It’s Books & Books 30th year Anniversary Week. It’s free : )

(Yes there are roots from Africa , British Isles  as well) We are Global, we are transient and have to maintain our  rich and diverse Ethnic Music. I’m starting to think of Classical Music as a type of Temporal Ethnic Sound. (TM-VR)

I see (hear) Classical as “The Oldies” and see the  need to maintain this genre as it’s scope is vast. If we took down the paintings and works of art from the same Classical , Baroque, Impressionist etc eras..we’d have so much less to offer our people. Lack of exposure to this variety would be a shame.

That the brain scan images (SPECT) prove that classical music makes us function better may be a fact not known to many. Daniel Levine has written books such as “The World in 6 Songs”, Oliver Sacks has a few important volumes as well. There is proof that we thrive with exposure to these instruments and music.  If you want to help your child with homework play a little Mozart in the background. It may help organize the brain so as to make the processing go more smoothly. The music by Bach is so well organized.

If we only offer compressed MP3s, lo fi headphones and no live music, all will be electronic. What we miss in terms of timbre or colors, will go undetected and it’s like taking a chunk of colors out of the rainbow.

Baskin Robins with just one boring flavor? America with only what we are hearing on the radio these days? The formulaic rehashing of brashness? It’s like having a stick of jerky for a meal instead of a  plentiful Thanksgiving repast..

Fortunately some European countries continue to support Classical Music. It’ going to be a heft ticket price to have to go there to witness the grand scale in person. And there is just no other way to fully experience this music-

Live and in Person.

At the age of nineteen, Vicki was well on her way to establishing her professional status as a classical violinist. She had toured Europe, taken master classes with Joseph Gingold at Indiana University and become the youngest member of the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra. Curious and restless, she listened intently to jazz contemporaries including Jan Hammer, John McLaughlin, Airto, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock.

Her love for the avant guarde scene continued to blossom and in 1976 she commissioned a custom-built, solid body electric violin with quadraphonic pick-ups and plugged it into a wah-wah pedal and a Fender amp. Uncomfortable with jazz’s approach to harmonic improvisation, she became intrigued with the rhythmical and classical improvisational methods of the Banaras tabla tradition.

Vicki was awarded a Professional Development Grant from the America Institute of Indian Studies (Univ of Chicago) in conjunction with the Smithsonian Institution which enabled her to spend many months in Banaras, India where she experienced total immersion in the culture and classical traditions of the Hindustani violin under the guidance of violin master Smt. Dr. N. Rajam and sitar virtuoso Sri Amar Nath Misra.

Upon her return from the East, she re-settled in New York City for a short time, sharing the stage with improvisers such as Paul McCandless of Oregon and Dave Samuels of Spyro Gyra and working as a full time member of the American Jewish Congress’ New Music Ensemble. She also appeared as a soloist playing Indian classical violin at Carnegie Recital Hall, catching the attention of a world-renowned New York Times critic and establishing herself as one of the few Westerners recognized as legitimate exponents of pure Indian classical tradition.

In 1981, her intense interest in rhythm led to a close collaboration with Robert Thomas Jr. of Weather Report  the Zawinul Syndicate) fame. She also began melodic and harmonic collaboration with Amitava Chatterjee, an electric guitarist and sitarist with a shared vision of improvisation using both Eastern and Western elements. Bobby’s compelling hand drumming and Amit’s melodic and harmonic concepts form the perfect grid over which Vicki works her technical and melodic wizardry. Vicki’s association with Bobby and Amit continues to this day.

In South Florida collaborations have included Frank Carmelitano, Statoshi Takeishi, Jean Balduc & many more players.

Currently her music colleagues also include Jeff Deen (tabla & percussion), Mitch Kopp (guitars), Layne Redmond, Jorge Alfano (multiinstrumentalist) & Sean Dibble (djembe, electric and acoustic drums)

Click or copy this link- http://wvum.org/index.php/blog/article/saturday_23rd_june_on_caravan_3-5_pm_ragas_and_rhythms_by_vicky_richar/