Question: Which music would you prefer to hear early in the morning?
(1) Gayatri Mantra
(2) Prabhaat geet
(3) jhalak dikhalaa jaa ….
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…
Flute :: Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia
Santoor :: Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma
Tabla :: U. Zakir Hussain
Shehnai :: U. Bismillah Khan
Violin ::
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 Music Festival: Nov 12 ’05
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.
पंडित जसराज व पंडित हरीप्रसाद चौरसीया
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.
Last week I attended a music concert “Uptown Monsoon Waves” (रंग वर्षा), held at Gadkari rangaytan, Thane. It was a confluence of the three artforms – Vocal, Instrumental and Dance (गायन, वादन, न्रुत्य)
Dr. Ketkar performed ‘kathak’ dance based on raga megh theme, followed by lovely Sitar by Shekhar Raje, student of Maruti Patil. The vocal presentation was by Shruti Gokhale, a khyaal and bandish in raga Megh Malhar and raga Chandani Malhar (I heard it for the first time!). I missed the Harmonium performance by Vidyadhar Oak, since I had to get the last train back to Dombivli (01:10)!
And, I was fortunate to collect free passes at the last minute ! heh…
Sitar on Sunday
As on any other Sunday, I woke up late today. I was disappointed for ‘wasting’ a precious Saturday in office, when I should have been out on a hike to Sahyadris. Sunday was going to be no different, I thought.
After lying idle for days, I finally dusted my Sitar and watched it spring back to life as I tuned its numerous strings. Rainy season had pumped lot of moisture into the wooden knobs and I was skeptical whether I would be able to tune it without breaking the strings. After a lot of creaks, and just the right amount of tension, it started singing nicely. I used a piece of emery paper and gently cleansed the the strings of the fine moisture deposit.
So there was I- Fingers of left hand lubricated, mizrab worn in right index finger, my electronic accompanists- Taanpura and Taalmaala plugged in, dark clouds, heavy rains and a gentle breeze.
What more could one possibly ask for!
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