Its no fantasized name for a yet another blog entry but the name of the "Sangeet Samaroh" (Music Concert) been conducted last weekend at Chowdiah Memorial Hall Bangalore. The event which I happened to visit quite accidentally and of course fortunately enough as well.
The concert was essentially segregated into two sessions:
1. Classical Vocals by Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar and his group.
2. Santoor Vaadan by Maestro Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma & associate Table Master.
Being a very much novice in classical music much of the "ras" or the "anand" that the music lovers I could see relishing, surely remained a miss to me, yet I'm astounded, stunned and wordless to explain the elements of joy that were felt within.
The very first thing that took us with surprise was the Hindi narration by the speaker, so clear, peaceful and pleasing. The voice itself had the element of respect towards the artists and audience. I say it as a surprise simply coz English today has replaced every part of speech in our culture, the soothing effect that the unexpected Hindi narration had on our ears was in itself a treat, reflecting a direction towards the quick small preparation that audience needed to get hold of something about to come in the following moments to reflect very much the Indian culture.
It was first of the Live Music concert I ever visited, a classical one on top of that; agitation had already started in the mind with the collisions of the reactions I'd reserved about such concerts from the people earlier but still was prepared enough to hold back through the session.
"Chor chori se jaye, hera pheri se nahin!" (Thief can discontinue stealing but not with its habits), like many software pro(s), am sure anything new we encounter interpretation in terms of it is indispensable. Quite subconsciously my mind started reacting to give a comparison graph between the "coordination among the artists" with the "systems & processes" in our industry, no idea how naive do I sound but yes I did the same. It suddenly flashed a memory of mine visiting the "Career" section of a startup org, where these guys were talking about their team to be as a band of musicians and how they wanted a few more drummers, proficient in .NET technologies!
Anyways, the hall was jam-packed with hundreds of people with the age ranging from 3 years old kid to 90+ years' old gentle men & women, constituting the four different generations in present tense, whereas middle-age dominated the crowd. Both the sessions were remarkable in their own respect and standards, audience whether a novice like me or the ardent music devotee both were engulfed into the magic of vibrations that traversed through the room to the hundreds of ear-drums. Rounds of applause even seemed to be minuscule but the only means to appreciating the enchantment around.
I find myself highly pleased, hence couldn't stop researching about the people whom I heard last weekend (seems like last night though), people who were treated like human forms of the God & documenting about them looks to me the best way to appreciate the mute spiritual endowment I've had from these artists. Little compilation about the artists for a better insight;
Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar:
Pandit Kashalkar started his music initials from his father Shri N.D.Kashalkar for whom music was a hobby. Then he became the disciple of Ram Marathe (an exponent of Agra Gharana), he then won a Gold medal in M.Music. Gajananbhuwa Joshi however remains as his real mentor.
Ulhas Kashalkar started his career as a Programme Executive in All India Radio (AIR), Thane, near Mumbai. He later came to Kolkata to join the ITC Sangeet Research Academy (ITC-SRA) as a guru in 1993. He has trained a number of scholars at the Academy. Even today he is one of the most sought-after gurus at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy.
The sensitive and committed listener who wishes today to experience minute subtleties of alaapi, intricacies of laykari and fiery taankari will inevitably have to turn to Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar. There are still those who insist on traditional fare in this age of instant food, those who refuse to dilute their taste and wander about in search of the real thing. To such people - who demand music which is traditional and authentic - Ulhasji's concert is like a joyous festival. How well-etched, how clearly delineated, how neat and attractive his music is!
It is like a beautiful feminine form, adorned in a beautiful sari, with not a hair out of place: it is not unkempt, dishelved, not untidy and disorganized. There are no unnecessary leaps from one note to another, no lingering over the taar shadjas, no indulgence in misplaced taan.
Words of the Speaker: "When Bill Clinton came to India & visited Agra, he stated that the world can be easily divided into two halves, one who have not seen the beauty of the Taj Mahal & the other one who have enjoyed its absolute splendor. Very similarly world can actually be divided into two halves, one who have had the chance to listen to the Vocals of Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar and the other one who have missed it."
Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma:
I actually felt sorry about myself being unaware about such a persona earlier. As soon as he was introduced, I could recognize his face, as seen on TV, newspapers or through some advertisements many a times.
As the speaker said, "An artist is known by the instrument he plays but there have been only two artists who have given life to the instruments. One such artist is Late Shri Bismillah Khan, who brought Shehnai to the living form, the other is Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma who brought Santoor on par with other instruments in the classical category and took it to the International standards".
When he started playing Santoor, it looked very normal an instrument & the art of playing it both, slowly and gradually he picked up the pace, eventually the synchronization between the pace of his hand, the melody created and the tabla artist was no less than an incredible & simply a treat for the audience, and when we looked at our watches we realized that he played one whole session for about one & half hour at a single stretch. Audience was so much overwhelmed that applauses weren't coming to hold, it seemed as if there has been a big session on hand clapping(s) as well.
Now I'm back from the concert but still the vibes of it are still emanating from within.
The concert was essentially segregated into two sessions:
1. Classical Vocals by Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar and his group.
2. Santoor Vaadan by Maestro Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma & associate Table Master.
Being a very much novice in classical music much of the "ras" or the "anand" that the music lovers I could see relishing, surely remained a miss to me, yet I'm astounded, stunned and wordless to explain the elements of joy that were felt within.
The very first thing that took us with surprise was the Hindi narration by the speaker, so clear, peaceful and pleasing. The voice itself had the element of respect towards the artists and audience. I say it as a surprise simply coz English today has replaced every part of speech in our culture, the soothing effect that the unexpected Hindi narration had on our ears was in itself a treat, reflecting a direction towards the quick small preparation that audience needed to get hold of something about to come in the following moments to reflect very much the Indian culture.
It was first of the Live Music concert I ever visited, a classical one on top of that; agitation had already started in the mind with the collisions of the reactions I'd reserved about such concerts from the people earlier but still was prepared enough to hold back through the session.
"Chor chori se jaye, hera pheri se nahin!" (Thief can discontinue stealing but not with its habits), like many software pro(s), am sure anything new we encounter interpretation in terms of it is indispensable. Quite subconsciously my mind started reacting to give a comparison graph between the "coordination among the artists" with the "systems & processes" in our industry, no idea how naive do I sound but yes I did the same. It suddenly flashed a memory of mine visiting the "Career" section of a startup org, where these guys were talking about their team to be as a band of musicians and how they wanted a few more drummers, proficient in .NET technologies!
Anyways, the hall was jam-packed with hundreds of people with the age ranging from 3 years old kid to 90+ years' old gentle men & women, constituting the four different generations in present tense, whereas middle-age dominated the crowd. Both the sessions were remarkable in their own respect and standards, audience whether a novice like me or the ardent music devotee both were engulfed into the magic of vibrations that traversed through the room to the hundreds of ear-drums. Rounds of applause even seemed to be minuscule but the only means to appreciating the enchantment around.
I find myself highly pleased, hence couldn't stop researching about the people whom I heard last weekend (seems like last night though), people who were treated like human forms of the God & documenting about them looks to me the best way to appreciate the mute spiritual endowment I've had from these artists. Little compilation about the artists for a better insight;
Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar:
Pandit Kashalkar started his music initials from his father Shri N.D.Kashalkar for whom music was a hobby. Then he became the disciple of Ram Marathe (an exponent of Agra Gharana), he then won a Gold medal in M.Music. Gajananbhuwa Joshi however remains as his real mentor.
Ulhas Kashalkar started his career as a Programme Executive in All India Radio (AIR), Thane, near Mumbai. He later came to Kolkata to join the ITC Sangeet Research Academy (ITC-SRA) as a guru in 1993. He has trained a number of scholars at the Academy. Even today he is one of the most sought-after gurus at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy.
The sensitive and committed listener who wishes today to experience minute subtleties of alaapi, intricacies of laykari and fiery taankari will inevitably have to turn to Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar. There are still those who insist on traditional fare in this age of instant food, those who refuse to dilute their taste and wander about in search of the real thing. To such people - who demand music which is traditional and authentic - Ulhasji's concert is like a joyous festival. How well-etched, how clearly delineated, how neat and attractive his music is!
It is like a beautiful feminine form, adorned in a beautiful sari, with not a hair out of place: it is not unkempt, dishelved, not untidy and disorganized. There are no unnecessary leaps from one note to another, no lingering over the taar shadjas, no indulgence in misplaced taan.
Words of the Speaker: "When Bill Clinton came to India & visited Agra, he stated that the world can be easily divided into two halves, one who have not seen the beauty of the Taj Mahal & the other one who have enjoyed its absolute splendor. Very similarly world can actually be divided into two halves, one who have had the chance to listen to the Vocals of Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar and the other one who have missed it."
Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma:
I actually felt sorry about myself being unaware about such a persona earlier. As soon as he was introduced, I could recognize his face, as seen on TV, newspapers or through some advertisements many a times.
As the speaker said, "An artist is known by the instrument he plays but there have been only two artists who have given life to the instruments. One such artist is Late Shri Bismillah Khan, who brought Shehnai to the living form, the other is Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma who brought Santoor on par with other instruments in the classical category and took it to the International standards".
When he started playing Santoor, it looked very normal an instrument & the art of playing it both, slowly and gradually he picked up the pace, eventually the synchronization between the pace of his hand, the melody created and the tabla artist was no less than an incredible & simply a treat for the audience, and when we looked at our watches we realized that he played one whole session for about one & half hour at a single stretch. Audience was so much overwhelmed that applauses weren't coming to hold, it seemed as if there has been a big session on hand clapping(s) as well.
Now I'm back from the concert but still the vibes of it are still emanating from within.
