Virasat 2010 - Hindustani Music Concert By Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia & Vijay Ghate: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR VIRASAT 2010 - HINDUSTANI...

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. Odissi dancer Kavita Dwibedi will be performing on 9th August, 7:00pm, at the ICFAI Business School, Shankarpalli.

On the second day, the 8th of August, Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia on the flute and Pt. Vijay Ghate on the tabla will present a Hindustani Music concert, at the DST Auditorium, University of Hyderabad.

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, the internationally-renowned exponent of the bansuri or bamboo flute, surprisingly does not come from a long lineage of flautists. His father was a famous wrestler who had aspirations of his son following in his footsteps. The younger Chaurasia had an early love of music, however, and would learn music in secret.

By the age of 15, he was taking his first steps towards a lifetime as a performer by studying classical vocal with Pandit Raja Ram of Benares. Soon after, he heard a flute recital by Pandit Bholanath, and was so impressed he changed his focus to studying the flute.

When he was just 19, he got a job playing for All-India Radio, Cuttack (Orissa), and within 5 years, he was transferred to their headquarters in Bombay. There he got the additional exposure of performing in one of India's cultural centers, and also studied with Annapurna Devi, daughter of Ustaad Allauddin Khan of the Maihar School of Music.

Over a lifetime of performances all over the world, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia has become one of India's most-respected classical musicians, earning several awards, including the National Award of the Sangeet Natak Academy in 1984, the Padma Bhushan and the Konarak Samman in 1992. He has collaborated with several Western musicians, including John McLaughlin and Jan Gabarek, and has also composed music for a number of Indian films.

Vijay Ghate

Born in Jabalpur, Vijay Ghate showed an early inclination for rhythm, which was fostered by his family. He moved to Mumbai to study with Pandit Suresh Talwalkar, an icon amongst tabla players of India.

Ghate has been performing since the age of 16, and has toured worldwide with most of India's prominent musicians. As an accompanist, he is a favorite with many of India's leading players, including Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pt. Shivkumar Sharma, Kala Ramnath and Ustad Shahid Parvez. He is a soloist as well as an accompanist to instrumentalists, vocalists and Kathak dancers.

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 concerts 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.