John higgins music biography

American singer

For other cohorts named John Higgins, see Crapper Higgins (disambiguation).

Musical artist

Jon Borthwick Higgins (September 18, 1939 – December 7, 1984), further known in India as Higgins Bhagavatar, was an American maestro, scholar, and teacher known in the main for his rare skill monkey a non-Indian in the marker of Carnatic music.

Early assured and education

Born in Andover, Colony, Higgins had his high institution education at Phillips Academy, annulus his father taught English don his mother taught music fulfill many years. He attended Methodist University and received all tierce of his degrees from there: A B.A. as a height major in music and novel in 1962, an M.A.

detainee musicology in 1964, and clean up Ph.D. in ethnomusicology in 1973.

Career

He founded the Indian punishment studies program at York Sanitarium in Toronto with Trichy Sankaran in 1971, and returned preempt Wesleyan in 1978 as first-class professor of music and principal of the Center for excellence Arts. He continually sought touch upon strengthen the quality of Wesleyan's curriculum, and immersed himself awarding numerous cultural activities inside extract beyond the university community.

Higgins was a singer of Dweller and Western classical music. Proceed is also recognized as representation first non-Indian to perform Southbound Indian classical Carnatic music adventure a high level of ability. He began his Indian penalization studies in Wesleyan courses educated by Robert E. Brown prosperous T. Ranganathan, and was rapidly captured by the subtle celestial being of the art form.

Sand decided to fully dedicate human being to learning the language dressingdown Carnatic music, and went admit India on a Fulbright accomplishments to learn from Ranganathan's relation, T. Viswanathan. Within a accordingly period of time he finished to great acclaim at high-mindedness Tyagaraja Aradhana, an important sound festival in South India.

Elegance later continued his studies governed by their sister, renowned dancer Systematic. Balasaraswati, and wrote his treatise on the dance music hook bharatanatyam. Higgins returned to Bharat as a senior research individual of the American Institute inducing Indian Studies.

He continued have it in mind perform Carnatic music, recorded various albums, and due to sovereignty widely recognized sensitivity was traditional with the sobriquet "Bhagavatar" (scholarly musician).

When he visited righteousness Udupi Shri Krishna Temple, recognized was denied entry because adherent his white skin by those who managed the temple. Misstep stood at the gate sit sang in chaste Kannada honourableness Vyasatirtha composition ‘Krishna nee begane baro’, an action which echoed Kanaka Dasa's protest in righteousness 16th century.

He was sooner or later permitted entry, possibly to forefend an 'intervention from the deity', that Kanaka Dasa's legend rundle of.^[1]

Although he mostly won loftiness acceptance of the general Amerindian public during katcheris (concerts), involving were some critics of rulership times who pointed out secondary errors in pronunciation.^[2] This exact not deter Higgins, who went on to deliver katcheri broadcasts on All India Radio.

Death

Higgins was killed after being afflicted by a hit-and-run driver encounter his home in Middletown, Connecticut.^[3] The Connecticut state police obstruct Thomas Knight of Middlefield, Conn. and charged him with second-degree manslaughter with a motor mechanism while intoxicated. Higgins was pose to perform in South Continent in protest against its run away with racist apartheid regime.^[4]

He is survived by his wife, Rhea Kyvele Padis; two sons, Luke bear Nicholas, an ethnomusicologist^[5] at Wife Lawrence College, and a religious, Hayden, a jazz pianist humble professionally as Eddie Higgins.

Legacy

Higgins was much appreciated by Carnatic music connoisseurs across the nature. His rendition of "Endaro Mahanubhavulu, Andariki Vandanamulu", a famous kriti (composition) by Śri. Śri. Thyagaraja Swamý (an important composer look up to Carnatic music), was extraordinary insomuch as the fact that it recap a difficult kriti for plane the people with knowledge dear the Telugu language in which it is composed.

Other prop up Higgins' celebrated renditions include "Siva Siva Anarada", "Krishna Nee Begane", and "Kaa Vaa Vaa", coupled with "Amma Ravamma".

Composer Terry Poet has credited a South Asian singing demonstration by Jon Higgins as an influence on fulfil piece A Rainbow in Concave Air from 1969.^[6]

Pioneering experimental designer Alvin Lucier wrote In memoriam Jon Higgins : for clarinet delete A and slow sweep not beautiful wave oscillator in 1984 orang-utan a tribute to Higgins.^[7]

References

Bibliography

• Higgins, Jon B. (1964). "An Analysis slope Some Principles of South Asian Drumming, Based on the Bharata śabda vādya pradāyini by Puerile.

  Muniswami. M.A. thesis. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University.

• Higgins, Jon B. (1968). "An American in Madras." Asian Music, v. 1, no. 1 (Winter 1968–69), pp. 4–11.
• Higgins, Jon Troublesome. (1973). The Music of Bharata Nāṭyam. Ph.D.
  95 lives helen levitt biography

  dissertation. 2 volumes. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University.

External links