Hyderabad Virasat 2010 - Dhrupad Vocal By Pt. Uday Bhawalkar: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR HYDERABAD VIRASAT 2010 -...

Miss this, and miss out on what Emperor Akbar once enjoyed. Here's plenty of music set to let your mind loose onto playgrounds of personal philosophy.

The Hyderabad Chapter of SPIC-MACAY (Society for Promotion of Indian Music And Culture Amongst Youth) is organising a festival of Indian classical music and dance, "Virasat 2010", from 7th to 17th August, at various venues in the city.

The 11-day festival will feature the following stalwarts - Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pt. Vijay Ghate, Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan, Kavita Dwibedi, T V Sankaranarayanan, Mysore Brothers, Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Prof. Uday Bhawalkar, Dr. Teejan Bai, Dr. Nookala Chinasatyanarayana and D Balakrishna.

Uday Bhawalkar will be performing a Dhrupad vocal on 13th August at 7pm, at ICFAI Business School.

'Dhrupad' is a vocal genre in Hindustani classical music, and its name is derived from the words "dhruva" (fixed) and "pada" (words). Abul Fazl, who was Emperor Akbar's courtier as well as a chronicler, defines the dhrupad verse form in his Ain-e-Akbari as "four rhyming lines, each of indefinite prosodic length." Thematic matter ranges from the religious and spiritual (mostly in praise of Hindu deities) to royal panegyrics, musicology and romance.

Uday Bhawalkar was born in 1966 in Madhya Pradesh, and began learning classical vocal music in the Khayal style, from the age of 8. At 15, he received a grant to undergo 4 years of training in Dhrupad under Ustad Zia Fareeduddin Dagar. This period convinced him that he wanted to continue in the Dhrupad style, and therefore, he went to Mumbai to learn under his guru's elder brother Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar. Under his tutelage, he developed as an artist, and is now considered one of the leading Dhrupad exponents of the current generation.

SPIC MACAY is a voluntary, non-profit, apolitical and non-governmental student participatory movement founded in 1977. It aims to conserve and promote an awareness of Indian culture among the youth of India, through a focus on the classical arts. SPIC-MACAY has chapters in over 300 towns and cities all over the world. It organizes concerts, lectures, demonstrations, informal discussions and seminars, all hosted by local chapters of the organization. The Hyderabad Chapter is one of them.

Entry to the concert is free, and is on a first-come-first-served basis. Please contact Lata Mani at 93475-53161 or Ashish at 94901-22248 for further details.