Freeform with Spice

by sukumari

Where in the world can you listen to Ravi Shankar, Zap Mama, Tibetan monks, Dissidenten, Bally Sagoo, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the Beatles and Asha Bhonsle one after the other? Where can you hear tribal music from Madhya Pradesh, experimental fusion from California, classical Hindustani or Carnatic music, a baila from Sri Lanka, a lullaby from Nepal, a qawwali from Pakistan, an Indian-French song from Mauritius, or bangra rap from the UK all in the space of an hour? Where on radio can you hear classical music, jazz, film soundtracks, religious hymns, and chants, rap and pop in one show?
In Ann Arbor, Michigan, US, Sounds of the Subcontinent is a freeform radio show with spice. WCBN (http://www.wcbn.org) listeners are treated to music from, and inspired by, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Tibet, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Here's how it happened...

my dj debut

I heard that a CBN DJ, Michel Château, was looking for a partner to work with him on his Francophone music show, Radio Libre, Ann Arbor in Fall 1992. I called him up immediately and said i would be very interested in doing the show with him. I was a little nervous about doing the show, and kept hoping nobody would listen to the radio when i was on. Michel showed me the ropes and the console. I began by helping him pick out the music, announcing what we were playing or reading out Public Service Announcements or Promos. I gradually got better (=less nervous), and got my license so i could do the show alone when Michel had to be out of town. It worked out really well - i was doing stuff in French because i wasn't sure how my Indian accent would go down with the American public, and Michel would do stuff in English. I learned a lot about Francophone music, doing radio, and enjoying it.

starting a new show

After a year of working on the Francophone show, i started thinking of doing a show featuring music from the Indian Subcontinent. A good time to try out new ideas is usually summer, when there are more slots open. I was free to try out my new idea only in the summer of 1994. The station gave me a slot with no fuss.

I had originally thought of doing all genres of Indian music and named the show, Expressions of India. I was not very comfortable with this choice because many of the countries in the Indian Subcontinent have a common heritage and it seemed neither fair nor accurate to exclude all the others. As a result, i cut the name down to Expressions. Now don't think i was doing all this in a vaccuum without input from others. This was an ongoing process where i was soliciting feedback from all the listeners and people around me for weeks on end. So people called me up during the show and said they preferred 'Expressions of India' because it was good to know from which part of the world it was coming. One thing i was clear about - i wanted a name that would be representative of the Subcontinent, which meant that even the language had to be chosen carefully (i didn't want a boring Sanskrit name like Sangeet or some such thing). I didn't mind having an English name as all this was happening in the US. One evening, i was recounting to some friends the many versions i have heard of my name - sumaraki, sukimari, soo-kumari, sukiyaki and even kalamazoo!!! :-) We were brainstorming in the same mode and came up with - Echoes of the Subcontinent, Spicy Freeform, So Spicy the Frat Boys Can't Get It, and then finally Sounds of the Subcontinent! Thanks to Beth Barclay who provided all the more interesting names!

Playlists

March 17, 1996

March 10, 1996

March 3, 1996

February 25, 1996

February 18, 1996

February 11, 1996

January 28, 1996

January 21, 1996

my current fave music!

By this time of course, my vision had expanded to include world music inspired by these cultures. I couldn't think of being in the USA and not considering the body of music that comes out of reactions, collaborations and fascinations between the cultures and music of the Indian Subcontinent and the West. As for what i do now, it is genre-less or is all-genre, as you will: soundtracks (Bollywood, Hollywood and other woods), jazz, classical (Western, Hindustani, Carnatic), pop, rap, spoken word, hiphop, qawwali, ambient, folk, opera, religious hymns and chants, poetry, experimental, etc. from all the countries of the Suncontinent and world music inspired by the same. This could be in several languages, from dead to live, eastern to western, recognizable words to gibberish sounds. It could be Tamil rap, Sanskrit opera, French songs on India, Indiepop from England (not the same meaning as United Statesian Indierock), poetry sutras, jazz by Trilok Gurtu or Alice Coltrane, chanting by Tibetan monks, or folk music from Nepal.

The countries of "origin" then would be India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Tibet, Nepal. The "world" music comes from mostly Europe and the USA, though i sometimes do find things to play from Afghanistan or Bali that are appropriate. I know there has to be music that i could play from many countries of the "Indian" diaspora, such as several countries of Africa, the Caribbean, some parts of South America, but these are regions yet to be explored. I have one CD with music from the West Indies which has a fascinating Tamil origin to it. Of course there must so much more. What about the Senegalese singers who perform Indian film songs, words they don't understand but music they love from their favourite movies? I know some of the spots i could look for fresh and interesting stuff, but.......I do my best, but where's the money to buy all this, i ask you? Maybe you want to send me on a world tour to check out and buy all this great stuff. :-) All I need to do is come back once a week and play all that i discover!!!

a few notes on music & terminology

Let's take a minute to think about these terms which we use with such great facility in the US today. World music. What does it mean? This term is commonly used as music that comes from any part of the world. But i think that this any music actually refers to music that is not coming out of the US and Europe specifically, and the wicked West in general. How many world music shows play music from the US and/or Europe? For some strange reason, i find that World Music shows play a lot of African, South American and Asian music. (I must say that this opinion is based on the Ann Arbor and Detroit radio shows only and not on a close examination of all US radio shows) The DJ's in question might be doing this because they feel that this kind of music deserves more airplay, that more Americans need to know there is more to the world than just the US, they donUt want to play the same-old, same-old, etc. All of this is fine, but we shouldnUt call it a world music show, don't you think? It's not as if the US and Europe are not part of the world today (though we might wish this, it is not the reality of our existence). There is something not-so-fine in all this, but i don't quite know how to explain it. I am simply uneasy with the term and the way it is used.

east-west collaborations & cross-pollinations

I confess i am also sometimes troubled by some of the cross-pollinations today between the East and the West. How does one distinguish between a cool collaboration and a bad borrowing? At what point does a funky fusion between the East and the West become a new type of disrespect or even a colonialism? I have no answers. I only have questions. I simply say, 'i don't know, i like this.' And sometimes i say it and then change my mind later and say, 'man, what is this trashy stuff? sounds really bad.' In the final analysis, i think some pieces are easy to recognize as trash right away, others take time, and some you remain ambivalent about for a long time.

So this is a totally subjective process, just like one's opinions of what is great and what is not. Each to her own, what do you say? For a good explanation of my misgivings, please read Jon Pareles' article, 'A Small World After All. But Is That Good?' in the Pop Music section of the New York Times, Sunday, March 24, 1996.

guest co-hosts

I love doing this show. I also like to share it with other hosts and encourage people to participate and co-host with me whenever possible. I think it's good to do this: some people don't have the time to do this every week, others don't like going on the air alone, the listeners get a different and/or specialised view and hey, we all get to hear new music. Uptil now, I have had the following guest co-hosts, starting from the most recent - Saad Rehmani (Pakistani undergraduate student), Deborah Schultz (American graduate student), Christian Aalburg (German Fullbright student), Lakshmi Narayanan (Ann Arbor resident), Sayan Bhattacharya (Bengali graduate student). They all have co-hosted special programs either to present their music collection and explain why they like it, or in celebration of Muslim or Hindu festivals.

I have also had one local Hindustani (North Indian Classical music) group perform and explain this musical tradition on one show. This performance-interview featured Shubangi Deshpande (Ann Arbor music teacher) on vocals, Maninder Singh on tablas and Manju Deshpande on the harmonium. This was fun, informational and a learning experience for all!

tata, byebye, cheerio

To wind up, I would like to encourage you all to check out the WCBN-FM, Ann Arbor site. I am really proud to be part of this wonderful radio station, where lots of people volunteer so much of their creative energy, knowledge and time to do a service to the Ann Arbor community. As a radio station that is committed to freeform, i like to think that my show is freeform with spice! Vive la différence! Vive la similarité!

Remember, if any of you want to do a show with me, share music, donate music to me (this is a subliminal message, btw) :-) don't hesitate to send me a message!

I would also love to take this show nation-wide. What do you think, something like a George Colinet and Afro-Pop WorldWide, or Car Talk? Do you know how i could do that? Do you approve? Whaddyasay?

TATA!

Sounds of the Subcontinent