Classical Music of India and Pakistan BBC Proms

Tonight, we're bringing you some of the finest classical music from India and Pakistan,

with sitar music from North India, Carnatic music from South India,

and Sufi qawwali from Pakistan.

Welcome to the Proms 2017.

Welcome to tonight's late-night prom

and we have a very special concert ahead.

To mark the 70th anniversary of independence

on the Indian subcontinent,

we bring you the three main classical traditions of India and

Pakistan, in a concert beautifully curated by the Darbar Festival.

SINGING QAWWALI

In August 1947, 200 years of British rule in India came to

an abrupt end and there's rightly been much focus

in public commemoration this year on the horror of partition after

the British decision to divide the subcontinent into two

independent dominions - India and Pakistan.

But tonight, we want to celebrate their shared musical heritage,

which I grew up with, like millions of people of Indian

and Pakistani descent, often played late into the night,

like our concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

Tonight's audience will see musicians from India

and Pakistan come together to celebrate the enduring

power of traditional music and its power to heal and to unify.

We'll be hearing three distinct sessions,

each lasting about 45 minutes.

We begin with a recital on the sitar,

probably the best-known of Indian classical instruments

since it was popularised in the West by Ravi Shankar in the '60s.

It features music from the Hindustani classical

tradition of North India, and the soloist in tonight's concert,

in collaboration with the Darbar Festival,

is one of India's finest and most famous players.

Here to introduce the sitar himself is pundit Budhaditya Mukherjee.

SITAR MUSIC PLAYS

This is the ascending and descending order of notes in Raag Bihag,

which I have chosen for playing in the festival's concert.

I think the concert starts around 10 o'clock or 10:15 in the night,

and this is a typical time.

The aesthetics of this raag are very much in harmony of the...

..oncoming late night.

A raag is a set of notes in a particular ascending order

and descending order.

Raags have aesthetics for the daytime, night-time,

all the hours of the 24-hour cycle.

When the artist feels the soul of the raag dissolving within

the consciousness, we as human beings,

we experience the different feelings.

But there are so many things we see but we do not understand

the intricacies, but we feel that, "Oh, wow - look at that.

"That's so beautiful." What did we understand about it?

We felt the beauty.

That's how we go on with our music.

APPLAUSE

Well, on stage with the Budhaditya is tabla player

Soumen Nandy, who adds his rhythmic ingredient later in the performance.

Here at the BBC Proms 2017,

Budhaditya Mukherjee plays Raga Bihag.

APPLAUSE

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An amazing set to the music of the sitar, coiling like smoke

and spreading its magic across the hall.

Budhaditya Mukherjee there taking a bow,

he was on the sitar along with tabla player Soumen Nandy.

The piece we heard them perform was the Raga Bihag.

Next tonight, we have what is known as Carnatic music from the south of India.

Its roots go back much further

than music in the Muslim-influenced north.

Indeed, its roots are said to be divine in origin

in Hindu culture, and we're going to hear two

of South India's most important melodic instruments - the Saraswati veena and the Carnatic violin,

very obviously introduced from the West,

but entirely and delightfully Indianised since then.

The veena is played by Jayanthi Kumaresh,

and the violin by her husband, Kumaresh Rajagopalan.

What you see here is called the Saraswati veena,

it's the national instrument of India.

And it has very holy tradition, both mystically and mythologically.

The goddess, Saraswati, is the goddess of learning.

She is personified with a veena in her hands.

This veena is created in the shape of a human body, with the head...

..the spinal cord, and the lower part of the body.

The human spinal cord, we have 24 vertebrae.

And the veena has 24 frets.

The fretboard is made out of honey bees' wax

and we have scalloped frets, like a guitar,

so that we can give what is known as "gamak", which is

an embellishment which is very characteristic of Indian music.

So this is how we pull strings and create a continuity between notes.

When you play the Indian violin, we sit and we use the leg

and shoulder to support, because there is something

called a "gamakam"...

gliding between notes.

To do that, when you have two support systems,

the leg and the shoulders, it is easy to do that.

Tonight, we are going to be doing two interesting,

very different pieces.

The second one will be Raag Charukeshi.

This is special because both the Carnatic system of Indian music

and the Hindustani system of Indian music play this raga

and it's a beautiful evening raga, with a very, very soulful mood.

And the first raga we are going to play today in the evening is Nattai.

It is a very traditional South Indian raga,

so we just thought that it will be a very appropriate to

present that raga in the beginning for the Western audience.

Onstage with Jayanthi and Kumaresh is Anantha R Krishnan,

playing the two-headed south Indian drum, the mridangam,

which he started learning aged just five.

They're going to play two ragas, starting with Raga Nattai.

APPLAUSE

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VIOLIN PLAYS

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APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Joyous applause.

That exquisite combination of melody

and mystery in the Carnatic music we just heard, of South India.

That combination of the ancient veena

performed there by Jayanthi Kumaresh

and the modern but thoroughly transformed violin by her husband, Kumaresh Rajagopalan.

And the double-headed drum, the beautiful energy of the mridangam.

You heard it performed by Anantha R Krishnan.

Our final session is a very special treat, because we are

joined by Fareed Ayaz, Abu Muhammad Qawwal & Brothers from Pakistan.

They sing qawwali, which is a form of Sufi devotional

music in South Asia, with mystical Islamic poetry.

Though its roots are Islamic, it's enjoyed for its beauty

and its spiritual richness all over the world, in the same way

that you don't need to be Christian to enjoy Handel's Messiah.

It was popularised in the West by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan,

and its essence is in live performance.

Indeed, qawwali is performed at shrines every week, all over

Pakistan and India.

Here they are, warming up backstage, ahead of the concert.

Qawwali is spiritual music.

It's a sort of spiritual entertainment.

But qawwali is not show business.

Qawwali is not singing. Qawwali is praying.

Qawwali is an exercise to improve your soul.

In Pakistan, qawwali is very popular, VERY popular.

A part of Pakistan, India, England and London, I...

I am travelling since last 40 years!

So qawwali is very popular.

Where we are performing, it's a very good hall and very renowned.

And it's proud of me that I am singing, I'm praying there, qawwali.

If a person tries to understand the music

and tries to understand the wording and tries to understand all

the thing about that particular music, the men become entranced.

Just like...

Round into the sky.

But not the sky, beyond the sky!

Around the world, all the public are very...disturbed.

There is no peace in... in their heart.

I think if they come to this sort of music,

they take peace.

Sorry my English is... But we are trying to give you the message.

Peace, love for all the people. All the humans.

APPLAUSE

So, here is Fareed Ayaz, Abu Muhammad Qawwal & Brothers,

performing a number of pieces of devotional qawwali music for the first time at the BBC Proms.

THEY SING VERY GENTLY

HE SINGS WITH EMPHASIS

APPLAUSE

Ladies and gentlemen...

now we are singing Kangna of Malkauns.

APPLAUSE

Thank you! Thank you very much!

Thank you so much. Thank you very much.

HE SAYS THANK YOU IN URDU AND DIFFERENT INDIAN LANGUAGES

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

HE SPEAKS IN URDU

This is the time, the second last item of this evening.

Most powerful item, Baba Bulleh Shah's Mera Piya Ghar Aaya.

AUDIENCE CHEERS

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

In the last...

I hope...we have to dance.

Come on!

This is the time...

..of dhamaal.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

APPLAUSE CONTINUES

Unique sound of qawwali, Sufi mystical poetry

and music brought to life, here at the BBC Proms.

The crowd showing their enthusiastic appreciation for

Fareed Ayaz, Abu Muhammad Qawwal & Brothers, from Karachi in Pakistan.

Well, that brings our night of classical music from India

and Pakistan to a close.

Whether it's music you grew up with in your family, like mine,

or it's a new world to you, I really hope you enjoyed the experience.

Do tune in again this Thursday on BBC Four at 10pm for another

late-night intimate prom, this time Sir Andras Schiff will be

performing the entire first book of Bach's The Well-Tempered Clavier.

That's 24 preludes and fuges, one in every key - definitely an event.

But from all of us here at the Royal Albert Hall, goodnight.