Kumar
Music Of Mystery And Romance
A Concert Performance Of The Mighty Wurlitzer Pipe Organ
Fantasy 8061
1960
From the back cover: HERE once was a wise old professor of music at the University of California who said that "musical sounds, moving in time just as do the human emotions, form the most complete artistic expression of Man's soul." The professor might well have been speaking of Korla Pandit, a unique artist who has devoted the largest part of his life to music and to considering the nature and character of the soul of Man. The result of this dual mission, as you can hear in every distinctive note on this record, is an organist who brings the light of philosophy to his already incandescent and highly individualistic music.
In private life Mr. Pandit is a mild, smiling young man who appears to be the personification of his own musical belief in the Golden Union of the East and West. His easy, relaxed manner suggests neither the intense interest in matters metaphysical nor the purposeful dedication to music that carried this man around the world from India to the top stratum of America's entertainment world. More apparent, though, is his success in wholly personal terms. Korla Pandit is a devoted husband, a proud and busy father of two, and a popular personality about town. He is most popular of all, of course, with the followers of his music, particularly when making one of his rare theater appearances. His recent concert, at Oakland's Paramount Theater, which resulted in this on-the- spot recording, was an especially happy occasion for the Pandit fans who were able to attend. Playing for a live audience always does something special to a performer, and on that magic night in Oakland Korla Pandit was no exception to the rule. Caressing the great Wurlitzer pipe organ keyboards with even more affection and finesse than usual, the handsome young musician seemed to play each song as if it had been composed for him alone. (As a matter of fact, three of the selections heard here were composed for the inimitable Pandit organ style. Kumar, Kartikeya, and Trance Dance were written by the organist himself!)
Because Fantasy engineers were there to capture the entire event on tape, we have a delightful program of old favorites and Korla Pandit originals in a live concert performance that is without doubt a high point in Mr. Pandit's illustrious musical career. And the awesome Wurlitzer pipe organ, a powerful and magnificent instrument, was exactly the right final ingredient to make that night at the Paramount a memorable one indeed.
Getting back to the fundamental question of music as an expression of Man's soul, it is interesting to see what Mr. Pandit himself has to say on the subject. Writing in the San Francisco Star, the organist put it this way: "Music that fails to arouse any response in the listener may be likened to frozen orange juice. It must have the water added to reach its original form. Written compositions are frozen music until the per- forming artist breathes the water of life back into them.
"Machines have been built that reproduce music more flawlessly and accurately than any human being. But no machine has yet appeared that can substitute for the human soul.
"In India, we believe that music never dies, but ever materializes into newer and equally beautiful forms. Thus we complete the circle, bringing to the world the Universal Language of Music in its truest form." This, then, is the credo by which Korla Pandit lives and plays his music. It is his deep belief in the value of the human soul that sets his work apart from and above that of ordinary musicians. He does not, for example, reply upon written music to guide him through complex and exciting arrangements like Tales from the Vienna Woods, Song of India, or Granada. Rather, Mr. Pandit interprets the original composition as inspiration of the moment tells him to. By so doing, he acts within the time-honored traditions of his ancestors.
"India's music," explains Mr. Pandit, "is based upon Ragas (scales, or family of tones) and is best taught through the system of oral trans- mission, the true method of learning for the artist, because every performer must be in some degree a composer... He is taught not merely to repeat a given song, but to sing or play in a given mode or mood. And because it is so great an advantage for the true musician to need no external aid to memory, such as the printed score. The music itself cannot persist as a part of everyday life unless it is thus handed down as a sacred tradition."
There, in the artist's own words, is the explanation of the freshness of each Pandit performance. No matter how often he has played the selection before, each rendition is a new and stimulating experience for the organist and, of course, for his listeners as well. We can now understand, too, this man's ability to go to the heart of each song, whether it tells the story of India, Spain, or, as in his Hawaiian medley, an exotic segment of the American scene.
Listen now to the inner voice of Korla Pandit as he speaks to you through music, "the most complete artistic expression of Man's soul." The old professor who originated that phrase had something all right, but he might have added, "if the performing artist possesses sufficient amounts of formal technique, musical sensitivity, and philosophic insight."
Or, to say it still another way, if the performing artist is Korla Pandit. – PETER MOSS
In private life Mr. Pandit is a mild, smiling young man who appears to be the personification of his own musical belief in the Golden Union of the East and West. His easy, relaxed manner suggests neither the intense interest in matters metaphysical nor the purposeful dedication to music that carried this man around the world from India to the top stratum of America's entertainment world. More apparent, though, is his success in wholly personal terms. Korla Pandit is a devoted husband, a proud and busy father of two, and a popular personality about town. He is most popular of all, of course, with the followers of his music, particularly when making one of his rare theater appearances. His recent concert, at Oakland's Paramount Theater, which resulted in this on-the- spot recording, was an especially happy occasion for the Pandit fans who were able to attend. Playing for a live audience always does something special to a performer, and on that magic night in Oakland Korla Pandit was no exception to the rule. Caressing the great Wurlitzer pipe organ keyboards with even more affection and finesse than usual, the handsome young musician seemed to play each song as if it had been composed for him alone. (As a matter of fact, three of the selections heard here were composed for the inimitable Pandit organ style. Kumar, Kartikeya, and Trance Dance were written by the organist himself!)
Because Fantasy engineers were there to capture the entire event on tape, we have a delightful program of old favorites and Korla Pandit originals in a live concert performance that is without doubt a high point in Mr. Pandit's illustrious musical career. And the awesome Wurlitzer pipe organ, a powerful and magnificent instrument, was exactly the right final ingredient to make that night at the Paramount a memorable one indeed.
Getting back to the fundamental question of music as an expression of Man's soul, it is interesting to see what Mr. Pandit himself has to say on the subject. Writing in the San Francisco Star, the organist put it this way: "Music that fails to arouse any response in the listener may be likened to frozen orange juice. It must have the water added to reach its original form. Written compositions are frozen music until the per- forming artist breathes the water of life back into them.
"Machines have been built that reproduce music more flawlessly and accurately than any human being. But no machine has yet appeared that can substitute for the human soul.
"In India, we believe that music never dies, but ever materializes into newer and equally beautiful forms. Thus we complete the circle, bringing to the world the Universal Language of Music in its truest form." This, then, is the credo by which Korla Pandit lives and plays his music. It is his deep belief in the value of the human soul that sets his work apart from and above that of ordinary musicians. He does not, for example, reply upon written music to guide him through complex and exciting arrangements like Tales from the Vienna Woods, Song of India, or Granada. Rather, Mr. Pandit interprets the original composition as inspiration of the moment tells him to. By so doing, he acts within the time-honored traditions of his ancestors.
"India's music," explains Mr. Pandit, "is based upon Ragas (scales, or family of tones) and is best taught through the system of oral trans- mission, the true method of learning for the artist, because every performer must be in some degree a composer... He is taught not merely to repeat a given song, but to sing or play in a given mode or mood. And because it is so great an advantage for the true musician to need no external aid to memory, such as the printed score. The music itself cannot persist as a part of everyday life unless it is thus handed down as a sacred tradition."
There, in the artist's own words, is the explanation of the freshness of each Pandit performance. No matter how often he has played the selection before, each rendition is a new and stimulating experience for the organist and, of course, for his listeners as well. We can now understand, too, this man's ability to go to the heart of each song, whether it tells the story of India, Spain, or, as in his Hawaiian medley, an exotic segment of the American scene.
Listen now to the inner voice of Korla Pandit as he speaks to you through music, "the most complete artistic expression of Man's soul." The old professor who originated that phrase had something all right, but he might have added, "if the performing artist possesses sufficient amounts of formal technique, musical sensitivity, and philosophic insight."
Or, to say it still another way, if the performing artist is Korla Pandit. – PETER MOSS
Espana
Kumar
Tales Of Vienna Woods
Kartikeya
Granada
Someday
Trance Dance
Song Of India
Jalousie
Hawaiian Medley: Blue Hawaii, Lovely Hula Hands, Sweet Leilani
OH fabulous! Thank you for including video of his performance! The Raja of Exotica! Look how he uses his arm and hand. More like percussion. So fun! And so odd that he NEVER spoke! Just stared at the camera like a hypnotic cobra!
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