Kinnar Kumar Seen
Born into a musical lineage, Kinnar Kumar Seen is the eldest son and disciple of the well-known musical authority, Acharya Lachman Singh Seen of the Punjab Gharana, from whom he learned tabla and sitar from an early age. He earned a Master's degree in sitar as well as the prestigious Sangeet Visharad in both tabla and vocal music. He has accompanied many great artists and received numerous accolades and awards internationally.
After moving to New York in 1984, Kinnar has persevered in spreading the love and appreciation for Indian music and culture. He has given numerous performances, lectures, and demonstrations at universities, colleges, and museums. These have included Princeton University, Harvard University, American Museum of Natural History, The Julliard School, University of Central Florida, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Brown University, Pennsylvania State University and many others.
In New York, together with his wife Payal Seen, he opened a branch of the Sangeet Vilas, an institution founded by his father in Jalandhar in 1950. Following in his father's footsteps, he teaches according to the ancient guru-shishya system of learning. He lectures regularly in schools and universities and performs in concerts and music festivals throughout Europe and North America.
FROM THE COMPOSER
" Kinnar Kumar Seen on Indian Sacred and Classical Music "
Indian Music was originally dedicated to the holy purpose of praying and chanting of mantras that were recited in a tritonic scale (only three notes) in ancient times. The old scripture of Sam Veda is entirely devoted to music. Sarasavati is the deity of music and is often portrayed holding the string instrument Vina from which all string instruments including the sitar were derived. I believe that in order to play the sitar well, one needs more than mere musicianship -one needs to have a pure and spiritual heart.
Indian classical music is based on the ragas ("colors"), which are scales and melodies that provide the foundation for the performance. Unlike Western classical music that is deterministic, Indian classical music allows for a much greater degree of individual creativity- almost similar to jazz-like improvisation, which is why rendering of the same raga can be different every time. The goal of the raga is to create a state of trance and a mood of ecstasy.
The main difference between Indian and Western music is that the ragas were not "composed" by a composer in the Western sense of the word, but were created via a lengthy evolutionary process over the centuries. Hindustani (North Indian) ragas are assigned to specific times of the day (or night) and to specific seasons. Many ragas share the same scale, and the same melodic them; yet they evoke different subtle emotions. New compositions can be created based on raga,s but the notes that make a raga can't be altered. However there are some ragas that allow borrowing notes from outside their scale in which case they are called "Mihsra" (composite) ragas, like Khamaj, Pilu and Bhairavi. -Kinnar Kumar Seen
