Almost everything: 2016-present
Above all, I aim to enthuse fellow musical searchers, connecting new textures and abstract sonic interrelations to the human voices, cultures, and passions behind them. I cover topics related to jazz, rhythm, and global improvisation, drawing on my experiences playing guitar, tabla, and santoor.
—Support the site!—
In the past few years I’ve written for The Wire, Jazzwise, Jazzed, MusicRadar, and Música Macondo, with subjects ranging from Coltrane and Hendrix to microtonal guitar tunings and West African polyrhythm. I also teach guitar & global music (hit me up for Lessons). Here’s a list of (nearly) everything so far. Broader CV here – and get in touch!
—Jump to—
• Fresh Repertoire: global guitar •
• World of Tuning: peg-twists •
• Darbar: Indian classical music •
• Ragatip: South Asian sonic tales •
• Reviews: London’s happenings •
• Coltraneology: a scale puzzle •
• Raga Index: Hindustani horizons •
• Odds & ends: other explorations •
• Non-musicals: activism & more •
(green = hosted here, blue = off-site)
• GUITAR RESOURCES •
‘Fresh Repertoire’ series: mainly my lesson articles for Guitar World – finding fresh fretboard perspectives via global musical ideas, and reappraising a few familiar guitar topics along the way (2018-)
- West African rhythm: Saharan kora harps & Ewe polyrhythms
- Guitarless learning: practicing without your instrument around
- Jazz walking basslines: capturing melody, harmony, and swing
- Zero-th fret awareness: incorporating open string tones
- Odd-time songwriting: building groove and a versatile ‘feel’
- Alankar ‘decoration’: India’s incredible melodic ornaments
- North Indian basics: two raga snapshots, and the tintal cycle
- Spinal Tap – up to 11: their ‘hidden’ roots in jazz, Bach, & raga
- Percussive acoustic guitar: techniques & animal rhythms
- Creative wah pedal use: vowels, circuitry, & classic Hendrix
- Joni’s visual imagination: her fresh tunings & cluster chords
- The ‘fretless fretboard’: using nothing but natural harmonics
- Flamen-konnakol rumba: Spanish-Carnatic translations
• DARBAR •
Living Traditions: 21 articles for 21st-century Indian classical music – in-depth collection for Darbar, exploring how music with ancient roots is adapting to a fast-paced, interconnected modern world (2019)
—Interviews: Subcontinental stars in their own words
- Ustad Shahid Parvez (sitar): innovation and hyper-discipline
- Ustad Bahauddin Dagar (rudra veena): Dhrupad through time
- Debasmita Bhattacharya (sarod): nature, gender, illusion
- Dr. Trichy Sankaran (mridangam): life-rhythmic joy
- Dr. Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande (khayal): limits of the analytical
- Akram Khan MBE (dance): universal choreographic empathy
- Pandit Sanju Sahai (tabla): food, fusion, family heritage
- Begum Parveen Sultana (khayal): raga-religious mirrors
- Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya (slide guitar): rebirth
- Pandit Rupak Kulkarni (bansuri): gurus & global mythologies
- Meeta Pandit (khayal): family origins of the Gwalior gharana
—Explorations: Indian classical from different perspectives
- Raag Chandranandan: metaphysics of a modern creation
- Tihai: the power of threes: tripartite ‘stories’ in human culture
- Chiming with other genres: sonic bridges to styles you know
- Singing sculptures: curious instruments: ten fresh timbres
- In-depth Carnatic primer: South India’s mellifluous music
- Exploring Raag Malkauns: ‘he who wears serpents as garlands’
- Seven days of santoor: the hundred-stringed Hindustani box
- Twelve days of tabla: profiling the world’s most versatile drum
- The sitar from different angles (Pt. 1): histories, heroes, myths
- The sitar from different angles (Pt. 2): modern innovations
Other Darbar writing: articles, events, projects, etc (from 2018)
- Artist Database: 150+ multimedia bios of our past performers
- YouTube channel: 300+ video descriptions on musical context
- Darbar VR360: covering the world’s first fully VR music festival
- Raga writings: e.g. Darbari – musicological, historical, spiritual
- Community: e.g. obituary of Pt. Ramakant Gundecha [n.b. note]
- Concert programmes for Barbican, Southbank, & Sadler’s Wells
- Editing 80+ shorter articles by author & critic Jameela Siddiqi
- Social media, press releases, engagement with academia, etc
• WORLD OF TUNING •
Everything you didn’t know you wanted to know about guitar tuning…from Malagasy myth to modern psychoacoustics (out 2022!)
• Menu of Altered Tunings (100+) •
In-depth database: ‘Palate expander’ of 6-string tunings from around the world – with notes, songs, origin tales, etc (see Tag List):
All 100+ tunings (click to expand)…
EADGBE (‘Standard’) | Eb Std. (‘Hendrix’) | D Std. (‘Tone Down’) | Db Std. (‘Iommi’) | C Std. (‘Two-Tone Drop’) | B Std. (‘Baritone’) | F Std. (‘Raise’) | G Std. (‘Terz’) | Drop D | Double-Drop D | Drop C (‘Neon’) | Low Drop C | Drop A (‘Slack Thwack’) | Dmaj (‘Vestapol’) | Dmin (‘Bentonia’) | Dsus (‘DADGAD’) | Gmaj (‘Taro Patch’) | Gmin (‘Banjo Minor’) | Gsus (‘Sawmill’) | Cmaj (‘Wide Major’) | Cmin (‘Wide Minor’) | Csus (‘Wide Modal’) | Amaj (‘Spanish’) | Emaj (‘Vestapol’) | Emin (‘Cross-Note’) | Fmaj (‘Low Taro’) | Fmin (‘Low Banjo’) | All Min. 3rds (‘3s’) | All Maj. 3rds (‘4s’) | All Fourths (‘5s’) | All Tritones (‘6s’) | All Fifths (‘7s’) | All Min. 6ths (‘8s’) | AirTap! | Albert Collins’ Fm | Albert King’s F6 | Ali Farka Touré | Alphabet | Atta’s C | Bağlama (‘Saz’) | Banjo | Black Crow | Blown a Wish | Bruce Palmer | Cabbage | Carnatic Drone | Cello (‘Haircut’) | Charango | Coyote | Dracula | Drop DG | Ead-Gad | Equilibrium | Ethereal | Fuji | Funky Avocado | Gambale | Ghost Reveries | Godzilla | Gothic | Haja’s Bb | Hejira | I Only Said | Icarus | Iris | Jack’s Chikari | José González | Kabosy (‘Leonard’s C’) | Karnivool | Keola’s C (‘Wahine’) | Lefty Flip (‘Mirrored’) | Lute (‘Vihuela’) | Magic Farmer | Math Rock F | Mauna Loa C6 | Mesopotamian | Mi-composé (‘Elenga’) | Nashville | New Standard (‘Fripp’s NST’) | One-Tone Drone (‘Ostrich’) | Only Shallow | Orkney | Oud (Arabic) | Oud (Turkish) | Overtone Series | Papa-Papa | Papuan Four-Key | Pink Moon | Place to Be | Rakotomavo | Road | Schizophrenia | Square-Neck Dobro | Teardrop | Ten Years (‘Decade’) | Wind of Change | Yvette’s Dadd9 | Zen Drone (‘Dulcimeric’) | Zigzag Thirds (Maj.) | Zigzag Thirds (Min.)
—ALL RESOURCES—
Menu of Tunings (100+) • Altered-tuned artists • Divine Indian drones • Global instrument tunings • Joni Mitchell’s stringed canvas • Alpha-melodic word-games • James Taylor’s puzzle • Double-siding: capo-harp hacks • Tales & quotes • Megatable: analytics • Glossary: tuning terms • Feedback
• REVIEWS •
Various events from 2016, mostly jazz & global concerts in London (…the spectre of free press tickets helped get me into music writing in the first place)
- Marcel Khalifé @ Barbican: Lebanese lamenations (Jazzwise)
- Dawn of Midi & Co. @ Barbican: a Bauhaus centenary (Jazzwise)
- Alina Bzhezhinska @ The Crypt: lush hip-harp fusions (Jazzwise)
- Phronesis @ Ronnie Scott’s: communitarian virtuosi (Jazzwise)
- John McLaughlin @ Barbican: the fusioneer on fire (Jazzwise)
- Steve Reich’s Drumming @ Barbican: spiralling loops (JazzFM)
- Pharoah Sanders @ Ronnie Scott’s: natural revisitings (JazzFM)
- Darbar 2016 @ Southbank: …before they hired me (JazzFM)
- Raga Jazz Style: reissue: unsung Indo-jazz (Música Macondo)
- Light Shadow Boom Boom: eclectic Derry jazz (Get in Her Ears)
- Alina Bzhezhinska @ LJF Online: lockdown sounds (Jazzwise)
- Alina Bzhezhinska @ Jazz Cafe: the reanimating scene (Jazzwise)
- Sail from this Life – Queen Bonobo: rhapsodic jazz-folk (RJ)
- Hip Harp Collective @ Ronnie’s: music and conflict (Jazzwise)
- Vitor Pereira @ Pizza Express: Telecaster expositions (RJ)
• RAGATIP •
Ongoing series of quick articles for Ragatip, spanning various topics related to South Asian music and culture – folk & classical roots, modern fusions, historical & spiritual foundations, geographical oddities, etc (launched 2020)
—On camera: interviews & demos
- Sitar 101: demystifying India’s sparkling strings [soon]
- Santoor 101: unpacking the hundred-stringed box [soon]
- Kiranpal Singh interview: global classical santoor [soon]
- Shahid Abbas Khan interview: Sufi roots & fusions [soon]
—Profiles: quick bios of fascinating South Asian artists
- Dr. Gopal Shankar Misra and the ‘curious veena’
- Pandit Anokhelal Mishra’s total tabla dedication
- Dr. Kadri Gopalnath, ‘benevolent ruler’ of Carnatic sax
- Pandit Kishan Maharaj, Benares tabla powerhouse
- ‘Veena Baba’ Parvatikar, musical monk of the Himalayas
- Pandit Ram Sahai, fountainhead of the Benares gharana
- Pandit Lacchu Maharaj, unheralded rhythmic genius
—Instruments: short intros and sonic samples
- What should I expect from going to a Dhrupad concert?
- The sarangi: bowed instrument ‘of a hundred colours’
- How does the sitar work? What happens at a sitar concert?
- What is khayal? What happens at a khayal vocal concert?
- What should I expect from seeing a Carnatic singer?
- What is happening at a solo tabla performance?
- The santoor: North India’s magical, multi-stringed box
- The bansuri: the seductive powers of Lord Krishna’s flute
- The sarod: divine, devotional cousin of the banjo
- The Carnatic violin: sliding strings of South India
—Cultural: assorted snapshots, primers, & oddball tales
- How did Zakir Hussain end up living with the Grateful Dead?
- Why do Indian classical artists love board games so much?
- Tales of the tabla: The Emperor and the Red Fort Kayda
- Baul music: the spiritual songs of Bengal’s wandering bards
- Apocalyptic ambitions: Scriabin and the Himalayas
- Indian ‘protest music’: snapshots from North & South
- Rabindrasangeet: songs of Tagore, a broad-minded Bengali
- What is Sufism? Why is music so important to the Sufis?
- Qawwali: how euphoric Sufi chanting captured the world
- Joyful experiments: three snapshots of global Sufi music
- Heresy or progress? Electric instruments in Indian classical
- Early interchanges: How jazz thrived in 1920s India
- Kathak: the athletic mathematics of Indian dance
- Versatile vibrations: how the tabla can mimic anything
- Bharatanatyam: South India’s graceful, empathetic dance
- Marathi folk traditions: Abhang, Natya Sangeet, & Lavani
- Subcontinental sampling: in hip-hop to acid house
- Tappa music: romantic songs of the Punjabi camel riders
- Indian communities in Kenya: brief histories and sounds
- Bangla Kirtan: the veneration of Lord Vishnu goes global
- Rajasthani folk traditions: the Langas and the Manganiyars
- Gujarati folk dances for Navratri: Garba and Dandiya
- Siddi music: how African folk rhythms reached North India
- ‘Unity in music’: Thoughts from Subcontinental masters
- Music and wellness: a few insights from around the world
- Early explorers: Indian travellers in Britain (1600-1900)
- Community roots: origins of the UK’s Indian music scene
- Did Raag Parameshwari lead to Live Aid’s creation?
- Turn up the hype! South Asian musico-sporting moments
- Why oversimplify? 1: Charlie Chaplin, JFK, James Blunt, & co.
- Why oversimplify? 2: Kishori Amonkar – world-wary genius?
- Chutney music: Indo-Caribbean devotional dance fusions
• COLTRANEOLOGY •
John Coltrane left behind some cryptic, handwritten notes entitled ‘Scales of India’. I’ve been trying to work out which ragas they are, where he found them, and what he might have been doing with them [out 2022]
- Trane’s ‘Scales of India’: decoding the puzzle of his handwritten raga notes – uncovering the mysterious tale with friends from the East & West
• HINDUSTANI RAGA INDEX •
Ongoing non-commercial project: 40 fascinating North Indian ragas in sonic, geometric, and cultural depth – new sources, fresh explanatory techniques, and lots of direct input from the masters (out 2022!)
- Hindustani Raga Index: main project homepage
- Raag Parameshwari: example draft for collaborators
• ODDS & ENDS •
Musical breakdowns, interviews, speculations, early writings, etc (from 2016)
- John McLaughlin: Shakti 2020 interview: new album release
- What is it about drummers? rock mythology vs. tabla tales
- Raga Jungle? Turntables, tablas, & talas: striking similarities
- Shakti’s ‘Remainder Bar’ rhythms: tricks for odd-time flow
- Harmony in dreams: what, how, why? quirks and speculations
- Optimising Zoom for music lessons: tech tips for my students
- Bullshit Jobs: rhythm games vs. office boredom: R.I.P Graeber
- Global Ear: curious cultural interchange in Bristol (The Wire)
- Duality: Yussef Dayes profile for Jazzed launch show (Jazzed)
- Feature playlist: introducing 300+ Indo-Jazz classics (Jazzed)
- Interview: Aruna Sairam & Soumik Datta (Música Macondo)
- Interview: Jaubi on Lahore’s hip-hop scene (Música Macondo)
- Interview: Sarathy Korwar on Day to Day (Música Macondo)
- WhoSampled: sample finds: occasional global confluences
- Ian Ring’s All the Scales: Carnatic raga consultancy
• OUTSIDE MUSIC •
Before music I worked in systemic global dev activism, and also dragged myself through 5 years in corporate consulting (see Bullshit Jobs)
- Workplace Activism Handbook: pushing for radical change from within the private sector (v2 draft on request)
- Assorted global dev projects with GiveDirectly and GWWC, inc. speeches given at Harvard, UC Berkeley, & UCL
- Personal correspondence with Gary Otte (1971-2017), spanning his final five years on death row in Ohio (via Human Writes)
- Urbexing Bristol’s Railway Hotel: looking inside a long-derelict local landmark (photos & writeup for 28 Days Later forum)
- (…sadly, the local magazine which hosted some of my terrible teenage travel writing has long vanished from the web)