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.
 

February 2008

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.

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!.