The American who sang South Indian classical music
Jon Higgins the American who sang South Indian classical music, i.e. Carnatic music, and tragically lost his life in a hit and run accident, happens to be one of the first people whose music convinced my ears about the delights and depths of this form.
I came across him quite by chance, while searching for something else, and was dazed by his stately rendition of Endaro Mahanubhavulu and his slow, loving rendition of Krishna Nee Begane Baro (have blogged about the story of Higgins singing this outside the Udupi Krishna Temple, because he wasn’t allowed inside here,-the story has a happy ending).
Higgins’ rendition of Endaro Mahanubhavulu was also my first proper introduction to this kriti (a kriti is a type of musical composition peculiar to Carnatic music, with three movements); I had just started listening to Carnatic music seriously and didn’t know much about the famous five kritis, i.e. the pancharatna kritis of Tyagaraja.
I listened to the music without much analysis and without knowing a word of Telugu. The way Higgins sang Endaro Mahanubhavulu, he conveyed the strong impression that it was a composition about greatness (see a translation here). Of course, “mahanu” was a clue in that “mahaan” means great in other Indian languages, but it was the singing that conveyed the quality behind that word and the composition, which is about great souls.
Youtube, that wonder, has produced a video of Govardhana Giridhara, titled Govardhana Giridhari. I would have directed the video differently (in not quite so literal a manner) but then I am not the director, and in this case it’s the music that matters!
Apparently a few had criticised Higgins for his pronunciation. But the very slight indication of his origins in the way he pronounced the words and the accent of his singing voice, is what adds, in my firm opinion, beauty to his music. Fortunately, people other than his critics knew better, and he was given the title of “Bhagavatar.”
Also see: Kanakadasa and Udupi
Amazing! The diction is flawless. Thank you!
Looks the west is in the grip of indian culture, but no one cares about recognition fromt he west
Amazing….wouldnt have realised it was a person of non-Indian origin singing if i hadnt read the blog. Quite a tragedy that he is not alive today!
Liked the heartwarming tribute you have paid to Higgins, and love the header. Very soothing picture of Buddha.
Best wishes,
Anjali
Hello,
Beautiful post, with very good links on the great singer. His rendition of many beautiful raagas, including the beautiful Bhairavi is still ringing in my ears.
Thanks for the link to raagabox.com I am enjoying it.
Regards
Good Post!
The loss of Jon Higgins is indeed irreparable. He was really one of his kind.
I had the very great fortune of listening to Higgins Bhagavatar live. If you closed your eyes, you would completely forget that it was a non-Indian singing. He sang with so much emotion, and his concerts were always a wonderful experience.
Thanks for all these links – I look forward to listening to these songs.
And to those who criticise his pronounciation, it was hardly more egregious than Maharajapuram Santhanam’s. Love his Krishna Nee Begane and his overall devotion to carnatic music, I’ve heard him live a couple of times when I was a child.
M
He was truly one of a kind – he fell in love with the music, learnt it properly and actually did a fairly good job with pronunciation too.
I have very very vague memories of his concert at the town I grew up – I was a little boy then. I remember my parents referring to him as “higgins bhagavatar”
Arun
I got a great kick out of the lightning-effect thingy that happens behind in the Vasudeva carrying Krishna that the Darbari Kanada went right past me and I reminded myself that music was what mattered and listened with eyes closed
The first time I heard Higgins was on AIR where there would be a 30 min recording of his which included Tyagaraja yoga vaibhavam in AnandaBhairavi raga. Dig up a couple of his articles(they’re on JSTOR) – one of which contains his experiences in the Madras circles. You will like reading it. I think he and Prof.Harold Powers were the only non-Indians to sing at the Tyagaraja aradhana at Princeton for a long time( things might have changed in the last decade or so). His articles and his other papers reveal a very interesting perspective and his interactions with Prof.T.Viswa at Wesleyan.
yikes Tyagaraja Aradhana at Tiruvayyaru not Princeton. Prof.Powers was from Princeton
I wish I knew enough about the language to know how good the diction is. It must take incredible dedication to master pronunciation while singing that well in another language.
This was wonderful- I’d often heard of him, but this was the first time I heard him. Though I do not know Telugu, his singing seemed most unaccented.
I wonder who he’d been in his earlier lives!
loving raagabox.com, thanks for this great site. They have done a fabulous job with tags and made the site really music friendly.
raagabox has also added a lot of Jon Higgins music recently, may be because of your blog! check it out http://www.raagabox.com/search.php?m=1&searchterm=Jon+Higgins
Hey thanks!
Thanks for sharing the links to Higgins’ amazing music.
Students of that “American” singing Bharatnatyam Songs . A snippet From the Tape that accompanied his Doctoral Work
http://www.mediafire.com/?mmnjz04m2ym
Typically Higgins-mode elaboration..Very soothing.
excellent. god showered his blessings on jon. it is really amazing. three facets of god unable to see but can feel. shiva, brahma and vishnu
all these facets blessed him
nice to listen
http://www.mediafire.com/?sharekey=6d3ed945dc036ea6ab1eab3e9fa335ca61711941ec4a55f1
Please download and listen to a full length concert by Higgins
in the company of M Chandrasekharan and Karaikudi Mani.
A collector’s item, indeed.