These 'Music in the Park' evenings are just that - a treat to the ears. Set in the lush green expanse of the Nehru Park in Chanakyapuri, New Delhi (a stone's throw from the Moti Bagh flyover on the Ring Road near Dhaula Kuan), this series of concerts brings thousands of music lovers up close with the stalwarts that carry Indian music and art forms forward.
Thanks to the office-hour traffic, Ustad Zakir Hussain and Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, were stranded on the road for more than two hours beyond schedule. It was very understanding of Pandit Venkatesh Kumar, an acclaimed vocalist from Bellary, to keep the audience engaged with his Kirana and Gwalior style of singing. A short wait later, Sunit Tandon announced that the two aformentioned maestros had arrived, and within a minute they were there, Panditji finetuning his santoor - apparently for the first time on stage!
What followed was pure magic, a rendition of the raga Jog followed by a dhun based on raga Darbaari. The jugalbandi between the two was breathtaking and the ease with which Ustadji read his senior colleague's mind was something to watch.
My first experience of hearing these two wonderful musicians perform has been wonderful. Looking forward to March 1 and Pandit Ravi Shankar and Anoushka Shankar.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Virasat'09
Virasat'09 - the SPIC MACAY week at IIT Delhi, was kickstarted by Sonal Mansingh - well known exponent of Odissi, with a performance titled 'Aaj ki Kanya'. Inspite of making up a majority of the billion Indians, women in most parts of the country remain deprived of their rights. Grave thought, and a true one at that. Powerful act, I thought. Dance can be such an effective medium to put a point across. And I waited eagerly for her final performance. For some reason, she decided to portray eight 'rasa's of life using bollywood numbers. While it is a treat listening to old hits like 'Aye Bhai, zaraa...', I surely didn't expect it at a SPIC MACAY concert. Her ideas were clear but I am sure they did not need any Bollywoodish touch. I was confused whether to accept it as an innovation or to stick to my gut feeling that such a portrayal was unnecessary. There should be some places and issues that should be kept away from Bollywood, I guess.
Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia then lit up the latter half of the evening and this confusion was quickly forgotten, till I sat down this morning. He was, as usual, impeccable, witty and courteous - introducing his regular accompanist on the tabla - Pt. Vijay Ghate, as 'a much better musician' than himself.
Congratulations are due to Dr. Kiran Seth, faculty in the Mechanical Engineering department of IIT Delhi and a slogger for SPIC MACAY for over thirty years - for keeping Indian culture alive and kicking.
And its a treat for all Hindustani music lovers this evening - Ustad Zakir Hussain and Pt. Shivkumar Sharma at Nehru Park, Chanakyapuri. More on that tonight!
Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia then lit up the latter half of the evening and this confusion was quickly forgotten, till I sat down this morning. He was, as usual, impeccable, witty and courteous - introducing his regular accompanist on the tabla - Pt. Vijay Ghate, as 'a much better musician' than himself.
Congratulations are due to Dr. Kiran Seth, faculty in the Mechanical Engineering department of IIT Delhi and a slogger for SPIC MACAY for over thirty years - for keeping Indian culture alive and kicking.
And its a treat for all Hindustani music lovers this evening - Ustad Zakir Hussain and Pt. Shivkumar Sharma at Nehru Park, Chanakyapuri. More on that tonight!
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