EVENTS

British Council concerts

As part of the music series organised by the British Council to celebrate their 50th anniversary in India, Cellist Matthew Sharp and Pianist Dominic Harlan performed at the Experimental Theatre, NCPA, Mumbai, on February 9. The high calibre of the artistes performing in this series made it a not-to-be missed event.

Clash Of The Titans

Magansound's Shashi Gopal, as everyone knows, has a passion for racing. A few years ago, he instituted the Magnasound Cup at the Mahalaxmi in Mumbai. This year the race was organised in aid of the Disabled Jockey's Fund. Sony TV were also among the sponsors. Obviously, the Magnasound gang were there in full strength, generally having a whale of a time. Making one wish there was more music industry participation in events like this.

Jazz Workshop

Jazz-India in collaboration with the ICCR and the Gaudeamus Foundation of Holland held a Jazz workshop in Mumbai. This Workshop was conducted by Dipamkar Shome - Guitar, Cecile Girard _ Cello, Mischa Kool _ Acoustic Bass, Victor De Boo _ Drums. All of them are some of Holland's best Jazz musicians, and have played in famed groups, like that of Michael Moore, Misha Mengelberg, Bill Evans, Candy Dulfer, Jasper van't Hof and Tristan Honsinger. The Together Quartet also later performed a concert at the Tata Theatre.

Illyaraja honoured

The Lata Mangeshkar award for Semi-Classical music, instituted by the Madhya Pradesh Government in 1984, was awarded to music composer Illayaraja this year. He is the 15th music composer to receive the award. This award was instituted to promote Classical excellence in the field of Semi-Classical music. The award is conferred to an Indian artiste for recital, singing or composition. During his three- decade career in music composition, Illyaraja has scored music for more than 4,000 songs for 750 films, in five different languages.

Pt. Ravi Shankar plays at 'Shanmukananda'

Sitar maestro Pt. Ravi Shankar returned in late February to play once again at the renovated Shanmukananda Hall, in Matunga, Mumbai, the cradle of Carnatic music in the megapolis. Accompanying him was his daughter Anoushka. It was after a gap of many years that the maestro played at the hall (which had been gutted a few years ago), where he has played on at least 20 other occasions. It was a special moment for him, he said. And then went on to play Raga Purvi Kalyan and Raga Kirvana, plus a special composition of his own, called `Ratna Sawari'. The ragas, though, were a little too short, and served only to whet the appetitie of the capacity audience.

Musician's Conference

The 29^th annual musicians' conference organised by the Karnataka Ganakala Parishad, the forum of Musicians, from February 3-7, at the Bangalore Gayana Samaja Auditorium was presided over by Veena Vidushi Rajalakshmi Thirunarayanan. Dr H Narasimhaiah, former VC, Bangalore University, inaugurated and Y K Muddu Krishna, director, Kannada and Culture, govt. of Karnataka, was the chief guest.
The three-day academic sessions included the birth centenaries of Mrudanga Ratnakara, H Puttachar and Sangeetha Kalanidhi, Chittoor Subramanya Pillai.
Concerts included recitals of Nagaswara, Veena, Jalatharang and a concert to mark the birth centenary of Chittoor Subramanya Pillai, vocal recitals and a Sugama Sangeetha event.
A R Chandrahasa Gupta, (secretary, Kannada and Culture, govt. of Karnataka), conferred the title `Ganakala Bhushane' on the president,Rajalakshmi Thirunarayan.
The conference was aided by the Directorate of Kannada and Culture, government of Karnataka and 17 other sponsors.

Venus Celebrates Album Releases

Venus Rcords and Tapes Pvt. Ltd. released Jaspinder Narula's debu Pop album `Kuch Kuch Dil Mein' at an exclusive party at Hotel Kings on February 26.

Talat Aziz's party was held on February 12 at Sun'n'Sand hotel followed by a live concert on the next day.

UB-40 in Mumbai

Reggae superstars UB40 rocked Mumbai with a superlative performance last month, crowning their concert with a rumbunctious performance of the Peter Tosh classic, `Legalise It', which had the cops agape and wondering whether to arrest Ali Campbell, the lead singer. But the rest of the evening was an unmitigated disaster, starting with Techno-Bhajan expert Whosane, followed by the all-girl group Caliche who were hopelessly out-of-tune. Equally boring was Jassi and even the so-called superstar of Bhangra Pop, Malkit Singh.

Thallavaadya Seminar

The Percussive Arts Center,Bangalore, organised their fifth seminar on February 8 at the GIPA auditorium. Kanakapurandara awardee M S Ramaiah inaugurated the seminar. Dr Prabhakara Joshi of Mangalore and V V Parameshwar of Udupi demostrated `Thenku Thittu' and `Badagu Thittu'. Dr Choodamani Nandagopal, in her illustrated talk on "References to Laya Vaadyaas in inscriptions, sculptures, paintings, etc," used slides to illustrate her points.

H.S.AnasuyaKulkarni demonstrated `Drums of Papua New Guinea and Uganda' and explained their salient features. P Nambiathan Nambudiri of Trichur and party demonstrated `Chande' of Kerala, `Idakka' and `Ellathalam' with suitable narrations. A Veerabhadriah, veteran Violinist, delivered the valedictory address.

Taal

Prithvi Cafe, in Juhu, Mumbai, has been having a series of concert-demos called `Taal' involving leading musicians like Zakir Husain. Wherein the musicians not only play some grteat music, but also explain to the ignorants the intricacies of what they are playing.

Mahayagna & Music for World Peace

January 20 saw the inauguration of Shri Lakshachandi Mahayagna. "Held for the first time since 1947, the purpose of this gigantic effort was to invoke the blessings of the gods,to bring peace and prosperity to the world," said Shri Vishwanath Chaudhari of Rajasthani Mandal Gokuldham and Yashodham. Inevitably, music had a major role during the 10-day event, which saw Ustad Bismillah Khan on Shehnai,Ustad Amjad Ali Khan on Sarod and Pt.Jasraj, mesmerise the audience with the music of the gods, in the process creating a divine ambience.

Parampara series a novel experience

For the connoisseurs of Carnatic music, the `Parampara' series of concerts organised by HMV was a novel experience. The series brought together established vocalists and their disciples on the same stage. As the word `Parampara' implies, the concert became a testing ground for the styles of gurus and their disciples.

The first concert featured Sumitra Vasudev, the disciple of R Vedavalli, followed by Madurai T N Seshagopalan. It continued over the next three days with two concerts daily, featuring Abhishek Raghuvaran, R Vedavalli, T N S Krishna, O S Thiagarajan, Tara Rangarajan and P S Narayanaswamy. While the present stars of the stage performed in the style for which they are known, most of the audience's attention was drawn to the young talent for whom this concert was an opportunity to prove their credentials. Coming through this test in fine style was Abhishek Raghuvaran, grandson of the famous Mridangan player Palgat Raghu, and disciple of P S Narayanaswamy. By his ecstatic voice the 14-year-old could easily change his modulations with subtle variations in tone and a fine display of the complicated ragas of Carnatic music

R2R