Hariprasad Chaurasia, Suchismita, Debopriya | Raga Bageshri Alap-Gat-Teentaal | Tabla: Sandip Das |
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Hariprasad Chaurasia stands at the top of the bansuri mountain with his majestic playing.In this fine recording from the Saptak festival India we also see two of the finest young female talents of the bamboo flute carrying on Hariprasad's remarkable musical lineage, The session demonstrates the fantastic tabla of Kumar Bose and the exquisite accompaniment of Sandeep Das.
Artist:
Flute: Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Suchismita, Debopriya
Tabla: Kumar Bose, Sandeep Das
Raga: Vachaspati
Recorded Live at Saptak Festival (Gujarat) India.
Executive Producer - Alpesh Patel
Produced By - Derek Roberts
Location Engineer - Derek Roberts
Assistant Engineer - Krishna Shirgaonkar
Digitally Mastered by: Derek Roberts of Dr Creative Productions | www.drcreativeproductions.co.uk
Photography - Deko
VFX Producer: Vijay Dave | Varun Creations
Raga Vachaspati: A popular South Indian Carnatic raga only recently adopted into the North Indian classical music repertoire by Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ravi Shankar and Shivkumar Sharma.
GURU SHISHYA: Hariprasad Chaurasia:
A prolific performer and committed educator, he has established himself as one of the great ambassadors for Indian music in modern times, laying the foundations for future generations to reap the benefits of his mastery. His life's mission has been to popularize the Bansuri, essentially a simple unassuming piece of bamboo with seven holes. It has proved to be a path not without its fair share of struggle and hardship.
Born into a family of wrestlers in Allahabad in 1938, Hariprasad suffered the misfortune of losing his mother in his infant years. It was left to his father to single-handedly rear a young family, a task which he could only manage by imposing a strict disciplined regime. Hariprasad's attraction to music did not find immediate support within his family, mainly due to his father's association of music with lowlife courtesan's mehfils and beggars.
However, Hariprasad Chaurasia pursued his interest with elentless faith and passion, at first taking singing lessons in secret from sympathetic neighbour, Pt. Rajaram.
This was a period in Indian music when Radio played a significant role in promoting and sustaining Indian music and musicians, and hearing the flute of Pt. Bholanath of Varanasi on Allahabad Radio at the age of fifteen made a lasting impression on the young aspiring musician. Seduced by the magical tones of the bamboo flute, he set out to track down the player who had inspired him, begging the master to help in the fulfilment of his burning ambitions.
To support himself Hariprasad took a job as a typist, and gave all his free hours to practice. It was not until he was transferred to Bombay that his talent became more widely recognised. He went on to compose music for epic films like Silsila, Lamhe, Darr, and Chandni.
In Bombay a meeting took place that was to have a profound influence on Hariprasad Chaurasia's life. Baba Allaudin Khan, mentor of Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan and probably the most influential Indian musician of the twentieth century, had overheard Hariprasad's bansuri in the studio. He summoned him and requested him to play for him. Impressed with the young flautist he invited Hariprasad to study with him in Maihar in Central India. When it became apparent that this was not possible logistically because of the great geographical distance between them, Baba Allaudin Khan suggested he went to his daughter Smt. Annapurna Devi who was residing in closer proximity. The reclusive, enigmatic Annapurna at first turned him away, but after some persistence on Hariprasad's part, she eventually agreed to teach him on the basis that he agreed to start his musical training from zero and pursue a new musical direction.
His devotion to the cause of Indian music is reflected in Brindavan, the school he has created specifically designed to impart knowledge in the traditional gurukul system.
He has established major centres devoted to learning in Rotterdam Conservatory, Netherlands and in his native Mumbai. Several of his students are now performing worldwide.
Both Debopriya and Suchismita have served their apprenticeship touring extensively with their guru. Their debut performance at the 25th Saptak Festival in Gujarat on the 1st January 2005, is evidence of their musical coming of age.
Performances- The recital starts with a short Alap, the gradual unfolding of the melodic shape of the raga. Through Alap the musician seeks to reveals the soul of the chosen raga through slow, deliberate yet spontaneous improvised phrases. Alap is followed by the main composition, or gat. A melody set a specific rhythmic cycle heralding the introduction of the tabla accompaniment. In this case the seven beat cycle, Rupak accents the divisions 3.2.2. The second composition is set to the Teentaal, the most popular rhythmic cycle (or taal) in North Indian Classical Music.Tabla accompaniment is provided by maestro Kumar Bose.
