about the artist - Mohamed Assani

INDIAN MUSIC PERFORMANCE FOR SCHOOLS
STUDY GUIDE
Artist: Mohamed Assani

ABOUT THE ARTIST: MOHAMED ASSANI
Mohamed Assani is a celebrated sitarist and
tabla player with a unique sound. He is
widely known for his authentic raga
performances as well as his creative ability
to adapt his instrument to different genres,
including Western Classical, Jazz & World
Fusion.
Apart from his Indian Classical work,
Mohamed has also worked with some
leading Western musicians, including
contemporary composer Ian Wilson, the
Callino Quartet, the Grand Union Orchestra
and the Black Dyke Brass Band. His band,
Indus, (featuring sitar, santoor, Western flute
and tabla) has received critical acclaim for
their original music including being hailed as
'ones to keep a beady eye upon' by the UK's
award-winning froots magazine.
Mohamed has also taken his music to the stage, composing and performing for
acclaimed playwright Rani Moorthy's 'Dancing within Walls' and a production of Kipling's
'The Man Who Would be King.'
Mohamed's musical journey began at Dartington College of Arts in England, where he
did a degree in Western Classical and World music. Through a combination of fate and
chance, he later switched from piano to sitar as his main instrument. Mohamed began
his training on the sitar from Sri Dharambir Singh and later learned from Sri Mehboob
Nadeem. He is now a disciple of Ustad Ashraf Sharif Khan of the Poonch
Gharana. Mohamed plays sitar in the emotive style developed by the late Ustad Vilayat
Khan, in which the sitar is made to emulate the human voice through bending its strings.
As a dedicated and experienced teacher, Mohamed has inspired students of all ages in
their musical journeys. During his extensive teaching career, he has taught at the Royal
Academy of Music (London, England), the University of Huddersfield and the BRIT
School of Performing Arts (London, England). He currently teaches at the VSO School
of Music in Vancouver, Canada.
GET IN TOUCH:
Cell: (604) 354-9869
Email: info@mohamedassani.com
Web: www.mohamedassani.com
Electronic Press Kit: www.sonicbids.com/mohamedassani

ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE
Mohamed Assani is a professional sitarist, tabla player and trained teacher. For schools,
he will present a 45-minute performance, which will include the following elements:
1. Sitar Performance (Approx 13 mins)
Mohamed will present a raag (melody) and a folk tune on the sitar. Mohamed will also
explain a bit about the instrument and how it works.
2. Tabla Performance (Approx 10 mins)
Mohamed will present a short performance on the tabla. This will be followed by a
recitation of bols (language of the tabla) followed by a performance of the bols on tabla.
3. Live Performance Creation – Technology (Approx 12 mins)
Mohamed is developing a unique live performance for schools, that allows students to
experience what a live performance of sitar and tabla sounds like. (Normally, sitar and
tabla are performed together by two musicians in a concert.) He will do a live recording
on each of his instruments (keyboard, tabla, sitar) in front of students. He will then play
back the recording and perform on top of it to create a layered performance featuring
keyboard, tabla and sitar. This gives Mohamed the opportunity to showcase all his
skills as a multi-instrumentalist. Plus, students will have the opportunity to experience
how a performance is built, the different elements and the final outcome.
4. Interactive Session with Q & A (Approx 10 mins)
Mohamed will open up to a question period and, where appropriate, do some
interactive exercises with students. Mohamed will also share a bit about his
experience and ethos as a musician.

INSTRUMENTS USED IN THE PERFORMANCE
SITAR
The sitar is the most popular melodic instrument in classical northern Indian music today.
Together with the Surbahar and the Tanpura, it is part of the family of long-neck lutes. The
large gourd is made of a dried pumpkin. The neck is usually made of aged Tun wood, an
Indian variety of teakwood. Metal strings made of steel (bass strings also of brass or
bronze) run across two bridges made of bone. The frets are movable by cords that are tied
to the neck and are also made of steel. The word “sitar” comes from Iran and means
“three strings.” “Seh” means three and “Tar” means string.
TABLA
The Tabla is regarded as the queen of drums and percussion instruments and is the most
popular Indian rhythm instrument. It consists of two drums: the Bayan (big bass drum) and
the Dayan. The two of them are almost always played together. Both drums have a body
that is closed at the bottom. The open top is usually covered with a goat leather skin. To
the edge of this basic skin, a second skin (Kani) is attached. In the centre of the skin is the
GAB: a black area that gives the instrument a special sound and makes the variety of
sounds and modulations possible. It is a fine art to apply this GAB in the correct mixture,
consistency and strength of a paste, which consists mainly of rice flour and iron filings.
When playing, the two drums are placed on rings (Bira), which support them. The tuning
wedges that are held by leather straps at the sides are meant for tuning the instrument.
Depending on whether the wedges are beaten upwards or downwards by the tuning
hammer, the sound gets lower or higher. Fine-tuning is done by beating with the tuning
hammer on the woven ring around the skin.
iTANPURA
An iPhone app that replicates the sound of the tanpura - a musical instrument widely used
to accompany Indian Classical music. The traditional tanpura is a 4-stringed instrument
with a base made from cured pumpkin gourd and a wooden stem. It is tuned to the chosen
pitch or key and provides a constant background "drone" or frame of reference against
which the rest of the vocal or instrumental music is performed.
ABLETON LIVE on MAC
A loop-based software music sequencer for Mac. It is designed to be an instrument for live
performances as well as a tool for composing and arranging.
NOVATION KEYBOARD
An intelligent plug-in/sequencer controller. It has a high quality keyboard, with 8 drum pads
and a total of 33 assignable controls, which allow you to get hands-on control of your plugin
instruments, effects and sequencer.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS
RAAG / RĀGA
A melodic mode used in Indian classical music. It is a series of five or more musical notes
upon which a melody is made. In the Indian musical tradition, rāgas are associated with
different times of the day, or with seasons. Indian classical music is always set in a rāga.
Non-classical music such as popular Indian film songs and ghazals sometimes use rāgas
in their compositions.
SARGAM
Refers to the use of syllables to describe musical notes, like the ‘solfege’ system.
i.e: Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do. In North Indian Music the syllables are:
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa
Tonic second third fourth fifth sixth seventh octave
LAY / LAYA
The tempo, or speed of a piece.
TAAL
The term used in Indian classical music for the rhythmic pattern of any composition and for
the entire subject of rhythm, roughly corresponding to metre in Western music.
TEEN TAAL
The most common rhythm cycle used in Indian Music. It consists of 16 beats. Clap is on
beats 1,5 and 13. Beat 9 is a weak beat and is not clapped but is demonstrated by waving
the right hand. The words ‘Dha Dhin’ are names of sounds created on the tabla. When
notated, it looks like this:
Dha Dhin Dhin Dha Dha Dhin Dhin Dha
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Dha Tin Tin Ta Ta Dhin Dhin Dha
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
BOL
A syllable representing tabla strokes and the sounds they make. The word “bol” is derived
from the word "bolna" which means "to speak" in Hindi & Urdu.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF INDIAN MUSIC
The music of the Indian subcontinent (India, Pakistan & Bangladesh), referred to generally
as Indian music, is said to be one of the oldest unbroken musical traditions in the world. It
is said that the origins of this system go back to the Vedas (ancient scripts of the Hindus)
when it was incorporated as a part of sacred temple practices. Indian classical music has
evolved significantly since these ancient times.
A significant era of development for North Indian music as we know it now was during the
Moghul Empire. Influenced heavily by Persian music during this time, classical music
moved out of the temples and into the Courts, where it flourished under the patronage of
various Emperors - many who kept artists on their payroll to compose and perform
exclusively for the Court.
Indian music has developed within a very complex interaction between different peoples of
different races and cultures. It appears that the ethnic diversity of present day India has
been there from the earliest of times.
The present system of Indian music is based upon two important pillars: raag and
taal. Raag is the melodic form while taal is the rhythmic aspect.
Raag may be roughly equated with the Western term mode or scale. There is a system of
up to seven notes that are arranged in a means not unlike Western scales.
The taal (rhythmic forms) are also very complex. Many common rhythmic patterns
exist. They revolve around repeating patterns of beats.
The interpretation of the raag and the taal is not the same all over India. Today there are
two major traditions of classical music. There is the North Indian and the South Indian
tradition. The North Indian tradition is known as Hindustani sangeet and the South Indian
is called Carnatic sangeet. Both systems are fundamentally similar but differ in
terminology and performance practice.
Some of the common instruments used in Indian Classical music (both North & South) are:
• Sitar
• Tabla
• Sarangi
• Santoor
• Rabab
• Harmonium
• Veena
• Rudra Veena
• Bansuri
• Mridangam
• Sarod
• Pakhawaj
• Surbahar
• Tanpura
• Shehnai
• Violin
• Been
• Ghatam

RECOMMENDED LISTENING – SOME AMAZING ARTISTS
SITAR Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ustad Shahid Parvez
FLUTE Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia
TABLA Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pt. Anindo Chatterjee
HINDUSTANI VIOLIN N. Rajam
CARNATIC VIOLIN Shankar, L. Subramanian
SANTOOR Pt. Shivkumar Sharma
SHENHAI Ustad Bismillah Khan
SAROD Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan
VOCAL Begum Parveen Sultana, Ustad Rashid Khan, Ustad Amir Khan
GHAZAL Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali, Farida Khanum
QAWWALI Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Sabri Brothers
FOLK Abida Parveen, Pathaney Khan
FUSION Shakti, Nitin Sawhney, Trilok Gurtu, Fuzon
FILMI Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhosle, Lata Mangeshkar,
Kishore Kumar