Guy Beck

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Dr. Guy L. Beck is a scholar, author, musician, college professor, historian of religions, and musicologist. A Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Fellow and Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (Oxford University, U.K.), he is presently Lecturer in Religious Studies and Asian Studies at Tulane University, and Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies at Loyola University New Orleans.

Background

Born in New York City in August 3, 1948 and brought up in a musical family, Guy received training in piano and choral singing in upstate New York from Alan A. Allen at Fayetteville-Manlius High School. He also studied classical piano under Prof. George Mulfinger at Syracuse University, and popular and jazz music from his father, a noted pianist, composer, and Broadway vocal music arranger during the 1940's and 1950's. Known professionally as Harold Cooke, his father worked for composer Harold Arlen ("Wizard of Oz"), was a vocal arranger and performer for Kay Thompson and songstress Kate Smith, and was a regular pianist at the Blue Angel club in Manhattan where he used to accompany celebrity singers. Cooke was also a close friend and associate of piano legend Cy Walter and singer Mabel Mercer. From 1958-1966, Guy lived in the Syracuse area with his mother (interior designer Dale H. Beck) and adopted father, George A. Beck, FIDSA (Fellow, Industrial Designer's Society of America), a leading industrial designer, manager at General Electric Company, and president of George A. Beck Associates. Guy is also the elder brother of artist James D. Beck, industrial designer Benjamin J. Beck, partner in the design firm Eleven (Boston), and sister Naneese Beck Bonnell of Manlius, NY. Guy is married to Kolkata (Calcutta) artist Kajal Dass Beck, granddaughter of prominent Indian industrialist Sri Alamohan Dass.

Education

Beck earned a B. A. in Social Sciences from the University of Denver, and an M.A. in Religious Studies from the University of South Florida in 1982. He received an M.A. (1986) in Fine Arts, Musicology and a Ph.D. in Religion, South Asia from Syracuse University in 1989. At Syracuse University, he studied South Asian religions and Sanskrit literature under Prof. H. Daniel Smith and Swami Agehananda Bharati, Hindi language with Dr.Jishnu Shankar, history of religions under Prof. Charles H. Long, world religions from Prof. Huston Smith (PBS Series, "The Wisdom of Faith," with Bill Moyers), religion and myth under Prof. David L. Miller, sacred music theory and history, including Gregorian Chant, with Prof. Howard Boatwright, Nineteenth-Century music under Prof. Eric F. Jensen, and ethnomusicology from Prof. Ellen Koskoff. At the University of South Florida, he studied Sanskrit and Vedic literature with Prof. George Artola, ethnomusicology from Prof. Pat Waterman, New Testament with Prof. Randy Akers, and Biblical religion as well as ancient religions of the Near East under Prof. James F. Strange.

During five years in India (1976-1980), he studied Sanskrit and Indian philosophy with Prof. Gaurinath Sastri (President of Sanskrit College, Calcutta) and Dr. Govinda Gopal Mukhopadhyay (University of Burdwan), as well as Bengali language and literature from Prof. Sukumar Sen (Calcutta University).

Books

Dr. Beck is the author of Sonic Theology: Hinduism and Sacred Sound (University of South Carolina Press, 1993) where he examines Hindu theology and Indian philosophy in terms of sacred sound. This is the first work to explore the concept of Nada-Brahman (sacred sound) in the Vedas, Upanishads, grammatical, Tantra, Yoga, Sakta, Siva, and Vaishnava traditions. In the sequel, Sonic Liturgy: Ritual and Music in Hindu Tradition (University of South Carolina Press, 2012), he traces the historical relation between Hindu ritual and Indian classical and devotional music through an analysis of Vedic ritual, Sama-Gana, Natya-Sastra, Gandharva Sangita, and Bhakti traditions. His edited volume, Sacred Sound: Experiencing Music in World Religions (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2006), includes chapters on Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism by distinguished scholars, as well as a CD of forty selections of chant and music performed by the authors ("....highly recommended." CHOICE). This is the first comprehensive textbook on music in world religions with an accompanying CD. He has also published, as editor, Alternative Krishnas: Regional and Vernacular Variations on a Hindu Deity (SUNY Press, 2005), wherein he presents the Krishnology of the Vaishnava sect known as the Radhavallabha Sampradaya.

As an archivist of Indian devotional music, Dr. Beck has compiled, edited, and recorded 108 authentic temple songs of the Radhavallabha Sampradaya in the book and collection of 18 CD's entitled Vaishnava Temple Music in Vrindaban: The Radhavallabha Songbook (Blazing Sapphire Press, 2011). For this project, under a 1992-93 Fulbright Research Grant, Beck studied Haveli Sangit and Samaj Gayan, two genres of devotional music allied with Dhrupad, from musicians in Vrindaban and Mathura in northern India.

In addition, Beck has written several articles for reference works like Brill's Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Oxford Handbook of Religion and the Arts, Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd Edition and Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, South Asia volume. He is also on the International Advisory Board of the Journal of Vaishnava Studies.

When Beck was a visiting fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies at Oxford University (U.K.) during the fall of 2001, he delivered the Michaelmas Lectures on Hinduism and Music, and taught a graduate seminar in ethnomusicology. During this time, he received a grant from the Infinity Foundation for research and study in England on the Indic influences on world religious chant and music.

Studying Music in India

Guy Beck is the first American performer of Hindustani classical vocal music. Beginning in 1976, he has studied it for over seven years in India under the traditional system of Guru-sishya-parampara (disciplic lineage). He initially learned from Sangeetacharya Sailen Banerjee at the Tansen Music College in Calcutta (1976-1980). Prof. Sailen Banerjee, vocalist and organizer of the famous Tansen Music Conferences since the 1940's, was a disciple of Ustad Dabir Khan, the hereditary descendent of Tansen, the famous singer at the court of Emperor Akbar in the sixteenth century. Beck continued his training at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy (SRA) founded in Calcutta in 1978. At SRA, he studied under Pandit Arun Bhaduri (Guru) and Pandit Vijay Kichlu (Founding Executive Director and Guru). He also received valuable guidance from Pt. A. Kanan, Pt. V. G. Jog, and Pt. Kumar Mukherjee, and has also learned three years from Sri Ashish Goswami, disciple of Ustad Bade Gulam Ali Khan of Patiala Gharana. During his time in Calcutta, he was fortunate to attend live concerts of renowned vocalists Pt. Kumar Gandharva, Pt. Mallikarjun Mansoor, Ustad Ata Hussain Khan, Ustad Aminuddin Dagar, Ustad Sharafat Khan, Smt. Hirabai Barodekar, Smt. Gangubai Hangal, Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Jasraj, and Ustad Hafiz Ahmed Khan.

For training in Dhrupad, Beck learned from the Dagar Brothers in New Delhi, and from Pandit Sambhunath Mukhopadhyaya of the Chhandam Institute of Dhrupad in north Calcutta. He has since performed in several national music conferences in India, at Fulbright House (New Delhi), Visvabharati Santiniketan University, ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Santipur Ragini, and Nada Music Circle in Burdwan (West Bengal).

On record, he is the first American to perform in a national Indian music conference (Tansen Music Conference, 1977) of Hindustani music, and one of the first Westerners to earn a vocal music degree from an Indian institution ("Sangit Bivakar," Bachelor of Music, from the West Bengal State Academy of Music, 1980). He is also the first Westerner to study and perform Bengali Padavali-Kirtan, which he learned for four years in Calcutta from Prof. Mriganka Cakravarti of Rabindra Bharati University, as well as from Kirtan Master Rathin Ghosh of Calcutta.

Appearing on Door Darshan (Indian TV) and Radio Nepal, Beck has taught several students the art of Hindustani music, and frequently gives lectures and demonstrations at college campuses and other venues. For a brief history of Hindustani music and an overview of his musical training, see the article, "The Magic of Hindu Music," in Hinduism Today (October 2007, pp. 20–31). He has released two CD's: Sacred Raga (New Orleans: STR Digital Records, 1999) and Sanjher Pradip (Calcutta: Bihaan Music, 2004).

Awards

For further studies in Hindustani music, Beck was awarded a Senior Performing Arts Fellowship from the American Institute of Indian Studies (A.I.I.S.) in 2008. This was followed in 2010 with a Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Fellowship for the study of the Agra Gharana, the oldest and richest tradition of Hindustani vocal music with roots in Dhrupad of the fourteenth century. For this research and training, he was affiliated with the ITC Sangeet Research Academy under the guidance of Pandit Vijay Kichlu. Pandit Vijay Kichlu and his brother Pandit Ravi Kichlu ("Kichlu Brothers"), as disciples of the elder Dagar Brothers, performed as popular concert and radio artists of Dhrupad and Khyal. Pandit Vijay Kichlu, a senior disciple of Ustad Latafat Hussain Khan, is a highly respected vocalist and authority in Hindustani vocal music and the Agra Gharana. Beck was also assisted in this work by Smt. Purnima Sen (senior disciple of Ustad Sharafat Hussain Khan), Dr. Tapasi Ghosh (Calcutta University, disciple of Pandit D. T. Joshi), and Ustad Waseem Ahmed Khan (SRA Scholar and family member of Agra Gharana, being the grandson of Ustad Ata Hussain Khan).

In August, 2011 Dr. Beck was invited as a participant in the prestigious Eranos Conferences held in Ascona, Switzerland. The Eranos Conferences were inaugurated by psychologist C. G. Jung in the early 1930s, and hosted intellectuals and scholars like Rudolf Otto, Karl Kerenyi, Mircea Eliade, author Hermann Hesse, and many others over the years. The theme of the 2011 meeting was "Love and the Musical Arts," and was organized by the Fetzer Institute under the direction of Dr. Lawrence Sullivan (Harvard University, Professor Emeritus). At this meeting Beck discussed and performed "Ragas of Love: Devotional Music in the Hindu Tradition."

From 2010-2012, he was invited to join a select team of scholars receiving a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. This two-year project entitled “Mellon Initiative on Religion across the Disciplines” sought to examine and implement ways in which the study of religion may be more fully integrated within the academic community. Dr. Beck was a senior director of the Working Group on Music and Religion, chaired by Prof. Peter Jeffery of Notre Dame University, which also presented papers at the 2012 annual meetings of the American Academy of Religion (AAR) in Chicago, and Society of Ethnomusicology (SEM) in New Orleans. http://rmellon.nd.edu/working-groups/music-and-religion/

Guy Beck's most recent lecture/concert was a featured presentation as part of the exhibit, "Yoga: the Art of Transformation," organized by the Freer / Sackler Galleries of the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D. C., on December 6, 2013. Here he presented a lecture on "Hindu Philosophies of Sound," and performed an Indian classical vocal recital along with performances by Srinivas Reddy on sitar and Nitin Mitta on tabla.

External links

References

Publications: Books

− Author. Sonic Liturgy: Ritual and Music in Hindu Traditions. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 2012, w/CD

Author. Sonic Theology: Hinduism and Sacred Sound. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1993. Studies in Comparative Religion Series.

Editor. Vaishnava Temple Music in Vrindaban: The Radhavallabha Songbook. Kirksville, MO: Blazing Sapphire Press, 2011, w/18 CD's.

Editor. Sacred Sound: Experiencing Music in World Religions. Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2006, w/CD

Editor. Alternative Krishnas: Regional and Vernacular Variations on a Hindu Deity. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2005.

− CD Recordings: Indian Music

Sanjher Pradip. CD of Indian classical and devotional music. Calcutta: Bihaan Music, 2004.

Sacred Raga. CD of Indian classical and devotional music. New Orleans: STR Digital Records, 1999.


Publications: Selected Book Chapters and Articles

“Hinduism and Music.” In The Oxford Handbook of Religion and the Arts. Frank Burch Brown, ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013, 358-366.

“Hinduism.” In The Grove Dictionary of American Music, 2nd Edition. 8 vols. Charles Hiroshi Garrett, editor-in-chief. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013. Vol. 4, 173-174.

“Bhakti Sangit: The Art of Music in Vaishṇava Tradition.” Journal of Vaishnava Studies 21.2 (Spring 2013): 143-171.

“Two Braj Bhāṣā Versions of the Rāsa-Līlā Pañcādhyāyī and Their Musical Performance in Vaiṣṇava Worship.” In The Bhāgavata Purāṇa: Sacred Text and Living Tradition. Ravi M. Gupta and Kenneth R. Valpey, eds. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013, 181-201.

“Rāgas of Love: Devotional Music in the Hindu Tradition.” In Eranos Yearbook 2009-2010-2011, Love on a Fragile Thread. Fabio Merlini, Lawrence E. Sullivan, Riccardo Bernardini and Kate Olson, eds. Einsiedeln: Daimon Verlag, 2012, 577-595.

“Divine Musical Instruments.” In Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Vol. V, 36-44. Knut A. Jacobsen, ed. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2013.

“Hit Harivams.” In Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Vol. IV, 234-240. Knut A. Jacobsen, ed. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2012.

“Haridasi Sampradaya,” In Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism Vol. III, 329-338. Knut A. Jacobsen, ed. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2011.

“Radhavallabha Sampradaya,” In Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism Vol. III. 467-477. Knut A. Jacobsen, ed. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2011.

“Kirtan and Bhajan in Bhakti Traditions,” In Brill’s Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Vol. II, 585-598. Knut A. Jacobsen, ed. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2010.

“The Magic of Hindu Music.” Hinduism Today (October, 2007): 20-31.

“Kolkata (Calcutta),” 106-109; “Orissa,” 93-94; “Puri,” 116-117. In Continuum Encyclopedia of Popular Music of the World. Vol. 5, Asia and Oceania. John Shepherd, David Horn, and Dave Laing, eds. London and New York: Continuum International Publishing group, 2005.

“Hearing the Sacred: Introducing Religious Chant and Music into Religious Studies Teaching.” Religious Studies News: Spotlight on Teaching/Religion and Music 16.2 (Spring 2001): 2, 8.

“Religious and Devotional Music: Northern Area.” In Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, vol. 5, Indian Subcontinent. Alison Arnold, ed. New York and London: Garland Publishing, 2000, 246-258

“Nada-Brahman and North Indian Classical Music: Parameters of Intersection.” Journal of Indian Philosophy and Religion 3 (October 1998): 69-90.

"Samaj-Gayan for Radha and Krishna: Devotional Music in the Radhavallabha Sampradaya." Journal of Vaiṣṇava Studies, 7.1 (Fall 1998): 85-100

“Fire in the Atman: Repentance in Hinduism.” In Repentance: A Comparative Perspective. Amitai Etzioni and David Carney, eds. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 1997, 76-95.

“An Introduction to the Poetry of Narottam Dās.” Journal of Vaiṣṇava Studies 4.4 (Fall 1996): 17-52. Includes a full translation of “Prārthana” by Narottam Dās from Bengali to English.

"Devotional Hymns from the Sanskrit.” In Religions of India in Practice. Donald S. Lopez, ed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995, 133-144.

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