Tribute to Pandit Ravi Shankar

This past April 27, I took part in a concert in honour of the late Pandit Ravi Shankar, organized by Hindustani vocalist Vinay Bhide, in Ottawa. The evening concert took place at the Centrepointe Studio Theatre in Ottawa. The concert included performances by vocalist Vinay Bhide, Aditya Verma (sarod; Montreal), Bageshree Vaze (kathak dance; Toronto), Jonathan Voyer (santoor; Montreal), and Tara Krishnan (Bharatanatyam dance), and Kiran Morarji (Toronto) and myself on tabla.

I accompanied Jonathan Voyer for his set, as well as Vinay Bhide for his, followed by a concluding piece with the Ottawa Ensemble, joined by some of the other artists.

It was a beautiful evening, and it was a pleasure to have participated. I really enjoy these types of concerts, where many artists get together and collaborate. Pt. Ravi Shankar was such an important artist of our time, having influenced and inspired so many musicians around the world.

Accompanying santoor player, Jonathan Voyer

Accompanying vocalist Vinay Bhide, with his son Udit on harmonium.

All artists on stage for the final bhajan, composed by Pt. Ravi Shankar.

Thank you to Caroline Tabah for the photos!

Kathak and Tabla in Calgary

This past March 1, I had the great pleasure of accompanying kathak dancer extraordinaire, Sudeshna Maulik, for a performance at the University Theatre in Calgary. We have performed together many times in the Montreal area, but this was the first time that we'd travelled so far to perform. Our performance was presented by the Calgary Raga Mala, who gave us a really warm welcome.

Sudeshna opened the evening with an invocation piece dedicated to Lord Shiva. Afterwards, sarodiya Raja Bhattacharya (who also travelled with us from Montreal) opened with a short alap in Madhukauns, which was coupled with recitation of Sanskrit poetry by local poet, Prabir Chandra. I then performed a short introductory solo in vilambit Dhammar taal, using a tabla tuned one-octave below the usual C tabla, to give a pakhawaj-like flavour. Sudeshna then joined us, and we performed a full segment of Dhammar taal compositions and improvisations.

After a short break, we resumed with Raja's Kirwani solo in Vilambit Teentaal. Sudeshna then returned to the stage, and we continued with the kathak recital through Madhya and Drut Teentaal. It was a full evening of kathak, punctuated by musical interludes and poetic verses.

More photos are available in my Facebook album.

Thank you to Caroline Tabah for the photos!

Spring kathak dance performances

It has been a great spring season, filled with numerous kathak dance performances. The more I work with dance, the more I love it.

On February 17, kathak dancer Sudeshna Maulik and I presented a lecture-performance at the Moving Dialogues conference, hosted by Concordia University in Montreal. The title of our presentation was Talking Hands, Talking Feet - The Unified Interpretation of Bol in the North Indian Tabla and Kathak Dance Traditions. Our presentation was very well received! I think that we were one of the only presenters at the conference representing a non-Western music and dance tradition. In observing others' presentations, it was interesting to note how dance and music are often considered as two completely separate entities in the Western setting, in contrast to Indian music and dance which are entirely inseparable!

On April 2, sarodiya Raja Bhattacharya and I accompanied Sudeshna at the Maison de la culture Parc-Extension in Montreal. We performed a short instrumental piece to open, followed by a full kathak performance in Teentaal. The audience was very responsive, and the performance was followed by a Q&A session.

In Canada, the month of May is Asian Heritage Month. This year, Sudeshna and I were fortunate to have been invited to perform as part of the festivities organised by the Festival Accès Asie. The first performance was on May 7, as part of a demonstration of Indian cuisine and culture at the Buffet Maharaja.

Next up on May 14, I accompanied Sudeshna's talented young student Rijha Bhattacharjee in her debut solo performance. In addition to performing for a live audience at Ex-Centris in Montreal, this performance was part of a nationwide broadcast and was simultaneously shown to live audiences in Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver. We also responded to comments and questions from audience members in the four cities.

The event was made up of performances from music and dance artists from all four cities, representing a wide variety of Asian cultures, in addition to lectures and discourses. It was quite an eye-opening experience, and a great way to showcase Asian talent from across the country. Congratulations to Rijha on a very successful debut performance and to the Accès Asie team for their excellent organisational skills!

Thanks to Caroline Tabah for the April 2 and May 14 photos.

Montreal Constellation

This past November 27, I was extremely honoured to have been invited to peform as part of the Kabir Cultural Centre's Montreal Constellation concert. For this special event, they invited all the local practitioners of Hindustani classical music to collaborate in an evening performance.

Each artist presented one raga (sorry that I don't recall all the raags performed). First to perform was santoor player Jonathan Voyer, accompanied by myself on tabla. Jonathan performed Raag Yaman in Alap, Rupaktaal, and Drut Teentaal. Next, sitarist Uwe Neumann, accompanied by Subir Dev on tabla, followed by sarodiya Aditya Verma, accompanied by myself. For the finale, all artists performed together on stage in Raag Kirwani - Alap, Vilambit Teentaal and Drut Teentaal.

It was truly a magical evening, and it was an honour to perform with such talented artists. It was a real coming-together of the local Indian music scene. This was also my first time performing with another tabla player in a traditional setting. Subir is a wonderful tabla artist, and it was a pure pleasure to perform together. I sincerely hope that we will be able to have other such occasions to perform together in the future.

For those of you who know the local scene, a major absence was felt, as bansuri player Catherine Potter was unable to participate due to her ill health. She passed away 6 days later. I will devote an entire post to Catherine in my next blog posting. Needless to say, her passing created waves across the entire Canadian music landscape, touching people from coast to coast.

All photos by Arif Khan of the Kabir Cultural Centre.

Soul of Ganges

If I haven't been posting on a regular basis, it's because Sudeshna Maulik and I have been working extremely hard in organizing Soul of Ganges. This was the public launch of our kathak and tabla school, Sangeet Kala Kendra. We have been offering weekly classes at the local Bharat Bhavan for some time now, however we had yet to present our first performance under the banner of the school.

Presented in collaboration with the Kabir Cultural Centre, Soul of Ganges featured a performance by the great sitar maestro, Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan, accompanied by the wonderful Subhajyoti Guha on tabla. The evening opened with Sudeshna's kathak dance performance, accompanied by myself on tabla and Raja Bhattacharya performing lehra on sarod.

We opened with a segment in Dhammar Taal (14 beat cycle), followed by madhya and drut Teentaal (16 beat cycle). As the theme was 'Soul of Ganges', Sudeshna demonstrated aspects of flowing water, as well as depictions of Shiva and Parvati.

After an intermission for chai and samosas, Ustad Shahid Parvez took to the stage and blew everyone away with his virtuosity and depth. We are extremely grateful to Ustadji and Subhajyoti for coming to perform for this special occasion in Montreal.

It was great to see that so many of the Indian music and dance lovers in Montreal came out to support our launch. We couldn't be more pleased with the turnout - the Maison de la culture Frontenac was filled to capacity; we unfortunately had to turn people away. We'll have to book a bigger hall for our next event!

I just did a quick online search, and wow! - someone has already posted a blog and videos. Click here to read Bettina Forget's take on the evening. And here is her YouTube videoclip of our performance:

(Now the world can hear me count in Hindi. Oh boy...)

And a clip of Ustadji:

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Special thanks to Arif Ali Khan from the Kabir Cultural Centre for the photos!

Passing of the great maestro, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan

This morning, I learned of the sad news that the great sarod maestro, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, has passed away. He was one of the all-time greats of Indian classical music, and was instrumental in bringing Indian classical music to the West. Here are a couple of excerpts from the press:

From DNA India:

Sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan died in San Francisco in the US today after a prolonged kidney ailment, according to a family friend here. Eighty-eight-year-old Khan died at his music centre at 10 am IST, Rabin Pal, the secretary of sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar, said. He is survived by wife Mary, three sons and a daughter.

Pal, a family friend of the maestro, said he was informed of Khan's death by the ustad's family in San Francisco. Khan's secretary in Kolkata, Ashish Roy, said the maestro was on dialysis and had been ailing for over four years. His condition had deteriorated in the last four months.

A recipient of the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Vibhushan, Khan had been a colossus in the world of Indian classical music for the last five decades. He became court musician for the maharaja of Jodhpur and continued for seven years, till his patron's death. The state of Jodhpur bestowed on him his title of "ustad".

At the request of violin virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin, Khan visited the United States in 1955 and performed at New York's Museum of Modern Art.

He founded the Ali Akbar College of Music in Kolkata in 1956. In 1965, he began teaching in USA, later opening a branch of his college there, and in Switzerland. In 1997, Khan performed at a programme in the United Nations to celebrate the 50th year of India's independence.

He also composed music for films, creating the musical score for Chetan Anand's Aandhiyan(1953), Merchant-Ivory productions' The Householder, Tapan Sinha's Khudita Pashan, Satyajit Ray's Devi and Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha.

Khan married thrice. His son, Ustad Aashis Khan, is a sarod artiste of repute. The maestro once said: "For us, as a family, music is like food. When you need it, you don't have to explain why, because it is the basis of life."

From The Hindu:

"Kolkata (PTI): Hailed by violinist Yehudi Menuhin as 'the greatest musician in the world', Sarod maestro Ali Akbar Khan, who died on Friday, had many a first to his credit in taking Indian classical music to the West.

88-year-old Khan, who had settled down in San Francisco in the US, was admired by both Eastern as well as Western musicians for his brilliant compositions and his mastery of the 25-string instrument.

The illustrious son of Ustad Alauddin Khan, he was once described by Menuhin as 'the greatest musician in the world'. He was the first to cut a long play record of Indian classical music in the US and to give a sarod recital on American TV.

Khan was also the first Indian musician to receive the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship in 1991 and was nominated for Grammy Awards five time between 1970 to 1998.

Born on April 14, 1922 in Shibpur village of Comilla district, now in Bangladesh, Khan took up music at the age of three, learning vocal music from his father and percussion from his uncle, Fakir Aftabuddin.

His father also trained him in several other instruments, but Khan decided to concentrate on the sarod and on vocals.

A recipient of Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan, Khan gave his first public performance in Allahabad at the age 13 and made his first gramophone recording in Lucknow when he was in his early twenties."