Ventura County Weekend : MUSIC / SOUNDS : South Indian Musician to Bring World to Ojai : The classical vocals rise from centuries-old customs and will be performed this weekend by a master, Adyar K. Lakshman.

World music--that is, music beyond easy grasp of western cultural clutches--has entered a new phase of fashionableness in the last decade, thanks in part to the crusading efforts of such pop figures as Peter Gabriel, who launched the Real World label.

But the influence of the west, potent as it is, has resulted in a profusion of cross-cultural world music styles.

By contrast, the extra-western music as practiced by Adyar K. Lakshman comes from a more refined, and centuries-old tradition, that of South Indian classical vocal music. In a rare local opportunity to hear traditional world music, Lakshman will give a concert Saturday, accompanied by Rusty Gillette on the drum known as the mridangam and Lakshman’s disciple Sandhya on tambura , at the Institute for Higher Education, Research and Dialogue in Ojai.

Lakshman, 62, first performed in Ojai 18 months ago, at the founding of the institute. Situated in a house on a small, winding street above the Ranch House restaurant, the institute promotes spiritual and cultural teachings “with Krishnamurti’s philosophy at its core,” according to a brochure.

Last Sunday afternoon, Lakshman performed in the ornate Hindu Temple in Calabasas--certainly one of the more exotic locales in South California--as part of the “Lord Ganesha Chathurthi Celebrations.” There, he appeared in the role of a nattuvanar, little-known outside of India, whose duties are those of choreographer and conductor.

As Lakshman said in an interview last week, a nattuvanar is “a teacher, a conductor, one who should know music and about rhythmical aspects, playing a drum. He should also know dance. You have to know the meaning of the dance and the song.”

Indian classical music is generally divided between the Hindustani tradition of North India and the Carnatic tradition to the south. While there are similarities, especially to a casual listener’s ear, Lakshman noted, “they are quite different, in technique and the ragas”--the musical structures over which musicians improvise.

By his naturally biased account, “there are a lot of South Indian musicians who have mastered North Indian music, but not many North Indian musicians can master South Indian music, because they say it’s too difficult.

“A great person like Ravi Shankar knows the value of South Indian music. In fact, he has introduced many of the South Indian ragas in his concerts.”

Family lineage is common with Indian classical musicians. Although Lakshman’s father was not a musician, three of his siblings are, including mridangam player K. Gopinath, who has performed extensively with violinist L. Subramanium, one of the best-known exponents of Carnatic tradition music in the west. Gopinath also teaches at Bharatha Choodamani Academy of fine arts in Madras, which Lakshman founded 25 years ago.

Though Indian classical music has dispersed its unique attributes of serenity and sophistication around the world, particularly in the last few decades, it struggles for respect and attention in its homeland.

“Wherever you have classical music, even in the west, how many people go?” Lakshman asked.

“You have jazz music, pop, the noisy music--what I call it sometimes--and people are attracted toward that. But refined music, meaning classical, cannot be achieved so easily.”

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DETAILS

* WHAT: Vocalist Adyar K. Lakshman, accompanied by Rusty Gillette on the drum known as the mridangam and Sandhya on tambura , will sing Indian classics.

* WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday.

* WHERE: Institute for Higher Education, Research and Dialogue, 160 Besant Road (off Lomita Avenue), Ojai.

* HOW MUCH: $7, $5 for senior citizens, students and children.

* CALL: (805) 646-2536 or 646-4977.