sushant

Bachelor of Architecture school of

a rt a n d
a r c h ite c tu r e

Folk Music Centre

Arjun Middha

Thesis Project SSAA/X/2018-24

Gurgaon 2018
Final year Thesis Project

Sushant School of Art and Architecture

Ansal University
Table of Contents
1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 3
1.1 Background ................................................................................................................................. 3
1.2 Need and Justification ............................................................................................................... 3
2. General and Specific Issues or Problems ................................................................. 5
2.1 Issues and problems................................................................................................................... 5
2.1.1 Condition of folk musicians from different parts of India .................................................. 5
2.1.2 Grief of the musicians and music lovers of Delhi................................................................. 5
2.1.3 Why combine the two issues?................................................................................................... 6
2.2 What is currently being done by the government and other bodies to tackle the issue? . 6
2.3 How am I tackling the issue differently?................................................................................. 7
3. Research Development ............................................................................................. 9
3.1 Primary research ......................................................................................................................... 9
3.2 Secondary research ..................................................................................................................... 9
3.3 Tertiary Research ...................................................................................................................... 10
3.4 Aim ............................................................................................................................................. 10
4. Vision ....................................................................................................................... 11
4.1 Cursory Zoning ........................................................................................................................ 12
4.2 Possible challenges and initial thoughts on design .............................................................. 13
1. Introduction
1.1 Background

India is a culturally diverse country. Each Indian state has its own culture to boast about. It is said

that the local dialect changes every 11 kilometres, along with the local traditions. Such traditional

diversity in the cultural traditions of India bring about a variety in the music of each of these

cultures. Each region has its own particular style of music. These variations are not slight and

hence cannot be ignored. For the village folk, their local music is an indispensable component of

their daily lives, and especially of functions such as weddings, engagements, and births. There is a

plethora of songs for such occasions. There are also many songs associated with planting and

harvesting, and with the routinely singing of their hopes, fears and aspirations. Some of the songs

are about heroes from mythology, recount their stories of bravery and compose odes to the Gods.

To bring back the music of the folk back to the people, I wish to design a folk music revival centre.

1.2 Need and Justification

It is disheartening to see the complete cultural negligence by us Indians in the last few decades,

especially towards music with the growth of modern technology. With the influx of new modern

equipment and craze with the modern culture adoption, we have started glorifying western forms

of music and are on the verge of losing our own. Instead of using technology and internet to

preserve and glorify our traditional music culture, we are using it to glorify western culture and

forget our roots. One of the main reasons for this is that while today cities like Delhi are developing

into urban sprawls, the need for a planned growth of cultural spaces, especially music associated

spaces has often been neglected, and thus cannot keep pace with the commercial, industrial and

residential developments. Even if we put folk music out of the picture for a minute and talk about

music associated spaces in general, there is a major lack of places performance and enjoyment of

music. Delhi produces a lot of good musicians who decide to move to cities Mumbai and

Bangalore because Delhi does not provide a good “music scene” as they call it. Hence such a study
is very necessary at this critical time, that too when a very little number of architects and developers

are even talking about it.

2. General and Specific Issues or Problems
2.1 Issues and problems

There are two main issues my thesis project seeks to address, one is regarding the condition of

folk musicians from different parts of India, the other is regarding the plea of musicians and music

lovers in Delhi.

2.1.1 Condition of folk musicians from different parts of India

Because of the ignorance towards our traditional forms of music, our folk musicians despite of

their proficiency, talent and hard work get very little money, very little fame and very little respect

in the society and have no other choice but to resort to more lucrative sources of income to make

a living. Folk music would remain distant and incomprehensible unless it is presented in a form

that is understood and loved by a majority of music lovers. That can be made possible mainly

through teaching folk music along with contemporary and western forms of music, while

continuously drawing parallels between the two.

2.1.2 Grief of the musicians and music lovers of Delhi

As for the musicians and music lovers in Delhi, although there are some performance spaces like

hard rock café at Saket, Imperfecto at Hauz Khas, JLN Stadium, IGI Stadium etc, they provide

for just that- performance, and all of these venues are strictly professional. Musicians don’t feel a

sense of belonging they. They just come, perform their gig, get their payment and go back. Music

is a social art. Musicians need a place where they can meet, interact and jam with other musicians,

form bands, groups and societies; and interact with music lovers without disturbing other people

and activities. They need a place where there is a diverse availability of musical instruments and

they can buy, sell, rent and share instruments. A place which offers a variety of acoustic

environments and settings, in the form of piazzas, music streets, amphitheatres, indoor clubs,
cafes, auditoriums etc. A place which offers soundproof studios and good sound systems for

recording their music. A place which provides spaces for musical workshops by successful

musicians. A lot of people who play music are often unable to practice in their homes without any

worry due to neighbour complaints, and look for jam-pads, which again are very less in number in

the NCR region. Thus, it would be great if such a centre, with a cordial musical community

provides for these jam pads too, within the same enclave.

2.1.3 Why combine the two issues?

- Folk music needs to be brought back to the general public, and not be limited to the tiny

percentage of people who are making it. In order to achieve this, the boundaries between

folk music and modern contemporary music will need to blur.

- The project will require some financial viability and support, and that will come with the

help of the events and performances held at the centre.

- The project will need to attract a number of local musicians, music lovers and general

public. That will only be possible if the functions at the centre cater to them. Once they

are inside, they will see a lot of activities and events related to folk music and will want to

collaborate.

2.2 What is currently being done by the government and other bodies to tackle

the issue?

Although the current state of the folk music of India is weak to say the least, some of the steps

that are being taken to empower it, even though on a very tiny scale, do give a ray of hope that

this form of art can still be saved. The Centre for Cultural Resources and Training (CCRT), located

in Dwarka, Delhi, which comes under the central government is taking steps to strengthen the

foundation of the education by making education culture based and meaningful. It also provides

scholarships to students who excel in various art activities like drama, music, narrative art forms,
classical dances, etc. are organized to create an awareness of the regional variations and richness

of cultural expressions of our country. It has also documented a lot of the folk music of India in

its own publications. The shortcoming here is it only reaches a very tiny audience.

We also have people like Yusuf Khan, 34, who belongs to a family of folk musicians in Rajasthan.

Yusuf learnt how to operate a computer when he was 16. Now he is using that knowledge to

digitalize and immortalize the rich musical tradition he inherited. He uses the computer not just to

preserve the music but to introduce it to the world as well. Initially their performances were limited

to government functions, now they perform across the world.

Another amazing thing that has happened to our folk music is coke studio. It is a TV-cum web

music show in which multiple composers and musicians from different backgrounds, including

villages, come together and compose fusion songs. It reaches a lot of audience but the number of

folk musicians that get such kind of exposure is limited. A lot of times the folk musicians that

become a hit are repeated in future episodes. The number of episodes is also limited.

Malini Awasthi, a famous classically trained singer has recently turned to singing folk music to save

the dying art. She has even stated that the current generation of youngsters who are music lovers

have started to show interest in folk music as some few music directors of Bollywood have started

putting such kind of music in their film projects. But she also laments that it’s not seen as a

responsibility and accountability of every state’s media, scholars, intellectuals and rich people to

promote folk. This is the only sector, which never gets sponsors.

2.3 How am I tackling the issue differently?

The advancements mentioned above are either happening on a very small scale, or focus on the

preservation rather than revival of the music to make it more appreciable to the general public, or

have very little audience, or have very less number of musicians. Most of all, architecture has not

actively been brought into picture to achieve this and thus the endeavour has not been that

effective.
I wish to bring architecture into the picture to play an active part in reviving the music. I wish to

integrate the traditional gurukul sampradaya method with modern and contemporary methods of

teaching music, by manipulating the architecture of such kind of spaces. This will infuse a sense

of fusion among the students. Also, getting the public involved in the scene is crucial to increasing

the reach of folk music. This will be achieved by not just letting public come inside but to include

the functions and create the kind of spaces that would attract the public and make them an active

part of the programme rather than just being visitors.

3. Research Development

My research will be broken down into 3 parts- primary, secondary and tertiary

3.1 Primary research

The primary research will deal with the meaning, requirements and qualities of the following

spaces-

1) Teaching and learning spaces

2) Performing spaces

3) Recording studios

4) Jam pads

5) Residential Spaces

6) Common public facilities

It will also include understanding and application sound-proofing methods and creation of

various kinds of acoustic environments.

3.2 Secondary research

The secondary research will deal with case studies and their analysis. The inferences and learning

from them would help in the design development and from them would help in the design

development and will be an important part of the research. The case studies would also supplement

the primary research in understanding the spaces that are part of the programme. These case

studies will be followed by interviews of local bands and music students with a pre-planned

questionnaire, to collect information about what spatial elements they find favourable/

unfavourable, about their experiences and ideas, and trying to get them to compare the present

situation here with internationally used methods and spatial elements. I want the programme to
essentially be a centre for musician by musicians. I wish to do research and case studies on the

following music centres/institutes: -

1) Noida School of Rock, Noida

2) Dhwani Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, Gurgaon

3) Kala Academy, Goa

4) Budapest Music Centre, Hungary

5) Triveni Kala Sangam, Delhi

3.3 Tertiary Research

The tertiary research would be based on the design development part of the programme. It will

include theories and philosophies related to concept development, creating a balance/fusion

between vernacular architecture of a place with a contemporary one, design strategies, suitable

landscaping etc. that is responsive to the context and climate.

3.4 Aim

- To create spaces which offer a psychologically and spatially inviting atmosphere and

provide a variety of acoustical conditions by establishing a dynamic relationship between

open, semi open, and closed.

- To explore the acoustic fundamentals of sound in a space, how they apply to spaces like

auditoriums, practice and rehearsal studios, and jam-pads and classrooms, and what role

does an architect play in optimizing them.

- To explore construction materials and techniques applied to achieve the same.

- To look at elements of vernacular Indian architecture, compare them with modern

contemporary elements and come up with a typology that is a fusion between the two
 - To learn about the traditional gurukul sampradaya method of teaching music, and about

the western method, in order to design an institutional space which follows the principles

of both.

- To look at the work of CCRT, Coke Studio and other mentioned people and

organisations from an architectural perspective.

- To design a building complex which encourages maximum public interaction without

drawing too much from the onlookers into the educational campus.

- To work towards a programme which offers a lot of public involvement activities related

to folk music, create an active and dynamic link between people and the music.

- To create a heavily pedestrianized environment

4. Vision
Through my thesis, I seek to address both of these issues with a single holistic solution, which will

serve the function of preserving and reviving the folk music of India and empowering the folk

musicians; of teaching folk music along with other contemporary and western forms of music

using an integrated strategy which combines the traditional gurukul sampradaya method of

learning music to the contemporary modern studio system; of providing a favourable environment

for learning, creating and performing music; and of providing accommodation to the teachers,

students and guests. Financial viability of the project will be brought about by bringing public to

the scene with the incorporation of functions like concert hall, open air theatre, live music cafe,
music library cum database, listening rooms, music workshops and public facilities. Before moving

ahead, it is imperative to know about the traditional and modern teaching methods for music and

about what kind of spaces musicians like to play in.

Traditional Gurukul Sampradaya Method- Guru (teacher) and shishyas (students) used to live

nearby or in the same house, with usually five to six shishyas under one guru. Teaching happened

mostly in open spaces and there were no designated classrooms. The system often existed in large

ashram complexes. It stresses a lot on individual practice in seclusion or riyaaz.

Modern system- Consists of studio where pupils learn and rehearse. The studios are attaches to

other spaces like lecture rooms, libraries, recording studios etc. Most often they are treated like

classrooms for any other subject minus the furniture.

I wish my programme to have a balance of rehearsal studios and riyaaz studios.

4.1 Cursory Zoning

The programme will essentially be divided into three broad zones-

1. A dedicated public zone, occupying most of the ground floor with a variety performance

spaces ranging from a small amphitheatre to a large concert hall/auditorium, Jam pads,

recording and production studios, Audio-visual-cum-workshop rooms, a music library

cum folk music database, listening rooms, Instrument buy and rent-out shops, and public

facilities like live music cafes, cafeteria, landscaped open plazas etc.

2. The institutional zone, with its own separate entry for the students and teachers. This

zone will have multiple lesson rooms and studios, each of them dedicated towards teaching

a separate form of folk music or contemporary music. Some classrooms will be common

to all and thus will be larger in size. Each classroom will have a dedicated storage space

with sizes according to the sizes and the number of instruments for the particular music

form. The classrooms would have a strong connection with nature as teaching in the

traditional gurukul system used to happen mostly in open spaces. In addition, there will
 also be group rehearsal studios and individual riyaaz (practice) studios. The music

production classrooms will have an attached music studio which will be common to all

students. An auditorium dedicated solely to the school events would also be needed. A

temple preferably near or within the school building should also be there, as traditional

styles of folk music give a lot of importance to prayer.

3. The residential zone, With student hostels for boys and girls, teachers’ quarters and guest

houses. The dining space will be separate for all of them.

4.2 Possible challenges and initial thoughts on design

One of the main challenges that is to be faced is the acoustic isolation and acoustic independence

of the music spaces. To tackle that effectively, it would be imperative to learn about the sake of

different acoustic conditions, students may occasionally tend to prefer corridors or staircases as

opposed to isolated lesson rooms and studios. To maintain some resemblance to the gurukul

sampradaya, I wish to stay away from the old corridor compartment style lesson rooms (similar to

a prison house), and work towards a new arrangement of lesson rooms and studios. This way,

there would be more visual connection among co-musicians and the surroundings, and such an

opening of spaces would also bring more liveliness and unity among the students. And since it is

very necessary to have an eye contact while playing along with other musicians, consideration will

be given that the intermediate spaces such as circulation spaces and staircases make that eye contact

possible, if the students wish to play music there. These spaces would also be acoustically

independent of the lesson rooms and studios.