I had a Sitar gig last night and by the time it ended, it was past midnight and it was also raining. I stood outside the Queen subway station, waiting for the streetcar (tram) for almost 20 minutes, not quite enjoying the drizzle. My Sitar was tucked away safely under some large window frame.

3 moderately drunk white boys arrived at the streetcar stop and looked curiously at my Sitar bag. It was well past midnight on Friday, so I wasn’t surprised at all.

“Hey, what is that?”
“Its a Sitar”, I said non-enthusiastically. I get this question often.
“Woooowh! I never thought I would see a Sitar for real!”

And then they spent next 5 minutes asking me questions about the instrument. I was surprised that they knew so much already. I promised to show them how it looked like once we were in the streetcar.

“You must play it too”, he said
“HUH ??”, sounded like a crazy idea to me.
“Yea man, and I will pass my hat around. You can get your bus money back!” (he took off his hat to show me how)

So we got into the streetcar, full of sweet party people (drunk people are usually fun). The guys couldn’t wait to see how a sitar looked and they oohed and aahed when i took it out of the bag. Most of what I played wasn’t legible since it was quite noisy around but I think they liked it anyway. After I was done, there was some clapping and the guy took his hat off and passed it around.

Nobody put any money in it, haha.

The guy was disappointed more than me. I guess he didn’t want me to be a musician who doesn’t get tips after he plays. Then the sweetest thing happened. His buddy put in a dollar. And they passed the hat to me.

“Here!, Great show!”

And folks, that’s how I earned my first dollar on the street playing music.

Often I experience something that leaves me with more questions than answers. Music, especially, is like a supernatural force that transports me into some unknown dimension, and I lose sense of everything,… repeat, everything. It has happened more than once. Particularly memorable were listening to pandit Shivkumar Sharma playing Santoor at Sawai Gandharva 2003, pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia playing Bansuri at his residence during Janmashtami 2005, and pandit Jasraj at Malhar 2006.

Yesterday was fourth such occasion. I was at Indian Ocean’s live concert at Toronto. (Indian Ocean is a music band, if you didn’t already know – not many people do.)

I hate stuff that makes me pause and think. It disrupts my schedule. Last time Indian Ocean music did that was in April, about which I wrote here.

So, back to the music concert. The guys started with a Vedic prayer (‘From the Ruins’), and the next moment I had goose bumps. This was followed by 2.5 hours of blissful music – ‘Jhini’, ‘Kya Maloom’, ‘Ma Rewa’, ‘Bandheh’, ‘Hille Re’, ‘Bhor’, ‘Kandisa’ and my favorite – ‘Kaun‘

Indian Ocean, playing live in Toronto (I know its not the best photo, but I had no interest in focusing on taking pictures )

Indian Ocean for me is in the same league as Pink Floyd, Nirvana and Tool. Listening to this music is a spiritual experience, and multi tasking seems impossible.

Take this song Jhini for example. Composed by saint Kabir, the lyrics seem simplistic on first glance.
झीनी रे झीनी रे झीनी चदरिया, झीनी रे झीनी रे झीनी चदरिया
के राम नाम रस भीनी चदरिया, झीनी रे झीनी रे झीनी चदरिया
अष्ट कमल दल चरखा डोले, पांच तत्व, गुण तीनि चदरिया
साइँ को सियत मास दस लागे, ठोंक-ठोंक के बीनी चदरिया
सो चादर सुर नर मुनि ओढ़ी, ओढ़ी के मैली कीनी चदरिया
दास कबीर जतन सो ओढ़ी, ज्यों की त्यों धर दीन चदरिया

This is fine, this is fine cloth.
It is been dipped in the name of the lord
The spinning wheel, like an eight-petal lotus, spins,
with five tatvas and three gunas as the pattern.
Lord stiched it in 10 months (the gestation period)
The threads have been pressed to get a tight weave.
It has been worn by gods, people, and sages
they soiled it with use.
Kabir says, I have covered my self with this cloth with great care,
and eventually will leave it like it was.

[audio:2007-11-04_jhini.mp3]
(Sample file, from the band’s website)

It’s the complex interpretation of these simple words that I love so much, makes me want to hate it. And yesterday after a an hour long debate with my darling friend, I got freshly criticized for my Howard Roarkish approach. LOL!

PS: I think the website is back on track

Here is the result:

[audio:http://priyank.com/audio/bhangra_on_sitar.mp3]

If you are unable to see the player above, here is the mp3 file:

bhangra_on_sitar.mp3

The piece is played on my Sitar which is dying but still manages to produce some sound. I had a crude mic to record this (and somewhere in the clip you can hear birds chirping.) The clip has 3 sound tracks, mixed in Goldwave.

I think the clip is not great but I enjoyed playing some non-classical stuff for a change and then mixing the tracks

Happy 60th [tag]Independence Day[/tag], everyone.

Loosely translated: “[tag]Who[/tag] sows the seed, who tastes the fruit? the world is full of mysteries and puzzles, who sets the game? Who makes the sun rise everyday, who blows the wind? Who makes the seasons occur, who keeps track of all this??”

With a clear sky like that, and listening to [tag]Indian Ocean[/tag]‘s song “Kaun” from the album Kandisa, who wouldn’t get into a [tag]trance[/tag]? It rained few hours back and miraculously the sky is now clear as crystal. The air is filled with an aroma that reminds me of the rainy season back home and the large moon is beaming through dry trees as if it is greeting me.

For some time I lost track of everything. [tag]Time[/tag] seemed to lose its importance as I forgot everything about the pressing deadlines, hungry stomach, empty bank accounts and such worldly concerns. It was so fulfilling to simply stand there on the open field outside my apartment, bathing in the soothing moonlight. Don’t we all need such [tag]spiritual[/tag] cleansing once a while? And such things occur unplanned. Wonder who does it…

I must thank Vaarun for infecting me with this amazing music. At the same time, I must blame him for the deadlines I missed due to this new addiction.

Highly recommended albums of Indian Ocean band: “Black Friday”, “Desert Rain”, “Jhini” and “Kandisa”

The Faculty of Fine Arts at York University is spotlighting its resident talent in a three-week festival packed with more than 40 exciting and entertaining [tag]event[/tag]s. Running March 9 to April 1, the York Fine Arts Festival features [tag]exhibition[/tag]s, [tag]theatre[/tag] and [tag]dance[/tag] productions, [tag]film[/tag] screenings, multimedia [tag]shows[/tag], and a wide variety of classical, jazz and world [tag]music[/tag] [tag]concerts[/tag]. Events take place in state-of-the-art facilities at York University’s Keele campus.

I’m pretty excited about the whole affair. The event is packed with stuff like world music (Caribbean, Celtic, Korean, Chinese, Japanese, African etc), Dance, Orchestra, Theatre, Film and more. I have never seen most of them yet, so the whole thing looks promising.

Lets see how the arts engagements can be attended while succumbing to the already overloaded MBA schedule… aargh!

Recently when I was on a trip to North India, a small tea shop at Chandigarh was blaring Himesh Reshammiya’s numbers one after the other. As if we didn’t have enough of Himmesh during the day, we were forced to hear his unbearable voice at the crack of the dawn. I was picturing birds speeding away from that place terrorized by the piercing music, and rats, cockroaches and other rodents dying out of sheer pain and torture!.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo huzoor….
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo aashik banaya aashiq banaya aashiq banaya ….
oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo jhalak dikha ja jhalak dikhla ja jhalak dikhla ja ….
naam tera tera naam tera tera naam tera tera naam tera tera naam tera tera naam tera tera naam tera tera…….
zara jhoom jhoom zara jhoom jhoom zara jhoom jhoom zara jhoom jhoom …

No my keyboard is not stuck. I’m only quoting some ridiculous lyrics of Himmesh’s songs. There are more, in fact the whole song is usually meaningless. Add to it his irritating nasal tone, and you’ll rather listen to a donkey bray. You have his song one week and its remix in the next. Ohh dear!

‘Success gone into Himesh Reshammiya’s head, no?’ He appears on TV giving interview after interview, talking about being youth icon and venturing into rock music.

Some people say – “Himesh must be deaf, definitely. Otherwise why would anyone torture himself?”. I also heard about a group of urban youngsters collecting funds to pay for Himmesh’s nasal surgery. A Gujarat village has banned his song because they believed it attracted ghosts. hmm…

People will listen to anything patronized by Bollywood. It’s a sorry picture…

That’s right. I’m referring to Dr. L. Subramanian, popularly known as L.S.

I first heard LS live at the Nehru Centre auditorium during the Malhar festival. Already fascinated by his wonderful music which I had heard only on radio or cd’s, watching the maestro perform live was a thrilling experience altogether. I heard him play next at Sawai Gandharva, and the audience went crazy. It is believed that the audience at Sawai Gandharva festival is most difficult to appease. A harsh Pune critic cheering an artist playing Carnatak music is indeed an achievement. His third performance was at Vile Parle, at the Prabha Atre festival. Wow again.

To learn music from the maestros is a rare privilege indeed. I’ve seen people struggle for getting accepted as a shishya (disciple) by particular gurus (teachers). This is because the Indian tradition of education calls for extreme devotion to the cause and the disciple is expected to sacrifice a lot.

My friend Hari from Bangalore is now a student of t h e Dr. L. Subramanian. Hari also writes poetry (see his blog) and my infrequent chats with him are always insightful.

I’m very proud to know him.

SwarGanga an internet-based music group has completed one year in October 2005. To mark this occasion, Adwait Joshi, founder of SwarGanga, has initated the SwarGanga Music Festival which will promote young and upcoming artsits in the field of Indian classical music.

Snapshot of the event is as follows:

Artists:
1. Saniya Patankar – A disciple of Dr. Ashwini Bhide
2. Dhananjay Hegde – A disciple of Pt. Vinayak Torvi
  – Harmonium Accompaniment – Chaitanya Kunte – A disciple of Dr. Arawind Thatte
  – Tabla Accompaniment – Pt Omkar Gulvady

Saniya Kulkarni Patankar : Saniya was initiated into Hindustani classical music by Smt. Lilatai Gharpure at the age of 6. Little Saniya was born into a musical family in 1978. Her talent was discovered at the age of 3. Her parents decided to nurture and groom her talent. Today she is a leading disciple of Dr. Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande, famous singer of the Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana. She has a “Sangeet Visharad” with distinction.

Dhananjay Hegde : Born in 1978 in a musical family in Gunavante, a small village in Karnataka state, and having shown a natural inclination towards music, his parents Shri G. S. Hegde and Smt. Geeta Hegde showed made no mistake in nurturing this talent at a very young age. He tool music lessons with his mother and since 1989 he has been studying under the tutelage of Pt. Vinayak Torvi, a great music maestro of the country. With his dedication towards music and quality performance, Dhananjay has won the hearts of music listeners all over.

Event details
Date: 12th November 2005
Location: Gadkari Rangayatan Thane at 8.30PM.
Tickets: Rs. 50, Rs. 30 and Rs. 20.
[Tickets are available at Waves Musicals and V S Marathe Jewellers Ram Maruti Road Thane (W), V S Marathe Jewellers Near Thane Station, New Symphony on Gokhale Road Thane (W), Adwait Joshi's residence near Runwal Nagar. ]

Much detailed information about the festival and artsits can be found on Adwait Joshi’s homepage: http://www.adwaitjoshi.com/icm/musicfestival.php

You can always Contat Me so that I can connect you quickly.

Yesterday I witnessed a live joint performance by Pandit Jasraj and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. Pandit Jasraj is a distinguished artist from the Mewati Gharana (मेवाती घराणा) of vocal music and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasiya plays the bansuri, an expertise of lord Krishna.

The concert was at Shanmukhanand Sabhagruh, Sion, Mumbai. Accompanied by the eminent Pandit Vijay Ghate on Tabla and Pandit Bhavani Shankar on Pakhawaj, pandit Chaurasia started with raga Durga, followed by a couple of bhajans by pandit Jasraj. After the solo performances, the duo entered into a jugalbandi in raga Kedar, developed with silent alaaps and ending with electrifying speed that kept the audience on their toes.

However, I felt that the Tabla and Pakhawaj were under utilized. I’ve attended a show earliear which was brimming with sounds of these percussion instruments.

Indeed a rare opportunity to witness the ‘live’ confluence of the eminent Vocalist and Flautist.