R.I.P. Maestro Sitarist Pt. Ravi Shankar...

TUESDAY DECEMBER 11

Legend sitarist maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar passed away!

His music and inspiration for millions of music lovers will be missed... 

 

 

"The world of Indian Music did end in a big way with the passing away of Pandit Ravi Shankar, who was not only a Genius Musician, Visionary but also a Cultural Engineer who built the bridges and roads for the journey of Indian Music across the globe for which every practitioner of Indian music is greatly indebted to". Nitin Mitta

LOVE and MUSIC do not have any boundaries!
Pt. Ravi Shankar's spirit and legacy will live on forever in the heart of millions who have been inspired by his visions and passion and in his music.

May his soul rest in peace...

*************

WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 12, 12PM (noon) (EST Time)

until THURSDAY DECEMBER 13, 8:20AM

Stay tune today on WKCR 89.9 FM...

A special Memorial Broadcast portraying the legacy of Pt. RAVI SHANKAR!

To listen: www.wkcr.org or on the radio on 89.9FM

 

Pandit Ravi Shankar; master sitarist, composer and performer of Indian Classical music, passed away late Tuesday evening December 11 2012 from heart problems, at his home in Southern California. He was 92. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician.

Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent his youth touring Europe and India with the dance group of his brother Uday Shankar. He gave up dancing in 1938 to study sitar playing under court musician Allauddin Khan. After finishing his studies in 1944, Shankar worked as a composer, creating the music for the Apu Trilogy by 

Satyajit Ray, and was music director of All India Radio, New Delhi, from 1949 to 1956.

In 1956, he began to tour Europe and America playing Indian classical music and increased its popularity there in the 1960s through teaching, performance, and his association with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and rock artist George Harrison of The Beatles. Shankar engaged Western music by writing concerti for sitar and orchestra and toured the world in the 1970s and 1980s. From 1986 to 1992 he served as a nominated member of the upper chamber of the Parliament of India. Shankar was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1999, and received three Grammy Awards. 

He continued to perform in the 2000s, often with his daughter Anoushka.

“If I’ve accomplished anything in these past 30 years,” Mr. Shankar said in a 1985 interview reported by the New York Times, “it’s that I have been able to open the door to our music in the West. I enjoy seeing other Indian musicians — old and young — coming to Europe and America and having some success. I’m happy to have contributed to that."

WKCR will be memorializing his musical career starting at noon Wednesday 12/12 until 8.20 am Thursday 12/13. (Submitted by Ahmet Ali Arslan).

www.wkcr.org

Film! Play Like a Lion: The Legacy of Maestro Ali Akbar Khan!

PLAY LIKE A LION premieres in London this Monday, Sept. 10 2012 (9pm - Westbourne Studios) at the Portobello Film Festival. — at Westbourne Studios.   

For more information visit: www.portobellofilmfestival.com

When sarodist Maestro Ali Akbar Khan’s American born son, Alam, travels from California to India on his first concert tour without his ailing father, he wonders: “How can I follow a legend?” He knows his father would tell him, “Don’t worry, Play Like a Lion.”Ali Akbar Khan, who introduced Indian classical music to the US at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1955, was “The Emperor of Melody,” a national treasure in India and the US, a Grammy nominee, and according to renowned master violinist Lord Yehudi Menuhin, “possibly the greatest musician in the world.” Carlos Santana said of Ali Akbar Khan that he was one of the few who like Bob Marley and Coltrane had the universal tone, a tone which shares the spirit of compassion of Desmond Tutu, Mandela, Mother Teresa and the Dalai Lama."Play Like a Lion" is Ali Akbar Khan seen through his son Alam’s eyes. As Alam assumes the mantle of his father’s musical legacy, he is learning that his ends are in his beginnings and that he must come to terms with playing an enduring old music in a disposable new age. "Play Like a Lion" illuminates the Khan legacy featuring interviews with Carlos Santana, The Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart, blues slide guitarist Derek Trucks, sarodist Ustad Aashish Khan, tabla masters Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri and Ustad Zakir Hussain. The documentary was shot in Kolkata, Mumbai, Rajasthan and the San Francisco Bay Area to a soundtrack of Ali Akbar Khan’s music.

Staring: Maestro Ali Akbar Khan, Carlos Santana, Mickey Hart, John Handy, Derek Trucks, Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, Pandit G.S. Sachdev, Ustad Aashish Khan, Alam Khan.

PLAY LIKE A LION features Carlos Santana, the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart, Zakir Hussain and Derek Trucks. See story on Santana and the filmmakers here: http://univisionnews.tumblr.com/post/17154270783/play-like-a-lion-santana-ali-akbar-khan

PLAY LIKE A LION Trailer on YouTube: http://youtu.be/HixL4KOuzVo 

More infos: http://www.playlikealion.com

---

The Hindu : Arts / Music : Evenings at Mausiqi Manzil

DOWN MEMORY LANE "Evenings at Mausiqi Manzil" by R. V. Smith.

Old-timers still remember when this ancestral residence of an eminent family of Delhi gharana musicians contained wealth of both the material and artistic kind

Yesteryear evenings at Mausiqi Manzil in Suiwalan (revived by a nostalgic reference last week) are now the stuff of legends that continue to haunt old-timers. Like Mausiqi Manzil, there was a Tansukh Manzil in Chandni Mahal, but it has not survived. In Kucha Pandit is Ali Manzil, where the late President Fakruddin Ali Ahmed’s sister used to stay. The family also owned Hamdard Manzil in Lal Kuan. Dr. A. Ali of Hamdard University recalls that there were two “tard” palm trees in Ali Manzil, one of which got uprooted in a storm. His recollection, however, is that Ahmed Ali wrote “Twilight in Delhi” at Ali Manzil and the description of the house of the novel’s hero, Mir Nihal, was actually based on it.

Mausiqi Manzil, that predated the Urdu Ghar built by Khwaja Hasan Nizami in Macchliwalan market of Jama Masjid, came up during the reign of Akbar Shah Sani about the time that Phool Walon-ki-Sair was started to mark the return of his son Prince Jahangir from exile in Allahabad, after being pardoned by the British for firing at their Resident, Seton, at the Red Fort. The present occupant of Mausiqi Manzil, Ustad Iqbal Ahmed Khan, is away on his annual lecture visit to the U.S., but an old Delhiwallah, Haji Faiyazuddin, remembers that Iqbal Sahib’s grandfather, Ustad Chand Khan and his brothers, Usman Khan and Jahan Khan, were regular visitors to Haji Hotel, opposite the Jama Masjid. They were friends of Faiyazuddin’s father, Haji Zahooruddin who often attended the music programmes at Mausiqi Manzil.

Chand Khan was a celebrated classical singer of medium height and build, fond of eating paan and good food. His close companions included Ustad Sadiq Ali Khan of Rampur, the been player at the court of the Nawab there, and Hafiz Ali Khan, father of Ustad Ajmad Ali Khan, who used to come from Gwalior to regale the audience with his sarod recital. Also from that place came Ustad Nisar Ahmed Khan, and from Lahore Bade Ghulam Ali Khan who sang the lilting raga for Salim and Anarkali on a romantic night at Fatehpur Sikri in the film Mughal-e-Azam.

When the rRajwadas or states ruled by the princes and nawabs were merged into the Indian Union by Sardar Patel, classical singers attached to those courts lost their patrons — and as a result, their monthly income. Then Naina Devi, with the help of Jawaharlal Nehru, set up Bharatiya Kala Kendra in Pusa Road, which later moved to Mandi House. The Kendra became a good meeting place for the dislodged singers. It continues to remain such a platform even now.

Haji Mian, who heard Ustad Chand Khan sing, says that he was born at about the same time as Nehru and traced his descent from a family of musicians who sang at the court of Altamash, successor of Qutubuddin Aibak, the first ruler of the Slave dynasty and earlier regent of Mohammad Ghori. By that contention the original “Mausiqi Manzil” of the ancestors of Chand Khan must have been in Mehrauli, from where Altamash and his successors ruled. It moved to Shahjanabad some 500 years later.

Imagine the stern Altamash or Illtutmish, who left his kingdom not to his sons but daughter Razia Sultan, listening to the classical Khan singers and sometimes swaying to the taan and the taap, forgetting the cares of State and the many problems that beset him, including the invasion of Chingez Khan and his Mongol hordes. But luckily they passed like a storm through Punjab, and Altamash did not have to face them. It is interesting to note that the grave of Razia and her sister Sazia behind Turkman Gate are not far from Mausiqi Manzil. What a link (by coincidence) with medieval times when the fortunes of the ancestors of Chand Khan were still in their formative stage !

Listening to a soiree at Mausiqi Manzil, when the rains had cooled Delhi, and the intoxicating Sawan breezes were merging with the mesmerising voice of Chand Khan, was a treat that the surviving oldies have not yet forgotten. Following up, his brothers, Usman Khan and Jahan Khan, sang one after the other to make the soiree a heady mix of classical and neo-classical nuggets. Such programmes attracted the cream of society then, and the hoi polloi had to be content with the fast-emerging musical films that resounded to the magical voice of Saigal, himself an occasional visitor to Mausiqi Manzil. Gohar Jan, however, had ended her career by then, but Begum Akhtar often sang there since she was a disciple of Chand Khan.

Mausiqi Manzil now is in a dilapidated condition, though students of music continue to be trained there, with makeshift boarding and lodging arrangements, thanks to Ustad Iqbal Khan and his affectionate begum. The present scion, who has spread the fame of his Delhi gharana abroad, still holds a 10-day programme in the month of Muhurram as part of the family tradition. Next time if you happen to pass by Mausiqi Manzil on a pleasant evening, don’t be surprised to hear heavenly taans emanating from it, for after all it is Delhi’s fabled “House of Music”!

(Source: The Hindu : Arts / Music : Evenings at Mausiqi Manzil)

THE MUSIC ROOM... Ud. Mashkoor Ali Khan performing in NYC!

SUNDAY JULY 22, 5PM and

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 1, 8PM

The Music Room

Presented by HarmoNYom In aasociation with AAICM

  

Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan

(Maestro Vocalist from the Kirana Gharana )

will be performing a series of 2 exceptional intimate Hindustani Vocal Concerts! 

 Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan has musical blue blood in his veins owing to his family lineage. A direct descendant of the family of the great Ustad Abdul Karim Khan and the much legendary Sartaj-e-Mousiqui, Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan who were the founders of the famous Kirana Gharana. Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan is the son of the great Sarangi-nawaz, Padmashree Ustad Shakoor Khan, who was the grand nephew of Ustad Bande Ali Khan Beenkar who composed numerous andishes under his pseudonym 'Sabras". www.mashkooralikhan.com/

 

Nitin Mitta - Tabla

Madhu Vora - Harmonium (7/22)

Kedar Naphade - Harmonium (8/1)

Intimate House Concert

312 West 104 Street (between West End Ave. and Riverside Dr.), New York, NY 10025

Tickets:

General Admission: $45 or $70 for 2 concerts

Students w/ID and Seniors: $30 or $50 for 2 concerts

REGISTRATION in advance required:

www.musicroom2012.eventbrite.com

www.HarmoNYom.org     www.AAICM.org

Supported by NYSCA, MELA Foundation & WKCR 89.9 FM

SUNDAY JUNE 3, 6PM... Vocal/Sitar Concert by Devasaman & Nitin Mitta in NYC!

SUNDAY JUNE 3, 6PM

   

HarmoNYom,  

In association with Anamika-Navatman,  

Presents its first concert as part of  

THE MUSIC ROOM 2012!  

An incredible and unique Hindustani Vocal and Sitar Jugalbandi Concert!

Vocalist Debapriya Adhikary 

Sitarist Samanwaya Sarkar

Accompanied on tabla by Nitin Mitta   

'Duet' a small word but has its big canvass to draw the musical imagination of two artistes in a single frame. Rather it's a musical conversation between two artistes. May be those two are with different minds, thoughts and opinions but in spite of all differences they have to synchronize a common musical expression if they want to make it a Duet. In fact Duet is something that is not only a combination of two musical mediums but also a confluence of two souls, two minds, two thoughts and opinions. 

Debapriya Adhikary, Samanwaya Sarkar, Nitin Mitta Raag Parameswari - Boston - April 2012

Samanwaya Sarkar Raga Hem Bihag Drut & Jhala

Debapriya's enchanting voice merges with Samanwaya's mesmerizing strokes on the Sitar, creating music that makes their audience feel as if these two artists have one soul and one mind!

Venue: Alvin Ailey Theater

405 West 55 Street, New York, NY

Subways: Columbus Circle/59 Street (Trains: A,B,C,D,1)

Tickets : $35, $20 (students/Seniors)  

On-line Tickets (Cash only at door)(Limited space): http://musicroom2012.eventbrite.com/    

  

************************  

 

Duet of Vocal and Sitar where Debapriya Adhikary's enchanting ,sonorous voice moving three octaves with ease merges with Samanwaya Sarkar's mesmerizing, sparkling and honey dripped strokes on Sitar creates one music that makes their audience feel as if these young artistes have one soul and one mind  creating the sound from only one genre that finally casts a lasting spell not only in their ears but to their souls. They both are Gandabandh disciples of Padmabhushan Smt. Girija Devi ji. They are accomplished in presenting pure form of Indian Classical music and also the other unique feathers like tappa, tap khyal, thumri, dadra chaiti, holi kajri, etc...

They have been getting worldwide applause since the age of 18 for their solos and duet. Last year August they were invited by the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet where they commemorated the birth centenary of Mother Teresa, where they were the first and ever and only Indian Classical musicians and they performed in the midst of whole Western Symphony. Recently they have also made film music for an Australian film The Sleeping Warrior about to be released in 2012.

Last year in 2011, they performed this Jugalbandi at Sawai Gandharva Sangeet being invited by Bharatratna Pt. Bhimsen Joshiji, Pt. Mallikarjun Music Festival (DHWANI) by Bangalore Kidney Foundation and Gangamahotsav in Varanasi by Ministry of UP along with many other concerts.

They have performed in several international music festivals and other concerts in UK, Spain, France, Denmark, Germany Portugal, US, Australia, Canada to name a few.

    www.devasaman.com 

Nitin Mitta is one of the most sought after tabla players of his generation. He has performed with some of India's most celebrated musicians, including Pandit Jasraj, Pandits Rajan and Sajan Mishra, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Ustad Nishat Khan, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Pandit Nayan Ghosh and Ustad Irshad Khan.

Nitin received his early training in Hyderabad from Pandit G. Satyanarayana and later from Pandit Arvind Mulgaonkar of Mumbai. Both his Guru's are disciples of the legendary Tabla maestro representing the Farukhabad Gharana, Ustad Amir Hussain Khan.

Nitin has collaborated with 2011 Grammy Nominee Pianist Vijay Iyer and Guitarist Prasanna in an exciting new trio project called "Tirtha. www.nitinmitta.com  

  (Photo courtesy by Marcus Simpson Photography)

************************  

Follow us!  

 www.HarmoNYom.org

HarmoNYom is an all-volunteer, emerging non-profit organization and a sponsored project of the NYFA (New York Foundation for the Arts) (www.NYFA.org)

A 2012 Grant Recipient of NYSCA (New York State Council on the Arts) (www.NYSCA.org)

Community Partners:  

Anamika-Navatman (www.navatman.org) 

WKCR 89.9 FM (www.WKCR.org)  

        

 Malini Rajurkar (born 1941) is a noted Hindustani classical singer of Gwalior Gharana. 

Early life: She grew up in the state of Rajasthan in India. For three years she taught mathematics at the Savitri Girls’ High School & College, Ajmer, where she had graduated in the same subject. Taking advantage of a three-year scholarship that came her way, she finished her Sangeet Nipun from the Ajmer Music College, studying music under the guidance of Govindrao Rajurkar and his nephew, who was to become her future husband, Vasantrao Rajurkar.

Performing career: Malini has performed in major music festivals in India, including Gunidas Sammelan (Mumbai), Tansen Samaroh (Gwalior), Sawai Gandharva Festival (Pune), and Shankar Lal Festival (Delhi).

Malini is noted especially for her command over the Tappa genre. She has also sung lighter music. Her renditions of two Marathi natyageete, pandu-nrupati janak jaya and naravar krishnasamaan, have been particularly popular.

Vidushi Malini Rajurkar- Raag Ahir Bhairav.

Pandita Malini Rajurkar - Tappa - Tarana - Raga Bhairavi - Lal Wala Joban

Settled in Hyderabad for over 40 years since the 1970s, her training in her gurus’ style has rooted Malini in the Gwalior approach. However, she has felt free to adopt aspects of other styles to create her own. She has been influenced by the likes of K.G.Ginde and Jitendra Abhisheki and by her fondness for the idiosyncratic vocalism of Kumar Gandharva. Malini Rajurkar sings khayal in the Kirana style and is an acknowledged master of Tappa and Tarana.

(Source: Youtube, Indian Raga, Wikipedia)

Tansen Festival, 21 February 1960

With a broken and fagged voice in his late sixties, the genius of Pandit Krishnarao Shankar Pandit recites a Tappa in Bhairavi. This is Tappa reference material. Pandit Krishnarao Shankar Pandit is considered to be one of the greatest vocalists among of the 20th century.

Memorable Dhruth Compositions by Pt. Krishna Rao Shankar Pandit - Raag Darbari

His tradition is being carried forward by his son Pandit Lakshman Krisharao Pandit and granddaughter Meeta Pandit:

Acknowledged as the scion of the Gwalior musical gharana, Meeta Pandit has emerged as a shining star in the world of classical music. Meeta is grand-daughter and disciple of Padma Bhushan Pt Krishna Rao Shankar Pandit, the doyen of Northern Indian Classical music in the 20th century, and the daughter and disciple of legendary Pt L K Pandit. Meeta is the sixth of the unbroken Pandit line and has the unique distinction of being the first woman musician in the family. Her melodious and robust voice coupled with intricate handling of ragas has won her critical acclaim, and a following of music lovers.

In fact, apart from the Khayal traditions, Gwalior is famous for its Tappa Gayaki. Shori Miyan introduced this form of singing in the late 18th century under the reign of Nawab of Awadh at that time, Asad-ud-Daula. This style was adopted by the singers of Gwalior Gharana into their Khayal Gayaki. Some say that the concept of a Taan was conceived by Ustad Bade Mohammad Khan of Gwalior Gharana.

Listening to a recording of Bhaiyya Sahab Poonchwale, a Tappa and bandish in Tilang, I infer that his style was very close to Pandit Krishnarao Shankar Pandit. Being from the same Gharana doesn’t always guarantee that the vocalists follow strictly the same style. As a musician grows, he is influenced by many other styles and incorporates those styles into his own. Shafqat Salamat Ali Khan of Sham Chaurasi Gharana while addressing Ustad Fateh Ali Khan of Patiala said while rendering Taans in the lower octave, Bade logon ki cheezein hain leni chahiye … Ustad Fateh Ali Khan ne yeh darja bahut dekha hai.’; Anyhow, I am gradually becoming more interested in listening to Bhaiyya Sahab Poonchwale and a few other greats of the likes of Ustad Rajab Ali Khan, Bhai Lal Amritsari, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan and so on.

 I remember watching the interview of Pandit Krishnarao Shankar Pandit with Pandit Dinkar Kaikini on the Doordarshan releases. I saw Panditji for the first time in that video. And I wish more of such videos are released by Doordarshan, for they are a treasure. Not to mention that I have been a huge fan of Pandit Lakshman Krishnarao Pandit for a long time. But, I’ve got only one chance to listen to him live at the Delhi Classical Music Festival 2011. I will be listening to Pandit LK Pandit perform on the 17th of February 2012 at IICC, Delhi. 

By Kovid Rathee - February 9 2012 

Pandit Ravi Shankar bids adieu to Bangalore!

Feb 8, 2012 (by the FirstPost.Photos). 

Bangalore: It was an emotional evening for music lovers here as they were transported into the ethereal world with spell-binding music from the renowned father-daughter duo Pandit Ravi Shankar and Anoushka Shankar. Bidding farewell to this city in their last concert together, the sitar maestro along with Anoushka, who is his protege and a composer in her own right, enthralled the audience with their renditions of different ragas. Pandit Ravi Shankar and his 31-year-old daughter wove magic on the stringed instruments with their nimble fingers, creating a musical tapestry that had music connoisseurs craving for more. PTI.  

 

(Sources: http://www.firstpost.com/photos/images-pandit-ravi-shankar-bids-adieu-to-bangalore-207139.html)