ThakeDhime-ThadiGenatom- Thadaaaa!
That’s Konnakol – the old Indian carnatic rhythmic
singing.
And the Danish musician Henrik Andersen master this way
of singing. He has just come home from an adventurous journey
to India. His 7’th in all. And there’s a change
going on in India.
By Henrik Andersen, musician, One Nation Under A
Groove
I find myself in a sacred room on top of the world.
I hear music, pure music. There is a window in the room.
And next to the window stands a beautiful blue sexy woman
With long black hair, she is all blue and godlike. The
sweet music comes from her flute. She looks deeply in
to my eyes and a voice says
”Henrik, she is the true love of your life, search
the world, go find her!”
It was a dream, and I was just a young boy, 15 years old,
in Copenhagen far far away from India. The dream was just
one of many about the mysterious country, but it made
an huge impact on me because of the music. That pure music.
And of course, the mysterious sexy Indian girl.
Played and studied with Indian greats
My first visit to India was in the winter 1999. I had studied
carnatic music in London since 1994 and played with Indian
superstars as drummer Trilok Gurtu and the flute player
Shashank. I decided to visit south India and backpack for
a month with a friend of mine in Tamil Nadu & Kerela.
And it was love at first sight. The music, the food, the
landscape and the people, as if I’ve been there many
times before.
Since 1999 I have been in India 7 times, and I keep on coming
back. For me India is so full of contrast, colours and secret
- mysteries you can’t find anywhere else.
India is changing
I have just arrived from my latest journey to India three
weeks ago.
And it struck me, how much there’s change in the
air now. First of all a much stronger economy. But the
younger generation is adapting western habits; the movies,
the clothes, the lifestyle, the shops and the malls. The
now want careers before family. They want independency.
But no matter how westernised Indians appears to be, they
still like to listen to Indian classical music.
No drugs – just enjoy the music
I participated in the Tyaragaja music celebration outside
Tranjavur in January 2007. There was 2 stages with 8 days
non-stop music from 8 a.m to 11.30 p.m. All compositions
by Tyagaraja. Each group performed half an hour. But the
big names played for an hour in the evenings.
And I was so fascinated about the audience. They sat there
all week non-stop enjoying the music, drinking tea, eating
nuts! Thousands of people.
No drugs. No liquor. It was my first really live experience
with pure carnatic music, and no matter what happens in
India, they still have an unique respect for music.
India meets west
On all my travels in India I was a thrilled to find sculptures
and paintings of the blue flute player, the Krishna God,
everywhere. I felt like Harry Potter arriving at Hogwards
for the first time. He too dreamt of a strange and mysterious
place and ended up studying there,
I realized, that I have found the love from my childhood
dream on the other side of the earth. And today India
is developing in to a world power. And the fact that a
lot of people there adapt western ideas makes it even
more exiting to me, ‘cause India will always be
a spiritual country no matter what, I believe.
I am so happy, that the Indians love me & my band
One Nation Under A Groove, and it seems like desi’s
around the world are picking up on our debut-album “Guardian
Angel”.
I’ll definitely will be going back to India for
the rest of my life, because exciting things are happening
there right now. More mysteries to dream about.
