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March 2008 |
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Sangeet Natya Vaibhav
On March 23, 2008, at Uttam Manch, Kolkata, ITC Sangeet
Research Academy organised a programme specially designed with
the purpose of presenting about 21 Marathi Stage Songs from
popular Sangeet Nataks of Maharashtra. The presentation was by
Dr Ravindra Ghangurde, Shrimati Vandana Ghangurde and their
troupe from Pune, Naadbrahma. The presentation was in proper
costume and make-up along with the accompaniment of organ and
tabla, which is typical to the art form. The troupe members were
Shekhar Vechlekar (singer, actor), Sanjay Phagare (tabla), Kedar
Bhagwat (organ), Pranav Kulkarni (tanpura), Mandar Karulkar (Compere),
Siddheshwar Kokare (Drapery), Suhas Kondvilkar (make-up).
For easier understanding, the commentary was in Hindi. In the
tradition of Sangeet Nataks, the ‘Nandi’ from Sangeet Manapaman
provided the prelude, after which the ‘Ish-stavan’ from Sangeet
Soubhadra was presented. This was followed by a special item
‘Sutradhar & Nati’, also from Sangeet Soubhadra. Excerpts of the
dialogues from the Sangeet Nataks from which each song was
selected, provided the background for each song. In many
compositions, the original classical bandish or folk song or
kirtan was also presented. Excerpts from Sanshay Kallor, Katyar
Kaljat Ghusali, Ranadundubhi, Matsyagandha and others were also
presented. During an interactive session the following
afternoon, Dr Ghangurde presented the history of the art form
and its present-day status in Maharashtra. The session was
attended by enthusiastic members of the audience, the press and
gurus and scholars of the Academy.
Photo Gallery of the event
Navonmesh Utsav
On March 1 and 2, 2008, an event aimed at presenting ITC-SRA
scholars and invited young, promising artistes was held at G D
Birla Sabhaghar, Kolkata. The first evening entitled ‘Jugalbandi
Jod’ featured 3 duets. The first was a violin and flute duet by
Milind Raikar and Abhay Phagde, accompanied on the tabla by
Vinod Lele. Playing in the gayakee ang, they introduced Raga
Puriya Kalyan and presented ektala and teentala bandishes. They
concluded with a dhun in Mishra Manj Khamaj.
The second duet was by ITC-SRA scholars Arshad Ali and Sandip
Bhattacharya, disciples of Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan. They
presented khayals in Raga Bihag “Chinta na kara re” in jhaptala,
followed by “Rajan ke raja maharaja” in teentala. They were
accompanied on the tabla by Gopal Mishra while Jyoti Goho
provided harmonium support.
The concluding performance was a sitar and cello duet by
Subhendra Rao and Saskia Rao de Haas. They presented alap, jod,
gats and jhala in Raga Jog, followed by a dhun in Raga Khamaj.
Samar Saha provided tabla accompaniment.
The second evening entitled ‘Stree Gaurav’ commemorated
International Women’s Day, featuring lady musicians. Chitrangana
Agle Reshwal presented a pakhawaj solo. Her presentation
included some Nana Panse gharana jhala, farmaishi chakradhar,
dhirkit variations from tabla repertoire and a paran with 27 ‘dha’.
Nagma in Raga Mishra Mand was played by Hiranmay Mitra.
The second item was a vocal jugalbandi by ITC-SRA scholars
Sucheta Ganguly and Manali Bose, disciples of Pandit Arun
Bhaduri. They began with khayals in Raga Basant “Nabi ke darbar”,
“Eri eri gaili gaili” in ektala and “Piya sang khel” in teentala.
They then presented “Ayo ri basant” in Raga Kaunsidhwani. They
were accompanied on the tabla by Tarak Saha while Rupashree
Bhattacharya provided harmonium support.
The concluding item was a solo Hawaiian guitar recital by Kamala
Shankar. She presented Raga Gorakh Kalyan, accompanied on the
tabla by Vinod Lele. All the performances were proof that
audiences of Hindustani Raga Sangeet have much to look forward
to.
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Photo Gallery of the event |
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February 2008 |
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Lec-Dems at the Academy
The week starting February 18, 2008, proved to be a week of
great activity at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy.
Prof
Clarence Barlow who holds the Corwin Endowed Chair of
Composition at the University of California, Santa Barbara gave
a lecture-demonstration on Tuesday 19, 2008. A renowned Western
music composer, he was born in Kolkata and spent several years
of his childhood and youth learning and later teaching at the
Calcutta School of Music. Developing an interest in Hindustani
music, he composed seven pieces - mainly rondos and fugues,
using Raga music. These were presented and discussed with the
scholars of the Academy.
On Friday 22, 2008, Prof Arun Chanda of The Evergreen State
College, Olympia, WA, a visiting Fulbright Scholar at the Sardar
Patel University, Gujarat, presented a lecture-demonstration on
his contemporary compositions. Trained in the Western classical
tradition, he is a composer of contemporary music and holds the
view that today’s standards of music and non-music are not
sacrosanct. What is not considered musical today may well become
music in the future. The scholars of the Academy had an
interesting afternoon of music listening followed by
discussions.
Both the visitors were delegates at the International Symposium
‘Frontiers of Research on Speech and Music’ (FRSM 2008),
organised by the Scientific Research Dept., ITC Sangeet Research
Academy in collaboration with CDAC, Kolkata, Saha Institute of
Nuclear Physics, Kolkata and Sir C V Raman Centre for Physics
and Music, Jadavpur University, Kolkata. |
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ITC Sangeet Research Academy celebrates the advent of spring
The Wednesday recital on February 13, 2008, was a celebration of
the advent of spring. Traditionally, Basant Panchami is a Hindu
festival celebrating Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, music,
and art. It is generally held on the fifth day of the Bengali
month of Magh. During this festival, people usually wear yellow
garments and worship the goddess. This year, the festival was on
Monday February 11, 2008. At the Academy the occasion was
celebrated the following Wednesday with a performance by ITC-SRA
Guru Padmabhushan Vidushi Girija Devi. In keeping with the
custom, yellow sweets were given to all the members of the
audience as they came into the auditorium.
The evening began with a Saraswati shloka, followed by khayals
and a tappa in Raga Purvi. This was followed by a Hori in Raga
Desh, a thumri, a bandish in Raga Bahar and a dadra. She
concluded with a Bhairavi thumri. She was accompanied by Shri
Sandip Roy Chowdhury on the tabla and Shri Jyoti Goho on the
harmonium. Two of her students provided vocal support.
Overseas Visitors at ITC Sangeet Research Academy
Last week ITC Sangeet Research Academy played host to two
Westerners who have made Hindustani Raga Sangeet their own.
‘Bansuri’
player and composer Catherine Potter gave a
lecture-demonstration at the ITC-SRA auditorium on February 4,
2008. A student of the renowned Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia for
close to 20 years, she skillfully demonstrated the elements of
Raga Sangeet that she has so ably blended with cross-cultural
influences, for her ‘Duniya Project’ which is a unique world
music ensemble presently featuring Ravi Naimpally on tabla, Bill
Parsons on guitar, Nicolas Caloia on double–bass and Thom
Gossage on drums. 'Duniya' evokes as much the international
flavour of Potter’s compositions as the diversity of the
talented musicians in the project. The group performed on
January 31, at the Congo Square JazzFest 2008 held at the
Dalhousie Institute, Kolkata.
On
February 6, 2008, the Wednesday recital found Prof T.M.Hoffman
giving a lecture-demonstration of Hindustani Raga Sangeet on the
Japanese Koto and Shakuhachi. The bandh called on that day lead
to a restricted audience, though interested listeners did find
their way to the Academy. The Japanese Consul and his wife were
present on the occasion. Tim Hoffman has spent 19 years in
Japan, 6 years in India, and 1 year in Sri Lanka. Apart from a
formal Masters degree from University of Hawaii/East-West
Center, he holds a Visharad 5-yr degree from Bhatkhande College
of Music, Lucknow in Hindustani classical vocal and flute. He
was trained by renowned masters - in piano, Grace Mundorf Myers,
USA; in shakuhachi, Yamaguchi Goro, Japan, and in Indian
classical vocal, Ganesh Prasad Mishra, India. Perhaps the most
important lesson of the day was ‘where there’s a will, there’s a
way’. Prof Hoffman’s laudable attempts at combining cultures
could pave the way for other enthusiasts to take up the cause!.
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