Global Spice World Music Series: Indian World Music with K.S. Resmi and N. Scott Robinson

Global Spice World Music Series: Indian World Music with K.S. Resmi and N. Scott Robinson

A critique by Ally Wolf

The Global Spice World Music Series concert of April 20, 2017 features classical music vocalist K.S. Resmi from Kerala, South India and her husband, N. Scott Robinson, Ph. D., a World Percussionist. Both are highly educated with a breadth of experiences in their musical concentrations. Resmi has spent thirty five years studying Carnatic music and has performed all over India, the US and internationally. Robinson teachers world musics at San Diego Mesa College and has performed with numerous ensmebles, bands, including John Cage, Peter Sprague, The Cleavland Orchestra and more as well as having a long list of impressive education history, studying at Berkely College of Music in Boston, Kent University and Rutgers University. Playing together they are a mix of East and West, a marriage of both love and music. 

The concert hall is of modest size with the rows of seats raised to overlook the stage that stands in front of them. The audience is largely students and people over the age of fifty. The older crowd either sit closer to the stage or in the seats assigned to themselves by their tickets, though as I entered I was told there were no assigned seat. As for the students, they are evenly spread throughout the venue, mostly sitting in groups of friends. There is no overwhelming gender in attendance, and most seem to fit comfortably in the middle class. This concert has seemed to attract the everyday music lover, which is no surprise as Indian music is so different from the music that our community is familiar with, it is bound to attract anyone with a curiosity about the world beyond Bellingham. The audience chats quietly.

The set up on stage consists of a rug, stool, and two mics. Another mic is to the left of this, used by the concert series’ creator, Dr. Patrick Roulete, to introduce the performers. Scott takes the stool while Resmi is situated on the floor. Before the music begins, the room is completely silent.     

The first piece, Shiva, begins with Scott on a thumb piano, and the steady drone sound of a sitar box. As Resmi begins her improvisation, the music begins to take on a feeling of floating. The image of a leaf slowly falling to the ground before being lifted again by the breeze comes to mind. Resmi’s voice has some beautiful moments of clarity, highlighted through crescendos and high notes that ring through the concert hall. The rhythm seems to be free but still provides a structure, more as a breathing of the performers rather than a steady succession of durations.

The second piece, a drum solo Scott calls Globally Positioned Solo, features Robinson on the ghaval and perfectly demonstrates his love of incorporating the techniques of various cultures to improvise and compose an expressive musical sound. The instrument that he uses for this piece is a pan drum from Azerbaijan and he manipulates the skin of the drum in the techniques of Persian snapping, Arab drumming and South Indian timbres. The takk seems to accent and separate the phrases of drumming, the fingers pattering along the rim gave the piece the feeling of running, and the jangles of the tambourine sparkle and hush into a rushing as the composition gives the illusion of a coursing river.

The third and fourth pieces are solos for Resmi and is called Nam Tha Nam and Padmanbha Pabi, composed by the famous Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma, known for mixing music of all different cultures in his compositions, an unusual trait in Indian music. These compositions are in Sanskrit and marked by an eight count tala, which Resmi conducts by tapping her hand on her leg. The first piece is a Thillana in Raga Bhupalam. The onomatopoetic solfege is used for dancers, melodic and rhythmic and gives this overall performance the feeling of dancing. The sruti box is low and complete focus is given on the vocalization of Resmi. Usually this kind of composition is not performed solo, but with only the two performers, they decided to highlight the impressive vocals of Resmi. As the second piece began, this one a Kriti in Raga Hindolam, the equivalent of a Western art song with themes and variations. Resmi performs a vocal improvisation in free rhythm to introduce the notes of the raga. This is a very beautiful piece with a much more meditative sound. To me it sounded melancholically nostalgic, the longer notes feeling almost as if they are reaching out for something. As she begins the second section she conducts the eight count cycle on her leg. Everything except for the improvised introduction to the piece is composed despite sounding improvised, including the little variances in pitch. This section is a longer melody, though as she goes into the next it is even longer. This section usually is a paragraph in length and is the most complex section of the piece. Resmi’s voice carries sweetness as her running notes fall from high to low and back again and build a sense of longing or looking towards the horizon. This section feels happier than the previous and almost praising. Resmi exhibits exquisite technique. Listening to this piece feels like memory. The final section has more energy and accelerates, carrying with it a feel of celebration as the notes dance with one another. Ending with a restatement of her improvisation, the piece ends with a reverential emotion.

The next piece, Il Mano, features Robinson on the Mediterr-Asian Tambourine, performing a hybrid of tambourine techniques from Italy, India and Egypt in a cycle of seven beats. This piece was the most exciting of the night, its sound giving the impression of running. The composition begins with the gentle lifting of the tambourine, the bells sounding like an inhalation before the rumbling dumm from the heart of the skin thumps like a beating heart, the fast tamping of fingers along the rim imitating the sound of footsteps. Robinson follows this with a short traditional piece composed by Francis Bebey, Chant d’amore Pygmee, performing it on a bottle, a very impressive and entertaining performance.

The last drum solo by Robinson he calls Shaken Not Stirred, he says in homage to Sean Connery. Using an Arab tambourine, his cupped hand hitting the drum punctuates the piece with a sound like bursting. This piece also sounds like a dance, this time in anticipation. The best thing about this piece however is watching Resmi, her eyes closing and head nodding. She very clearly feels her husband’s music rather than listens to it.

The final two pieces were performed by them both and the last composition of the night even including percussionist and professor Dr. Patrick Roulete. The first piece is Vathapi Ganapathim Bhajeham, another Kriti in Raga Hamsadhwani and Adi Tala and is what Robinson and Resmi consider a compromise of their differing art forms. Traditionally this piece is used to open a concert to seek blessings, but since this is the one kind of Indian drumming that he is good at, they save it for the end, Robinson jokes. Robinson’s use of a lap style frame drum imitates the sound of a violin and is completely entrancing, and only to enhance that, Resmi’s rising notes and voice seem to reach up carrying an appropriate spirituality. This piece is the most striking of the concert for me, as the two musicians seem to be in conversation with each other as Robinson’s drumming fills the song with a grounding warmth as Resmi’s vocals lift it to fly with her improvisations, leaving their sound in perfect equilibrium.

With the closing piece, Dr. Patrick Roulete joins the performers on stage to perform a piece called Om Namah Shivaya. Robinson plays an instrument from Zimbabwe called the mbira dza vadzimm, used for dance and spiritual music. It produces an amazing sound. This traditional mantra is played as jazz and is by far the most fun piece of the concert, its improvised vocals playful, the bubbly sound the the mbira dza vadzimm and the hollow beat of the box on which Roulete drums creating an amazing dynamic. The concert ended with hearty applause by the audience.

The Global Spice World Music Series highlights music that blends Western and non-Wester musical traditions and explore the fusion of world music with contemporary, classical, jazz and popular music styles. Tonight’s performance by Resmi and Robinson perfectly exemplified this blending of musical cultures. Beyond their performances, however, their chemistry really made the performance worth watching. The both looked on at each other’s solo performances with obvious respect and love, which makes sense since they fell in love while Robinson was studying music in India. Resmi and Robinson ended the night saying that they were happy to share their music and the audience was very clearly happy as well. Throughout the performance, the audience was completely silent, and looking around the concert hall, everyone’s eyes were locked onto the pair of musicians. At times, I felt as I was in a trance as their music reached out to me. This concert was overall a wonderful time and I thoroughly enjoyed the performance and the emotions that spoke to me through both their improvisations and compositions. Western is lucky to have them return next November to share their music with its students.