Swara CAC Sitar Camp 2015

Heard of the Gurukul system of education in ancient India, whereby the Guru/Master and their students live in the same house, away from their family members? These residential schools are usually the home of the guru or a ashram located close to nature and away from noise and distractions. The students/ shisyas of this system are subjected to a very strict discipline and will be placed directly under the supervision of their gurus all day.

Now, can you imagine such an experience of learning HERE in the midst of chaotic KL? Sounds too good to be true? Believe it or not, that's exactly how it was at the 4 days Sitar Camp conducted by Maestro Samuel J Dass at Swara Community Arts Center last week.  

One of the participants checking in at Swara CAC for the camp

Day one, after everyone checked in and brought in their sitars, mats, pillow and bags and got settled down, we sat down to listen to master sharing some theory, interesting stories and facts about origins of ragas and the characteristics of northern Indian music compared to Carnatic of south. As always, his stories are mixed with humour and fun that keeps us giggling throughout the session. He also  played a few divine pieces whenever the story required an example of a certain raga. After this introductory session, since we had two non Swara students as participants of the camp, we took some time to mingle and get to know each other. Then, we had dinner together, chatted about music, art and everything related to it with master, also with lots of laughters before we went to bed totally looking forward to the first lesson in the morning.

  

Day one, we were all up by 5am for the morning session! Though we were only required to wake up by 5.30, we were just too excited to sleep anymore :) We were so eager to learn the Rag Charukesi which he was going to complete within the 3 days. So, we took a bath, got dressed and went down to have a light breakfast before we started the session.   

What we see before the sun :)

Learning rag Charukesi

The morning session goes from 7am to 12 Noon with a break of an hour from 9 to 10 am. Sitting on the floor cross legged and playing continuously for so many hours was the most challenging part for most of us. Yet, it just didn't seem so long as we kept learning every line of the beautiful rag  and were determined to get every note right before the session ends! We were all so focused on the strings, that we lost any sense of time!

At 12 noon, master says...."OK, now you can all go have lunch" and that's when we realise how long we have been sitting and playing and also that we are pretty hungry and tired :) So, off we go to the dining tables at the backyard to have our delicious vegetarian and non vegetarian lunch prepared with love by master Samuel's sisters, mom and also the cook! Believe me, the magic of music is all soaked in the food they prepare! its that good! :) 

After lunch...we have a break till 3pm, so we rest, practice, chat, read or simply walk around the beautiful garden outside. Then, we are all ready for the next session which goes on from 3pm to 6pm. The afternoon session is to learn sitar maintenance, from changing the strings which included how to make the loops with the strings before you attach them to the sitar, how to tie the strings to place the frets (which was pretty challenging!), how to do jawari which is a technique to file the bridge of the sitar to get the tone right, how to use all kinds of tools and stuffs to repair a sitar! Master will first demonstrate how its done on one of the sitars of the participants which is in need of repair, and then he lets us take turns to try it ourselves. Gosh that's when I wished I could just stick to playing it...hehe :) it requires lots of practice and patience just like playing it! 

Master showing us how to do the JAWARI (Shaping the bridge so its curve and shape fits just right under the strings, so the tone produced is in perfect pitch)

Above pictures are tools used for polishing, drilling and repairing the sitar and were all amused at how pretty and interesting they looked!

So by 6pm, we all kind of looked like zombies (including master of course :D ) then its time for TEA!! we have some light snacks and tea and have a quick shower before we sit again for the eve session from 7 to 8pm.

Here again we learn more theory and concepts of western music. Master played the guitar and keyboard to demonstrate the different kinds of western music like jazz, blues, rock and roll, samba and also how the concept of "harmony" in western music works while its difficult to be applied in indian classical music due to the extremely complicated notes Indian classical music is made of.      

And after another blissful hour of awesome music, we are allowed to have dinner. After dinner, we rested and played relaxing games like checkers and simply had fun sharing stories and experiences both about music and other fun things with lots of laughters. 

Then at 10pm, we watched movies about music like, The Red Violin and 1900. They were both really very interesting but unfortunately some of us were so tired and sleepy by then, we decided to go to bed especially because we had to wake up at 5.30 am again :)

So that's how the 3 days went! breathing in music day in and out,   waking up to music and going to bed with it, felt like it was all happening in another realm! Hearing the twinkling sound of sitar especially from 10 of us all day was like a therapy! Hearts at its natural state mingling and connecting effortlessly, feeling so much joy and love. The two girls who we only met at the camp for the first time, seemed like we had been best friends for years! While we shared the joy of music, the rest simply fell into place! 

Fourth day, after the morning session when we completed the rag charukesi we were all hurting with sore fingers from learning the technique of how to pull the strings. After 3 days of playing for hours, our fingers were burning already. But it was ALL so WORTH it for the divine raga we learnt! We were all totally satisfied!

After lunch, we decided to put up the Christmas tree and decorate it during the break time. While some put on the music and danced while the rest were doing the deco I was taking pictures of them all of course....couldnt miss a moment!

We coudnt help lighting up the sitar too 



Try and spot the trumpet amongst the deco :)



Up went the star

After the Christmas tree was done, we also celebrated one of the participants birthday with a simple birthday cake and with master playing happy birthday on the sitar. He also changed the bridge of her sitar and tuned it as a birthday gift :)

After that we all showered and dressed up for the presentation of certificate of attendance, dinner and closing of the camp.

With such inspiring and sweet moments, the four days came to an end when we had a little closing ceremony with master and our tabla player Dhivager accompanying him for a few more blissfully beautiful ragas including raag charukesi :) 



And of course we had to place the certificate high up with the star of the Christmas tree :)

Then we all had dinner and packed our stuffs to leave.

So, whatever I shared here, pictures and words will only be able to give anyone who reads it a rough idea of how the camp was. But for those of us who were there and experienced it, its altogether different, no way we could relate the moments in words or pictures.

When you have been living only to wake up to alarm clocks which gets you dragging yourself out of bed to get to work and dreading the whole day, impatiently waiting to come home to the comfort of your own space, an experience of waking before the alarm and to rush out with excitement and to be inspired a whole day and to go to bed with music still playing in your head and heart is beyond possible in the world we live today!

So, here I wish to thank Swara Community Arts Center and Master Samuel J Dass for giving us a surreal experience of an ancient gurukul with all its magic! Thank you will sure not be enough!

We are truly looking forward to more of such magical moments with Swara CAC!

Just sharing Swara CAC's profile below:

Do have a look, and join us!! :) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SruenL5h7gQ