GHAROWA's GRAND 4th ANNUAL CONCERT
21-12-2007- Friday- (Id Holiday)
At MECON Community HAll
Shyamali Colony, Doranda, Ranchi, Jharkhand
From 3PM

ARTISTES OF GHAROWA'S GRAND FOURTH ANNUAL SHOW on 21 December 2007

USTAD RASHID KHAN SAHAB - Vocal
Magic Voice
Rampur Sahaswan Gharana

Pandit Buddhadeb Das- Esraj
Beauty of the bowed string
Vishnupur Gharana

Smt Pragga Banerjee- Vocal
Music Mellifluous
Vishnupur Gharana

Ustad Rashid Khan ...

(the information and image shown here are taken with gratitude
from ustadji's website)

" an assurance for the future of Indian vocal music"

"There is now at least one person in sight who is an assurance for the future of Indian vocal music", said Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, voicing a few years ago, the concern of connoisseurs of Hindustani vocal music about whether its tradition of excellence would continue.

It indeed has - with Ustad Rashid Khan, the young maestro, one of the leading torch-bearers.

Ustad Rashid Khan has included the slow elaboration in his vilambit khayals in the manner of his maternal uncle and also developed exceptional expertise in the use of sargams and sargam taankari. He has also included the slower tempo vilambit. He is also extremely adept in producing all the other techniques and characteristic features of the Rampur Sahaswan style. His taankari is as powerful and varigeated as any of his predecessors and, in fact, among the best in the nation at the moment.

The brilliant Enayat Hussain drut and medium pace khayals ring as true in his voice as they have done down the ages. He is also a master of the tarana like his guru but sings them in his own manner, preferring the khayal style rather than the instrumental stroke-based style for which Nissar Hussain was famous. There is no imitiation of instrumental tone in them either. His vocal prowess is in the best tradition of the Rampur Sahaswan gharana. His mastery of all aspects tonal variations, dynamics and timbre adjustment leave very little to be desired in the realm of voice culture.

A notable achievement of Ustad Rashid Khan is the infusion of an emotional content into his melodic elaboration. This was generally considered to be lacking in the styles of the older exponents. The older ustads, being essentially court singers, put the emphasis on polished technique, skillful execution of difficult passages and the power to astound with their musicianship. The Nawabs and Mahrajas and their courtiers who were their prime audience found these things more interesting and did not bother about emotional appeal. For the khayal to them was classical art song and emotional appeal was not an important requisite for this type of music.

But after independence and especially in the second half of the 20th century, classical music, including khayal, which like the thumri, was the most popular vocal form, was patronised by audiences coming from the middle and upper-middle class segments of the society. The modern listener thus tended to find Mushtaq Hussain or even Nissar Hussain rather dry for their taste. As a result these singers were not as popular as certain contemporaries who infused emotions into the the khayal. With the entry of Rashid Khan the tables have been turned and the spontaneous emotional appeal of his manner of singing, be it in the melodic elaboration or in the upper octave pukars, have won him enthusiastic listeners and followers the world over.

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REGARDING PANDIT BUDDHADEB DAS AND HIS INSTRUMENT:
From the wikipedia- the worlwide electronic encyclopedia:

The esraj (also called israj or dilruba) is a string instrument found in two forms throughout the north, central, and east regions of India. It is a young instrument by Indian terms, being only about 200 years old. The dilruba is found in the north, where it is used in religious music and light classical songs in the urban areas. Its name is translated as "robber of the heart." The esraj is found in the east and central areas, particularly Bengal, as well as Bangladesh, and it is used in a somewhat wider variety of musical styles than is the dilruba.
The structure of both instruments is very similar, each having a medium sized sitar-like neck with 20 heavy metal frets. This neck holds on a long wooden rack of 12-15 sympathetic strings. While the dilruba has more sympathetic strings and a differently shaped body than the esraj, they both have four main strings which are bowed. All strings are metal. The soundboard is a stretched piece of goatskin similar to what is found on a sarangi. Sometimes the instrument has a gourd affixed to the top for balance or for tone enhancement.

The instrument can be rested between the knees while the player kneels, or more commonly rested on the knee of the player while sitting, or also on the floor just in front of the player, with the neck leaning on the left shoulder. It is played with a bow, with the other hand moving along the strings above the frets. The player may slide the note up or down to achieve the portamento, or meend, characteristic of Indian music.

The esraj is mostly used as an accompanying instrument. It is the accompanying instrument of choice for Rabindra Sangeet singing. However, it has also been used as a solo instrument to interpret Hindustani Classical Music, mostly in the Vishnupur tradition.

The popularity of the esraj has been steadily declining. Its image as primarily an accompanying instrument has done little to attract new talent.
A R Rahman is known as one of the composers in India who has used the Dilruba, in works like "Dil Se" and "Vande Mataram". Possibly the most famous exponent of the esraj has been Pandit Ranadhir Ray, who died in 1988. Ranadhir Ray was a student of Ashesh Bandopadhyay, and was on the faculty at the Music department of Visva-Bharati University in Santiniketan.

Today, the best known exponent is Buddhadeb Das, also from Santiniketan.

Members, patrons,enthusiasts gear up.......

GHAROWA's next (4th) Annual Programme

on 21 December 2007

At MECON COMMUNITY HALL

Doranda,Ranchi, Jharkhand

Contact (0)9431766928, (0)9334066867, (0)9431382680 for details

Pragga Banerjee - Artiste of Annual 2007

GHAROWA
Welcomes you to become MEMBERS
On the eve of their
GRAND 4TH ANNUAL CONCERT
On
21-12-2007
At
MECON COMMUNITY HALL
Ranchi