Carnatic Flute By Shashank: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR CARNATIC FLUTE BY SHASHANK

On the occasion of the 35th Pandit Motiram Pandit Maniram Sangeet Samaroha 2007, The Department of Culture, together with Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj, is organising a 4-day grand music festival, from 29th November to 2nd December, at the Nizam College grounds.

Young and upcoming artistes will share the dias with popular senior performers during the festival, which features flautists Rakesh Chaurasia and Shashank, vocalists Pandit Jasraj, Pritam Bhattacharya and Sanjeev Abhyankar, Hariharan, vainika Jayanthi Kumaresh, sitarist Ustad Shahid Parvez, Sufi Kathak dancer Manjari Chaturvedi, and tabla player Vijay Ghate.

Today, the penultimate day, young Carnatic flautist Shashank will perform the first recital of the day. Shashank, born on October 14, 1978, was barely 9 months old when he was initiated to South-Indian classical music, even before he started speaking his mother tongue. As advised by flute maestro T R Mahalingam, he learnt only vocal music, from veteran musicians including Palghat K V Narayanaswamy.

At 6, Shashank picked up his father's flute and stunned onlookers by playing spontaneously, to signal his entry into the flute world. His maiden flute concert was at Adelaide, Australia, in September 1990, when he was 11, followed by his debut in India on December 20, 1990.

Some landmark concerts of his have been the Rashtrapathi Bhavan; Kennedy Center - Washington DC; J Paul Getty Hall - Hollywood; National Academy of Sciences - Washington DC; Xebec Hall - Kobe, and Across Fukuoka - Fukuoka, Japan; India Music Group at St. Xaviers College - Bombay; UNESCO - Paris; Tropical Institute - Amsterdam; Modigliani Hall-Padova, Italy; Museum Rietberg, Zurich; and Seoul Plaza, Seoul, Korea.

Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj has been organising music festivals every year at the Nizam College grounds, in memory of his late father and brother Pandit Motiram and Pandit Maniram respectively, since the last 35 years. His father and brother were both music professors at the Nizam College. The entry to the concert is free.

Please contact the Department of Culture at 2324-2482 for further details.