CITI-NCPA Aadi Anant Zakir Hussain Amjad Ali Khan Hariprasad Chaurasia and Others
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
December 2018 ON Stagevolume 8 • issue 5 CITI-NCPA Aadi Anant Zakir Hussain Amjad Ali Khan Hariprasad Chaurasia and others Cover Final.indd 1 19/11/18 11:09 AM NCPA Chairman Khushroo N. Suntook Editorial Director Radhakrishnan Nair Editor-in-Chief Oishani Mitra tets Consulting Editor Vipasha Aloukik Pai Editorial Co-ordinator Hilda Darukhanawalla 10 Art Director Amit Naik Deputy Art Directors Hemali Limbachiya Tanvi Shah Advertising Anita Maria Pancras ([email protected]; 66223835) Tulsi Bavishi ([email protected]; 9833116584) Senior Digital Manager Jayesh V. Salvi Produced by Editorial Oce 4th Floor, Todi Building, Mathuradas Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai - 400013 Printer Spenta Multimedia, Peninsula Spenta, Mathuradas Mill Compound, N. M. Joshi Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai – 400013 Materials in ON Stage cannot be reproduced in part or whole without the written permission of the publisher. Views and opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the publisher. All rights reserved. Features NCPA Booking Oce 2282 4567/6654 8135/6622 3724 www.ncpamumbai.com produce the precise nuances of the human voice on a musical instrument, 08 is the ultimate culmination of scholarship Reflections Lost without translation. By Anil Dharker and riyaaz, especially when it comes to Indian classical music. 10 By Meena Banerjee A Star is Born Since time immemorial, the percussionist 20 was relegated to the background. Thanks Lucrece & Tarquin: A 2000-year-old to Allarakha Qureshi’s artistry, legacy and #MeToo case successors, the spotlight is now shining As India took to Twitter and Facebook to bright on the percussionist. By Reshma O. Pathare speak about systemic sexual harassment in and outside the workplace, Kalki Koechlin and British director Paul Goodwin 14 found catharsis in a 16th century poem The Sarod that sings by Shakespeare. The gayaki ang, which is the ability to By Shayonnita Mallik Contents.indd 4 19/11/18 11:35 AM 24 24 42 Classical favourites The Master of movement Following highly acclaimed One of the founders of concerts in 2016 and 2017, Impressionism, Edgar Degas was conductor Robert Ames and exceptional at capturing motion violinist Galya Bisengalieva are and rendering it into timeless art. returning to perform with the By Leena Desai SOI Chamber Orchestra. This year, we spoke to Ames about music, memories and moonlight. 46 The mystical goddess The poetry of a Tamil saint from 28 ancient times, Andal, is still New Creations relevant today. A festival at the NCPA brings together renewed choreographies and interpretations in Indian 48 classical dance. By Samira Bose A festival in the desert Mohan Nadkarni writes about a festival that showcased the 32 cultural traditions of the people 42 Beethoven’s Magnum Opus of Kutch A brief history of the master’s Follow us on: most spectacular work: facebook.com/NCPAMumbai Symphony No 9. 50 By Manohar Parnerkar Programme Guide @NCPAMumbai All of December’s events at the NCPAMumbai NCPA. 38 youtube.com/user/TheNCPAMumbai1 Eastward bound pinterest.com/ncpamumbai A unique non-denominational 60 and non-religious Oxonian choir What’s Next is performing this December What to expect in the following We look forward to your feedback and suggestions. Please do drop us an at the NCPA. By Devanshi Shah months. email at [email protected]. Contents.indd 6 19/11/18 11:36 AM CONCERT A STAR AA - Percussion.indd 10 19/11/18 11:28 AM IS BORN Since time immemorial, the percussionist was relegated to the background. Thanks to Allarakha Qureshi’s artistry, legacy and successors, the spotlight is now shining bright on the percussionist. By Reshma O. Pathare Allarakha Qureshi with Zakir Hussain AA - Percussion.indd 11 19/11/18 5:19 PM Zakir Hussain he world-famous Scottish percussionist In spite of playing such an integral role in a musical Evelyn Glennie made a defining remark composition, percussion was considered a ‘backdrop about the beauty of percussion when she star’ in the days of yore. Its role was to provide said, ‘The thing about playing percussion is immaculate support, a periphery of sorts, to see that that you can create all these emotions that a musical composition stayed in its scope. Folk music, Tcan be sometimes beautiful, sometimes really ugly, or which has embellished the musical landscape of India sometimes sweet, sometimes as big as King Kong and in various formats be it lavani, Bihu geet or bhangra, so on. And so there can be a real riot out there, or it can be thrives on the use of percussion. The beats of these so refined.’ compositions transcend across the language barriers, Indeed no piece of music, whether Indian or making the folk format immensely popular in various Western, can be considered complete without the able cultural niches. In spite of that, percussion remained The percussionist was to provide immaculate support, a periphery of sorts, to see that a musical composition stayed in its scope accompaniment of the right percussion instruments. an essential, yet, relegated-to-the-background part of Technically defined as contraptions that create rhythmic music. This scenario would have continued even now, sounds when struck, scraped or beaten by hand, the had it not been for Allarakha Qureshi, the ‘tornado term percussion includes various instruments such as of percussionist talent’ that swept across the Indian drums of myriad kinds, cymbals and tambourines. subcontinent in the middle of the 20th century. A background player Bringing percussion to the fore The Indian musical landscape has been enriched with Padma Shri Allarakha Qureshi was born in 1919 in percussion instruments like tabla, dhol, pakhawaj, Jammu. His tryst with music started with a visit to his mridangam and ghatam. Rightly addressed as the life- uncle at Gurdaspur, where, much to the chagrin of his giving force behind every musical piece or concert, father, he got enamoured with the tabla. At the age of percussion in Indian music has been a ‘timekeeper’ of 12, he left home to go to Lahore, where he started taking the show. Indian classical music, whether Hindustani or formal lessons in tabla from Mian Kader Baksh of the Carnatic, is based on the edifice of ragas and talas. Where Punjab gharana. A fast and devoted learner, he started raga is all about the melody, tala is about providing his career as a staff artiste for All India Radio in Lahore. time-bound rhythm to vocal or instrumental pieces Soon, his talent led him to get transferred to Delhi and woven with the ragas. Percussion provides a metrical then, Mumbai, where he first began playing the tabla on framework that determines how a particular piece is to a solo basis. This was his first effort to give percussion be performed. a solo status under the sun. A tryst with film music PAKNIKAR SATEESH 12 • December 2018 NCPA AA - Percussion.indd 12 19/11/18 11:29 AM followed, after which he decided to focus his efforts saxophonist Pharoah Sanders, jazz artist Charles Lloyd on Indian classical music and was soon accompanying and bassist Edgar Meyer, among many others. musical legends such as Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and His younger brother Fazal is credited with taking Vilayat Khan in their concerts. a leaf out of his father’s book to create a musical “It was in the 1960s that Abbaji, while touring amalgamation between the tabla and jazz. What globally with Ravi Shankar, elevated the tabla to a started as an impromptu jamming session to a Beatles’ matter of fascination for the Western audience,” says song while in college, led to the creation of a Swedish percussionist Shikhar Naad Qureshi, the grandson fusion jazz band called Mynta. Fazal avers that things of Allarakha, and an ace djembe player who will be are better for percussionists now that people are performing at this year’s edition of CITI-NCPA Aadi open to experimentation even in the realm of classical Anant at the NCPA. “I was barely three years old when music. “Times have definitely changed for percussion Abbaji passed away, but the wealth of knowledge he players. In the olden days, they were called ‘side rhythm left us with has helped my father, uncles, and now his players’. They would play an array of instruments, grandchildren to explore so many more possibilities like, shakers, madala, Indian congos etc. Now, they with percussion. It is due to his legacy that we have are in the forefront, and are well-versed in all styles been able to push the envelope and been able to show of music. Trilok Gurtu is one such percussion player, the audience that percussion instruments are no longer who has made a great impression in this field. With just a much-needed backdrop, but are powerful music the immense possibilities before them, tabla players makers in their own right.” now want to play other percussion instruments for a jazz or fusion concert,” says Opening up global vistas Fazal, who has collaborated The Qureshis, starting with Shikhar Naad Qureshi with many jazz and Allarakha, followed by his sons Western classical artistes, Zakir Hussain, Fazal Qureshi and presently teaches and Taufiq Qureshi have placed at the Ustad Allarakha Indian percussion instruments, Institute of Music. like the tabla, on the global Speaking about his map. “Not many must be aware father Taufiq, a multifarious that Abbaji collaborated with percussionist who renowned Western artistes like intersperses vocal and George Harrison (of The Beatles), physical percussion into Mickey Hart, and jazz drummer his performances, Qureshi Buddy Rich, through the 1960s says, “It has been the most and 70s. He also spun the magic enriching experience to of his tabla at pop festivals such have been bestowed with as the Monterey International the legacy of Abbaji and Pop Festival,” reveals Qureshi.