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5-7 December 1997
Tübingen, Germany
Indian Music in Germany By Jens Eckert, Indian Music in Germany - Present and Future was the title of an interdisciplinary symposium that was hosted by the Institute of Musicology of the University of Tübingen from 5- 7 December 1997. The concept for the symposium was developed by the Saraswati-Projekt, a loose network of practitioners of classical South Asian music and dance traditions in Central Europe. The symposium was organized by the Deutsch-Indische Kulturgesellschaft Tübingen (DIKG - not to be confused with the Deutsch-Indische Gesellschaft or DIG with its nearly 30 branches all over Germany) with support by the Indian Embassy Bonn and the Seminar of Indology of the University of Tübingen.
The symposium's general aim was to draw up a rough picture of the present state of Indian music in Germany and its possible developments in the near future. It consisted of five, theme-oriented panels, a future-workshop (Zukunftswerkstatt), and two concerts. The panels were entitled 'Indian Music in Comparative Musicology', 'Practice of Indian Music', 'Distribution Media of Indian Music', 'Indian Music in contact with other Music Cultures', and 'Indian Music in the Context of other European Countries'. The concerts were given by vichitra-vina player Gianni Ricchizzi (Italy) and young sitar virtuoso, Purbayan Chatterjee (Calcutta) on the first evening and by the world-famous sarod Maestro, Ali Akbar Khan, accompanied on tabla by Swapan Chaudhuri, on the second.
Participants included performing musicians, music teachers, (ethno-)musicologists, indologists, concert promoters, music journalists, culture politicians, students, and interested laymen.
It was generally agreed that South Asian Music has put down substantial roots within the German cultural context in the course of the last two to three decades. It occupies its own cultural niche in concert life, media presentation, and the CD market. It also has a considerable number of active practitioners, both German and South Asian, who study, teach and perform. Nevertheless, it seems to be in a phase of stagnation at present owing to some of the following reasons: lack of institutional support; lack of qualified teachers; lack of co-operation amongst practitioners and organizers; lack of scientific reflection; lack of integration into the cultural mainstream.
Further perspectives
Participants agreed upon the need for establishing regular working meetings, developing a raga database, and publishing the proceedings of the symposium. Working groups have been formed to tackle each of these issues. The next symposium is going to take place at the Institute of Musicology of the University of Göttingen in mid-October 1998. Its stated aim will be establishing an organization for research on, education in and promotion of South Asian music. The papers at Tübingen will probably be published (plus some further external contributions on the theme) by Philipp-Verlag in winter 1998/99.
Keeping in mind the general aim of stimulating the integration of South Asian music into Central European cultural life, the symposium can be seen as a complete success. It has initiated an important move towards the further professionalization and co-operation. The way is long, but another step has been made.
:Jens Eckert can be reached at E-mail: india_instruments@compuserve.com
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