SGS Music Revealed

Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji creates music using the ancient tradition of Indian classical music, which is built on two main systems: Raga (melody) and Tala (rhythm). A raga is like a special scale or “mood” of music. There are 72 main ragas, and each one has its own flavor and feeling. Unlike Western music, which usually uses 12 notes, Indian music divides the octave into 22 tiny steps called Shrutis, giving the musical expression manys hades and emotions.

 

Tala, the rhythm, is just as important. It doesn’t just keep time like a clock, but interacts with the melody, sometimes following it, sometimes surprising it. In Sri Swamiji’s concerts, the drums, like the Tabla and Mridangam, often sound like they are having a playful conversation, or even a thunderous argument, with the other instruments.

 

Sri Swamiji combines traditional Indian instruments like the violin and flute with the modern synthesizer, played by himself to create a rich tapestry of sounds imitating various instruments, and the sounds of nature. For both the musicians and the audience, the goal is not just to create or hear the music but to experience it, to feel how the sound and its patterns can calm, energize, and tune body and mind. In Indian classical music, the audience forms an important part of a performance. The art of listening, Nadopasana, implies that the listener lets the sound guide the mind and the heart.

 

Sri Swamiji’s music is more than entertainment, it is also about healing and harmony. The idea is that every sound has a frequency, and these vibrations can affect both the human body and nature itself. This connects to ancient Greek thought too: philosophers like Pythagoras believed that music had the power to heal the soul and balance the body, because the universe itself was built on harmony and number. Similar to what the Greeks spoke of the “music of the spheres,” Sri Swamiji transcends the physical level of sounds with the medium of the synthesizer, having become an expert through intense studies and inner wisdom for nearly four decades. The sequences of his solo play interchange with the melodious and rhythmic parts by the whole ensemble, and the single artists.

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The concert in Athens will mark the 366th Music for Mediation Concert by Sri Swamiji worldwide. His transforming sounds have been attracting listeners from various cultures and walk of life. Besides the concerts at the Tonhalle Zurich and the KKL Lucerne in Switzerland, at the Sender Freies Berlin and at the University of Arts in Berlin, Germany, he performed at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Opera House in Sydney, and most recently at the Carnegie Hall in N.Y., just to mention a few.