The J-TAC

Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: Entertainment

Media Credit: Rebecca Hoeffner Bala Murali (left) and his son Shyam Murali performed in the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center on Tuesday. Shyam played the saxophone, accompanied by his father on percussion.

The Center for Diversity Initiatives hosted a unique musical experience in the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. Shyam Murali and his father Bala Murali introduced the audience to Carnatic music: an Indian form of classical music.

The younger Murali, who's only 16 years old, played the saxophone which, though widely used in Western styles of music, sounds significantly different when played in the Carnatic style and alongside his father's two types of drums, the thavil and the mridangam.

Murali Jr. took time between the songs to explain the workings and history of the music style.

"Carnatic music relies heavily on improvised variations," he said. "A musician will play the first line of a song and then improvise."

Murali Sr. commented that "as the percussionist I have to have the rhythm of the song memorized and even though [Shyam] improvises, I kind of have to have an idea of what he's going to play."

Although Carnatic music has been part of the Indian culture for over 2000 years, the use of the saxophone in India is relatively new.

"The saxophone has only been used in Indian music for about 40 years," Murali Sr. said.

Indian music is extremely different from Westernized music, in that it is completely melodic, and the scales are not the same.

"Indian scales exclude some of the notes that are on the scales that you are probably familiar with," Murali Jr. said.

While it may have been different from the kind of music the audience was used to hearing, the Carnatic concert was still exceptionally enjoyable and a good learning experience for those who were interested in discovering another culture's music.

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