JOIN USWas there music during the Indus Valley Civilisation?
Music, songs and dance have been part of Indian culture. But was there music during the Indus Valley Civilisation?
"Yes.... very much...music was there more than 5,000 years ago," says musicologist and computer technology expert Shail Vyas. With the help of the 'Songs of Mystery' project, he has managed to recreate instruments and music of those times.
"More work is being done," he said, adding that 20 possible instruments from the Indus Valley Civilisation have been created as Phase-1 of the project, that includes a multi-disciplinary approach involving archaeology, archaeo-musicology, organology, anthropology and advanced mordern technologies.
Vyas, a Homi Bhabha Fellow, last week, gave a presentation at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) during a cultural forum on 'International Conference on Complex Quantum Systems'.
Speaking to DH, Shail said: "A few years ago, I was reading a book about music that was played in 300 BC. This inspired me to go back further to the Indus Valley Civilisation' and start a detailed study."
He has recreated instruments like Nandi Veena, a lyre-type instrument with a body designed like a bull, Kumbh Tarangini, a combination of metallic pots, drum forms and metallic-type percussion instruments.
The future plans involve highly advanced and modern technologies like "physical modeling", "sample synthesis" and more in order to understand the sounds of ancient instruments.
There are plans to involve traditional instrument makers in the process of re-creation.
A child prodigy in music, Shail released his first album as music director in year 2002 on T Series and has not looked back since. Trained in Indian classical music from Jaipur-Atroli Gharana and Western classical music from Trinity College, London, he scored an astonishing 99% in Diploma in Theory of Western Music and Solo Piano. He has also studied variety of other musical genres and folk music from all around the world.