The Singing Earth” will appear at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 24, at KEXP’s Gathering Space, 472 First Avenue N., Seattle; free “Like, even now,” he said. “Do you hear the wind in the trees, and the ocean, and the ding of the bicycle bell in the distance? The rumbling of cars? The murmur of people? Featured Video Rock star to farmer: Danny Newcomb finds success on his own terms (7:10) Most Read Stories Emirates wavers on A380 deal; concerned Airbus may scrap jet A daring betrayal helped wipe out Cali cocaine cartel Amazon's announcement of HQ outside of Seattle sends ripples through state's political circles Could Amazon’s HQ bombshell let the air out of Seattle’s housing and development boom? Alaska congressman calls Rep. Pramila Jayapal 'young lady,' lectures her on House floor WATCH Unlimited Digital Access. $1 for 4 weeks. “There’s sound,” he said. “That’s what’s amazing for me. I was lucky to grow up in a place like this and appreciate the natural landscape first, and then I became a musician. Or maybe they went hand in hand.” That marriage of landscape, culture and sound is at the heart of Martin’s new book, “The Singing Earth,” which will be formally released Aug. 25. On Thursday, Aug. 24, KEXP DJ Kevin Cole will interview Martin about the book at the station’s Gathering Space. He will also perform with his jazz band, The Barrett Martin Group, as well as Seattle phenom Ayron Jones and former Screaming Trees bandmate Van Conner. The event is free and co-sponsored by The Elliott Bay Book Company. “The Singing Earth” is part travelogue, part memoir and part textbook that not only chronicles the origins of music around the world, but speaks of what could be lost if we don’t take better care of the cultures and the landscapes that birthed those sounds. In a promotional videoabout the book, Martin says, “I wanted to understand how music helps us to connect with our natural environments, our communities and with each other.” That quest took him to 14 musical regions across six continents, including Africa, Cuba, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. He also spent time with bluesman Cedell Davis in the Mississippi Delta, and sat with Seattle musicians like Kim Thayil of Soundgarden, Mike McCready of Pearl Jam and Duff McKagan of Guns N’ Roses to talk about putting a sound to what the city looked like before tech slicked it up and tore it down. “People are the intermediaries between earth and music,” Martin explained. “They are the conduits. People express the music of that localized place, so it’s a direct reflection of their environment. “And that environment could be the Amazon rain forest or the African Sahel or the arctic refuge. Or it could be Detroit, you know?” Sign up for the Morning Brief Delivered bright and early weekday mornings, this email provides a quick overview of top stories and need-to-know news. Sign up The book chronicles Martin’s travels in Central America, where he experimented with trance drumming; Brazil, where he toured with acclaimed songwriter Nando Reis; the Peruvian Amazon, where he recorded shamanic music; and the Palestinian West Bank, where he recorded in a studio surrounded by barbed wire and machine-gun checkpoints. “You can learn everything about a culture by listening to the music,” he continued. “All of the semiotic cues of a culture are embedded in it. Everything about their culture, their spiritual beliefs, their connection to the landscape, to each other, it’s all in there.” The book — written not in chapters, but verses ­— comes with a soundtrack of rare, unreleased songs from his bands and field recordings from his travels. The digital download has more than 40 songs and spoken-word stories. “I just looked at it like maybe the Earth was asking me to visit these places,” he said, “and to write what I saw and give a message. I wrote it so that it could pull you through one long songline that circumnavigates the earth.” Part of that message is that places are drying up and melting. When Martin visited the Arctic Wildlife Refuge, it was 80 degrees, full of streams and lakes — not snow, as it should be. “You don’t have to be a scientist to tell what is going on with the planet,” he said. “You can see it with your own eyes. You can feel it with your body.” Martin, 50, a native of Olympia, lives in West Seattle with his new wife, psychologist Lisette Garcia. In addition to playing drums, he has produced records for Davis, who is 91, and Jones. He’s also a Zen Buddhist and a painter. For the last seven years, Martin has taught classes in music and culture at Antioch University in Seattle. “The Singing Earth” was built from the research Martin did for those classes, as well as papers he wrote while working on his master’s degree in anthropology and pursuing — for now — his PhD. Despite all his experience and knowledge — his grasp of music theory and the years he spent touring with some of the biggest rock bands in the world — Martin was humbled by the experiences he captures in “The Singing Earth.” “You go out into the world and you meet people that do it not because they’re paid to be a professional musician or because they have a record contract,” he said. “They are doing it because it keeps them alive. Music is a lifesaving mechanism. It pulls us together and gives us a common understanding of each other. “And that’s what helped us survive when we could have been taken out by so many things,” he said. “By wild animals, and even ourselves. Music is the thing that prevents that.” Martin doesn’t think he could have written “The Singing Earth” if he hadn’t experienced so many setbacks. Rock bands imploding. People dying. Losing record contracts and having to start all over again. “The breaking down of the ego and having to go through some really hard lessons tenderizes you,” he said, “and it opens your heart and makes you more open to hearing what other people have been through. The terrible things that have happened to them, to their environment, to their economy, to their jobs, to their livelihoods. “They’ve been there,” he said. “And then you sit together and just play.” Nicole Brodeur: nbrodeur@seattletimes.com. We need your support In-depth journalism takes time and effort to produce, and it depends on paying subscribers. If you value these kind of stories, consider subscribing. Subscribe View Comments