A tribute to my London based Hindustani teacher, Sheila Chandra.
Track 1: "Shaanti Ka Hara Bartan" - Written by le Marquis de Ceas'd Dec 14th 2024
Synopsis:
Many years ago one of my bosses at my daytime gig took vacation in his home country (southern India). Knowing I was a
fanatic about music, he brought me back a CD that had such celebrated artists as Anouska Shankar, Susheela Raman, and
Sheila Chandra. I knew of Anoushka through her father Ravi, and her sister Norah Jones. But I'd never heard of the
other two. Man, was I ever in for a treat! Susheela has a voice very much like Sade & every bit as sultry. And Sheila
stole my heart with her "Ever so lonely". I knew contacting Susheela was out of the question because her & her husband
tour incessantly. But Sheila is retired as a practicing musician & is instead a music career coach & book author. I
contacted her for resources on how to learn & play Hindustani classical music. I had little expectation that she'd email
me back, but much to my shock surprise, we kept in contact for over a year. She finally stopped answering because even as
a coach & author, there's only so much time in the day. And us Americans have a tendency to be long winded, often to a
fault. It's all good & I appreciate the time she was able to devote. I learned about Shruti's and Ragas, and how nearly
all Hindustani songs revolve around drone notes & the percussion is nothing like that of western music. I still to this
day cannot write a Raga that does the genre justice. But what I did do is write an instrumental that pays tribute to the
wisdom she shared with me. It's a mixture of Western folk & Hindustani Ragas called "Shaanti Ka Hara Bartan" (the Green
Vessel of Tranquility). The true meaning of the song will forever & always be between the two of us, but I'll share the
song with you. I'm especially proud of it (even with it's percussion mistakes) because its the culmination of all my
curiosities into their genre. It was meant as an homage & in no way a mockery or disrespect. Without further
adieu... (click the play button to listen to the track)
So many things on the drawing table and so little time.
You've not seen anything else published because it takes time to brief the crew on the massive back-story of the show. In addition to the fact we're still auditioning for the right cast of characters slash musicians. But rest assured, we'll have something to present soon. The genres of music will vary wildly from heavy metal, to folk, classical, Hindustani, African djembe, and perhaps even some James Brown or Parliament style funk. The theatrical portion of the show will contain elements of comedy, horror, drama, action, adventure, and even a splash of romance. Real life is dynamic and so will the show be. ~ le Marquis de Ceas'd
