'Does Contemporary Minimalist and Electronic Music have to be boring? Check it out!'
Illustrated lecture by Amb. Gautam Mukhopadhaya, former Indian Ambassador to Syria, Afghanistan and Myanmar. In the course of his life and career, he developed a taste for progressive rock and jazz, Hindustani classical and regional music, and later, South American, some strains of Western classical and religious, African, Arab, Ottoman, Iranian, and South East and East Asian music
Minimalist and electronic typically conjure up sonic images of either repetitive, unchanging, monotonous music in which nothing happens for long periods of time, inducing yawns; or loud, mechanical or 'techno' dance or rave music defined by heavy, deadening drum beats that drive one away. But the two distinct, but sometimes intriguingly related sounds are rich in experimentation and creativity, ranging from early pioneers from the fringes of jazz and world music in the 1960s, to the edges of rock in the 1970s, to the more classical work of people like John Adams, the experimental vocals of Meredith Monk and Pauline Oliveiros, the cerebral yet hypnotic works of Steve Reich, the very 'visual' and often lush and melodic music of Philip Glass using mostly acoustic instrumentation, among others
