Contribution of Dr. Vinod Vidwans to Indian Music from Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) perspective at a glance is as follows.
Reference Website: https://www.computationalmusic.com/

Dr. Vinod Vidwans is engaged in evidence-driven, demonstrable, exemplary research in Indian Knowledge Systems (IKS) focusing on Indian music augmented with advanced technology. This research reflects the aspirations of ‘New India’.

Dr. Vidwans inherits Vedic and Indic knowledge tradition and engaged in research on various Indic themes for more than last 30 years. He strongly believes in the scientific and logical ethos of Indian knowledge systems (IKS) and always feels that using advanced technology, it is possible to demonstrate the strength of IKS to the world. He also firmly believes that by adopting a scientific approach, it is possible to carry forward the legacy of ancient wisdom and provide leadership to the world in advancement of knowledge.

Dr. Vinod Vidwans is working in the domain of computational music and musicology augmented with generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) for Indian music for more than 30 years. As a result of this research, a new theory of Indian music – ‘A Generative Theory of Indian music’ has been developed. The theory addresses a wide range of outstanding issues in Indian music and provides a scientific solutions as mentioned below.

• The theory provides a scientific definition of Raga
• The Nava Gana Ragas classification system for all the existing and mathematically possible Ragas is developed.
• A mathematically robust understanding of Tala is developed.
• A framework is also discussed wherein all the existing and theoretically possible Talas can be accommodated into a concise classification system called Nava Gana Talas.
• The concepts of Bandish and Raga-Vistara are formalized.
• The theory unlocks the potential for generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Indian Classical Music.
• It demonstrates how the fundamental precepts of Bharata’s Natyashastra and living tradition of Indian music find direct applications in generative AI systems.

Smart Systems for Indian Music:

• Dr. Vinod Vidwaans has designed and developed Artificial Intelligence (AI) Systems for Indian Music called `AI-Raga’, `AI-Tala’ and ‘Bharati Systems’ based on the wisdom from the ancient treatises on Indian music viz. Naradiya Shiksha, Natyashastra of Bharata and Sangita Ratnakara of Sharangadeva.
• The AI-Raga system generates a Bandish (a musical composition) on its own without any human assistance in a given Raga and renders it in traditional classical Indian style. The AI system generates a Bandish based on the Vadi, Samvadi, Aroha and Avroha of the Raga. It does not have any database of Ragas.
• The AI-Tala system generates a Tabla performance in the given Tala. This system also does not have in pre-loaded database of Talas.
• Bharati System: The traditional ‘Gyana-Samvid’ (Repository of Knowledge) of Indian music can be documented, and preserved in the form of `smart’ digital repositories, `smart’ books and `smart’ systems. It provides an excellent opportunity to empirically verify and validate the Indic knowledge (IKS). In this context  Dr. Vidwans has designed and developed smart system for Indian Music called ‘Bharati’, based on 28th Chapter of Bharata’s Natyashastra known as ‘Sangeetadhyaya’. Bharati system has helped him to study Natyashastra from computational point of view.

Notable Publications on Indian Music:

A book titled: `The Doctrine of Ragas in Indian Music’: With Nava Gana Ragas System. The Doctrine of Ragas in Indian Music 

• A book titled: ‘The Music of Minds and Machines: A Deep Dive into the Generative Theory of Indian Music’. https://computationalmusic.com/research-publications/Music-of-Minds-and-Machines.html

A monograph titled: `The Doctrine of Shrutis in Indian Music’. https://computationalmusic.com/research-publications/Doctrine-of-Shruti.html 

• A book chapter titled: Computational Indian Musicology: Challenges and New Horizons  https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-981-99-0887-5_15#Sec9

Important Presentation by Invitation

• 7th World Music Conference 2023 Dec 15th-16th  (An online Conference) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUUTBKQamd0
• Musical Instruments Design: In 2017-18, he has designed and made a new musical instrument called `Bharat Veena’ based on the two-thousand-year-old theory of `Shrutis’ (microtones) from Bharata’s Natyashastra. You can conduct the ‘Shruti-Nidarshanam’ experiment and the ‘Gramantara’ experiment mentioned in the Natyashastra on Bharat Veena.
• Dr. Vinod Vidwans has been engaged in designing musical instruments for more than 10 years. So far, he has designed, apart from Bharat Veena (Shruti Veena), Shruti Mandalam, Brihad Shruti Manadalam, Shruti Guitar, Flexi-Flute Algoza, Flexi-Flute Scale Shift, Flexi-Flute Pitch Variations, and many more in the pipeline. All the musical instruments designed by Dr. Vinod Vidwans have been granted patents by appropriate authorities. https://computationalmusic.com/instruments-design.html

Academic Contribution:

• Dr. Vinod Vidwans is a member of Advisory Boards and Academic Councils of many reputed institutes in India. He has been invited as a keynote speaker for many conferences, seminars and events of national and international repute. He has been a visiting faculty & resource person at many prestigious institutes in India.
• Special invitee at the IKS Strategic Conclave, Pune on December 14-15, 2023 organized by Indian Knowledge Systems Division, Ministry of Education, Government of India.
• He has been invited by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi, as a member of the Board of Studies for School of Visual & Performing Arts as well as an advisor for their Doctoral Program.
• NCERT invited Dr. Vidwans to become a member of the curriculum development committee for Graphic Design. Under this assignment he has contributed in writing a text book on Graphic Design for Standard XI and Standard XII.
• Dr. Vinod Vidwans is a professor of Design, Art, and Performance at the FLAME University, Pune. Earlier, he was a Senior Designer/ Professor at National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad. He also headed the Departments of New Media and Software User Interface Design at NID.
• Dr. Vidwans is a cognitive philosopher, a designer and a portrait painter. He has done his Ph. D in Cognitive Philosophy and Master of Design from Indian Institute of Technology, Powai, Mumbai. He holds a Post-Graduate Degree in Fine Arts from Nagpur University where he topped.
• Dr. Vidwans is a dedicated Teacher, Researcher, and Designer with substantial managerial experience in the industry.

Media Coverage:

The work on Indian Music and Artificial Intelligence is widely covered by the media.

Website: https://www.computationalmusic.com/

YouTube Channel: Indian AI Music
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm_QHdRyO9kcmDqx_OY0KnQ

Contact Information

Email: vinodvidwans@gmail.com,  vidwans@flame.edu.in

Mobile: +91 96230 35 917

Address:
B-307, Venkatesh Riviera, Lane No. 2, Shahu Colony, behind Cummins College,
Karvenagar, Pune, India, Pin: 411052

The Story Unfolds...

A long time coming…

When Dr. Vinod Vidwans started working on his research on AI and Indian Music, AI and ML were still in very nascent stages. When he started out, computational learning wasn’t a focus area yet, and depended more on automating regular tasks. Music was not at the forefront of any AI-centric initiative.
“When he started working on this project, these paradigms weren’t there at all. He had to create everything from scratch.
Dr. Vidwans extensively studied the ancient treatises on Indian music such as Naradi Shiksha, Natya Shastra of Bharata, and Sangeet Ratnakar of Sharanga Deva which provide common foundations for Hindustani as well as Carnatic music.  He realized that the musical concepts mentioned in these treatises are profound and there exists a logical consistency. This insight helped him to build a logical model of Indian classical music. Based on it, he developed a theoretical frame work for generating Indian Classical Music on computers which took about more than twenty years. These efforts provide foundations for computational theory of Indian Classical Music. The theory and consequential creative expert system addresses many of the outstanding issues related to Shrutis (microtones), characterization of Ragas (Indian melodic modes), classification of Ragas, Chalan or Pakad (Catch-phrase) of Raga, Raga-rendering, Vadi-Samvadi notes of a Raga and composition of a Bandish.
He started by decoding musical shastras as mentioned above, which are the bedrock of Hindustani and Carnatic classical music.
These were highly encoded shastras, but there was a unique science behind them. The first set of results came in 25 years ago.
This scientific base piqued his curiosity. He developed a theoretical framework for generating Indian classical music through an AI.
Dr. Vidwans states that the first breakthrough came from verifying these scientific bases with Hindustani and Carnatic music theory.
He started formally documenting his efforts in 2008. He used AI to counter two sides: Raga and Tala, which combine together to form a musical composition.
Currently, flute, sitar, and sarod are used to compose the instrumental AI-generated music.
Seeing a computer generate music on its own is a special kind of thrill. Dr. Vidwans, hasn’t lost any of his excitement about the projects through 30 years.
Presently, his project makes music for around 3 minutes at most for a Raga Bandish and up to 15 minutes for a Tala composition.

Download

Download