Pandit Dalchand Sharma Ji’s upcoming programs – October ’11

Following are the upcoming events where Pandit Dalchand Sharma Ji will perform in Oct’11.

Pandit Dalchand Sharma and Sri Ali Zaki Haidar

Oct 13 to 16 -

- Routes to India – at Geneva, Switzerland. Pandit Ji will perform with Sri Paul Grant (Tabla) & Sri Ali Zaki Haidar (Rudra Veena)

Oct 17th, 7 PM onwards

- Haveli Sangeet – at India Habitat Center, Lodhi Road, New Delhi – Pandit Ji will accompany Acharya Gokulotsav Goswami Maharaj on Haveli Sangeet

Oct 23rd – 7 PM onwards

- Sangeet Vibhuti – Organized by SA MA PA Society at India Islamic Center, Lodhi Road, New Delhi. Pandit Ji will accompany Pt. Phalguni Mitra (Dhrupad vocal)

 

Ustad Asad Ali Khan Sahab is not with us anymore

Rudra Veena exponent Ustad Asad Ali Khan, one of the last existing advocates of the Khandarbani dhrupad school, passed away in New Delhi early Tuesday. He was 74. The classical musician represented the 12th generation of Jaipur’s Beenkar Gharana.

We deeply mourn the demise of the great master and pray to The Almighty for the eternal peace for the departed soul. Its a huge loss to the Indian classical music.

 

Forthcoming program of Pandit Dalchand Sharma Ji

2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 5,100 times in 2010. That’s about 12 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 4 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 16 posts. There were 2 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 853kb.

The busiest day of the year was July 27th with 45 views. The most popular post that day was Story of Pakhawaj.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, en.wordpress.com, search.conduit.com, google.co.in, and hi.wordpress.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for shrinathji, haveli sangeet, pandit dalchand sharma, shrinathji photos, and pakhawaj.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

Story of Pakhawaj August 2009
8 comments

2

Nathdwara Parampara – Speciality September 2009
6 comments

3

Nathdwara Gharana & Parampara September 2009
6 comments

4

Parampara September 2009
2 comments

5

Acharya Gokulotsav Maharaj and Pandit Dalchand Sharma August 2009
5 comments

Samman for Pandit Dalchand Sharma

Chakrapani World School of Music is presenting the “Delhi Ratna” award to Pandit Dalchand Sharma. The program is scheduled on Dec 2nd 2010 at Stein Auditorium, India Habitat Center, Lodhi Road, New Delhi – 7 PM onwards.

Please find attached the invite and program details and try to be there to listen to another enchanting performance by Pandit Ji.

Invitation Card

Sangeet Gharanas – Origin

In my upcoming posts, I’ll present more on the Gharanas of the Hindustani classical music. I’ll talk about how and why the gharans were formed, why and what is the importance of Gharanas and its development.

Indian music has seen various ups and downs since the primitive times. It’s a long journey which has impacted the music tradition with changing times. If we look at it from historic point of view, then the rise and fall downs of various kingdoms and royal family has impacted the lives and music of the musicians.
An artist is a human being and therefore is a social animal too and the impact of the society in which he moves is clearly visible on his art.
In the course of developement of music, the impact of sacred traditions from the times of Ramayana and Mahabharata, the stability of the hindu kings, extravagance and support to art of the Mughals, devotion of the saints, hard and disciplined life style of Marathas, colourful lifestyles of kingdoms, ignorance of British and freedom struggle is clearly visible on the present state of our music traditions.
Its evident from history that whatever an artist has learned or received over the ages, he has carefully presented it further to the society, this is how the gharans are nourished since ages and with the change in time, the impact is further visible.

Origin of Gharanas -
There is no fixed and firm evidence available which defines a set time of the origin of the gharans, however the various books published in this regard tells us that the Gharans came into existence only around two or three centuries back.
If we look at the dhrupad tradition, there were four different vanis present, before dhurpad, there were bharat mat, shiv mat, hanumant mat & narad mat existed which are synonyms of gharanas only, therefore it’s not correct to think that Gharanas originated only two or three centuries ago.

To be Contd….

Newspaper Article on Pandit Ji’s program at Kanpur

Pandit Dalchand Sharma at Kanpur

Kamali Chakkardar Paran by Pandit Dalchand Sharma

Here is another unique and interesting presentation by Pandit Ji. Its known as Kamali Chakkardar and is rare now. This Paran is pure magic of math which Pandit Ji has unique command on. Also the clarity of bols and laya makes is very beautiful. Enjoy.

Great Pakhawaj Maestros

I was reading about the other gharanas and maestros of Pakhawaj and I think it will be another topic of interest for the readers, especially the instances which are ‘supernatural’ and are also recorded at various sources. For example, Kudau Singh Maharaj throwing pakhawaj in the air while playing and producing thaap on it or again Kudau Singh Maharaj controlling a mad elephant by playing pakahwaj.

There are numerous such instances in the history of Pakhawaj which are beyond our understanding and logical approach. The explanation of such instances are either with the pakhawaj player or with the Lord himself.

There is one such instance which is recorded in the pothi of Pt. Cheda Ram Ji of Mathura. Kudau Singh Ji was appointed as the pakhawaj player of the Datia Darbar. During this period another pakahwaji, Babu Jodha Singh Ji went to Datia and challenged Kudau Singh Ji. The competition went on for seven days and it was difficult to take a decision because Babu Jodha Singh Ji also was a brilliant pakahwaj player.  Therefore to save his reputation, on seventh day, Kudau Singh Ji prayed to Goddess Kali for help who was very kind on him. Goddess inspired him to play a magnificent chakkardar paran which had three dha in it. Kudau Singh Ji while playing this paran in the darbar, threw up the pakhawaj in the air after stroking two dha and third dha resonated automatically while the pakhawaj was still in the air. Babu Jodha Singh Ji tried to play this paran but obviously could not do so and got defeated.

According to Acharya Brihaspati and Hakim Mohammad Karam Emam, this instance happened at the Lucknow Darbar and not Datia however this is sure that this instance sure did happen but how? Is it not supernatural?

Pakhawaj Today

There are questions which keeps on ringing in my mind over and over again…what will happen to pakhawaj after say fifty years? Will it be able to survive? If yes, then will it remain in its the pure form? Certainly no one knows the future for sure.

I was recently reading an interview of Vidushi Kishori Amonkar Ji, she mentioned that ‘she has no expectations from any of her disciples if they would be able to carry her legacy forward, she does not see that passion and patience required to master the delicate art of Indian classical music in the present generation’ I’m sure, like her, many other artists and gurus are also worried. There are hardly any takers of this knowledge, if there are any, they either lack time or patience or both.

I was also surprised to see the number of videos available on youtube and other similar websites post by “pakahwaj players”…only few of them carry any quality or knowledge. There are people who are struggling to produce a clear “thaap” or “dha” or are either playing tabla compositions or bols on pakhawaj. There is a lot of work to be done to bring forward the real talented artists, popularize this instrument and above all…keep it alive and resonating for years to come….Jai ho!