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Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Pandit Sanjeev Abhyankar

Pandit Sanjeev  Abhyankar



Pandit Sanjeev Abhyankar, the maestro from the Mewati Gharana, is an artist of international acclaim in the field of Hindustani Classical Music. An extremely popular artist, he is the inspiration for the young generation. With his magical singing, he has attracted the young generation towards the Indian Classical music. In a career spanning more than 25 years, he has assumed the mantle of a role model of dedication, hard work, patience and perseverance.

Blessed with an exceptionally sweet voice, his vocation in life was clear right from the age of 3. Born in 1969, Sanjeev started learning Hindustani Classical Music, from the tender age of eight. He has been groomed by his mother Smt. Shobha Abhyankar, Pandit Pimpalkhare ji and Padmavibhushan Pandit Jasraj ji. Though his aim had been to pursue a career in music since childhood, he has acquired a bachelor's Degree in Commerce.

Sanjeevji rendered his first stage performance in Mumbai , at the age of 11. Since then, he has traveled extensively all over the country, performing in all the prestigious conferences and art circles, several times. He has spread the fragrance of Indian Classical music in U.S.A. , Canada , Australia , Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

He has received many awards which include the President's award from the All India Radio in 1990, the prestigious F. I. E. Foundation National Award 1996, The coveted National Award 1998 as the best male playback singer , for the Hindi film 'Godmother', the title 'Sur Ratna', Rotary Vocational Excellence Award 2002 and Pandit Jasraj Gaurav Puraskar, to name a few.

He has several cassettes and compact discs by reputed music companies like HMV, Music Today, Sony Music, Times Music, Navaras Records U.K., Neelam Audio Videos U.S.A., Sona Rupa U.K., BMG Cressendo, Ninaad Music, Fountain Music & Alurkar Music , which have been highly acclaimed all over the world .

He has also given playback for films such as ' Maachis', 'Nidaan', 'Sanshodhan' , 'Dil Pe Mat Le Yaar' and 'Banaras'.

Sanjeevji's award winning performance in 'Godmother' as also his impassioned rendition of Marathi Abhangs and Hindi Bhajans reflect his easy grace and versatility.

By adding his own classical compositions, he has contributed to the already existing vast repertoire of Mewati Gharana compositions (Bandishes).

Besides performing in all the prestigious art circles throughout the country, he has performed in well known conferences such as Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Samaroh - Pune, Baba Harvallabh Samaroh - Jalandhar, ITC Sammelan and Doverlen Conference - Calcutta, Vishnu Digambar Paluskar Jayanti Samaroh, International Melody Foundation's Ustad Amir Khan Samaroh and Gunidas Festival - New Delhi, Swami Haridas Sammelan - Vrindavan, Pandit Motiram Sangeet Samaroh - Hyderabad, Lucknow Mahotsav, Ganga Mahotsav and Budhva Mahotsav, the Maha Kumbh Mela - Uttar Pradesh, Ustad Allauddin Khan Samaroh and Ustad Amir Khan Samaroh - Madhya Pradesh, Saptak Conference - Ahmedabad, Master Dinanath Sangeet Mahotsav - Goa, The Indian Fine Arts - Madras, Hindustani Kalakar Mandali Conference - Bangalore, Kalidas Samaroh - Nagpur , the prestigious Radio Sangeet Sammelan, Spirit of Unity Concerts for National Integration, and the Concerts organised by Sangeet Natak Academy and ICCR.

To know more about Sanjeev Abhyankar


Shaam murari banwari - Sanjeev Abhyankar

Monday, December 20, 2010

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan


Early life and career

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was born on October 13, 1948 in the city of Faisalabad, Pakistan. He was the fifth child and first son of Fateh Ali Khan, a musicologist, vocalist, instrumentalist, and Qawwal. Khan's family, which included four older sisters and a younger brother, Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan, grew up in central Lyallpur. In 1979, Khan married his first cousin, Naheed (the daughter of Fateh Ali Khan's brother, Salamat Ali Khan); they had one daughter, Nida.

Khan began by learning to play tabla alongside his father before progressing to learn Raag Vidya and Bol Bandish. He then went on to learn to sing within the classical framework of khayal. Khan's training with his father was cut short when his father died in 1964, leaving Khan's paternal uncles, Mubarak Ali Khan and Salamat Ali Khan, to complete his training.

His first performance was at a traditional graveside ceremony for his father, known as chehlum, which took place forty days after his father's death.

In 1971, after the death of Mubarak Ali Khan, Nusrat became the official leader of the family Qawwali party and the party became known as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Mujahid Mubarak Ali Khan & Party.

Khan's first public performance as the leader of the Qawwali party was at a studio recording broadcast as part of an annual music festival organised by Radio Pakistan, known as Jashn-e-Baharan. Khan sang mainly in Urdu and Punjabi and occasionally in Persian, Brajbhasha and Hindi. His first major hit in Pakistan was the song Haq Ali Ali, which was performed in a traditional style and with traditional instrumentation. The song featured restrained use of Nusrat's sargam improvisations.

Early in his career, Khan was signed up by Oriental Star Agencies [OSA] of Birmingham UK to their Star Cassette Label. OSA sponsored regular concert tours by Nusrat to the U.K. from the early '80s onwards, and released much of this live material on cassette, CD, videotape and DVD.




Later career

Khan teamed with Peter Gabriel on the soundtrack to The Last Temptation of Christ in 1985, with Canadian musician Michael Brook on the albums Mustt Mustt (1990) and Night Song (1996),[3] and with Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder in 1995 on two songs for the soundtrack to Dead Man Walking. He also contributed to the soundtrack of Natural Born Killers.

Peter Gabriel's Real World label later released five albums of Nusrat's traditional Qawwali, together with some of his experimental work which included the albums Mustt Mustt and Star Rise. Nusrat provided vocals for The Prayer Cycle, which was put together by Jonathan Elias, but died before the vocals could be completed. Alanis Morissette was brought in to sing with his unfinished vocals. Nusrat also collabrated with Michael Brook to create music for the song 'Sweet Pain' used in the movie Any Given Sunday. He also performed traditional Qawwali before international audiences at several WOMAD world music festivals and the single Dam Mast Qalandar was remixed by electronic trip hop group Massive Attack in 1998.

His album Intoxicated Spirit was nominated for a Grammy award in 1997 for best traditional folk album.

Khan contributed songs to, and performed in, several Pakistani films. Shortly before his death, he recorded a song each for two Bollywood films, Aur Pyaar Ho Gaya (in which he also sang the song onscreen) and Kachche Dhaage. He sang the title song of the film, Dhadkan. He also sang Saya bhi saath jab chhod jaye for Sunny Deol's movie, Dillagi. The song was released only in 1999, two years after Nusrat's death.

Khan contributed the song "Gurus of Peace" to the album Vande Mataram, composed by A.R. Rahman, and released to celebrate the 50th anniversary of India's independence. Rahman, who was a big fan of Khan could not do further songs with him. As a tribute, Rahman later released an album titled Gurus of Peace, which featured "Allah Hoo" by Nusrat. Rahman's 2007 song "Tere Bina" was also done as a tribute to Nusrat.

After his death, the song "Solemn Prayer", on which Nusrat provided vocals, was used on the Peter Gabriel song "Signal to Noise" (on the album Up), and on the soundtrack to the Martin Scorsese film Gangs of New York.

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan holds the world record for the largest recorded output by a Qawwali artist—a total of 125 albums as of 2001.


Death


Khan was taken ill with kidney and liver failure on August 11, 1997 in London, England while on the way to Los Angeles in order to receive a kidney transplant. He died of a sudden cardiac arrest at Cromwell Hospital, London, on Saturday, August 16, 1997, aged 48. His body was returned to Faisalabad, Pakistan and his funeral was attended by the public.

Composition of Nusrat's qawwali party

The composition of Nusrat's ensemble — called a party (or Humnawa in Urdu) — changed over its 26 years. Listed below is a snapshot of the party, circa 1983:

1. Mujahid Mubarak Ali Khan: Nusrat's first cousin, vocals
2. Farrukh Fateh Ali Khan: Nusrat's brother, vocals and lead harmonium
3. Rehmat Ali: vocals and second harmonium
4. Maqsood Hussain: vocals
5. Rahat Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: Nusrat's nephew & pupil, vocals
6. Dildar Hussain: percussion
7. Majawar Abbas: mandolin and guitar/chorus, handclapping
8. Mohammed Iqbal Naqvi: secretary of the party, chorus, handclapping
9. Asad Ali: chorus, handclapping. Nusrat's cousin
10. Ghulam Farid: chorus, handclapping
11. Kaukab Ali: chorus, handclapping

The one significant member of the party who does not appear on this list is Atta Fareed. For many years, he alternated with Rehmat Ali on vocals and second harmonium. He is easily identifiable in videos since he plays the harmonium left-handed.

This snapshot is non-representative in one respect: harmoniums were usually the only instruments. Only rarely were instruments like mandolin or guitar used.

Legacy and influence

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is widely considered to be the most important qawwal in history. In 2005, Nusrat was awarded the "Legends" award at the UK Asian Music Awards. TIME magazine's issue of November 6, 2006, "60 Years of Asian Heroes", lists him as one of the top 12 Artists and Thinkers in the last 60 years. Alexandra A. Seno of Asiaweek wrote:

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's voice was otherworldly. For 25 years, his mystical songs transfixed millions. It was not long enough .... He performed qawali, which means wise or philosophical utterance, as nobody else of his generation did. His vocal range, talent for improvisation and sheer intensity were unsurpassed.

Jeff Buckley cited Nusrat as a major influence, saying of him "He's my Elvis", and performing the first few minutes of Nusrat's hit "Yeh Jo Halka Halka Suroor Hai" (including vocals) at live concerts. Many other artists have also cited Nusrat as an influence, such as A.R. Rahman,Sheila Chandra, and Alim Qasimov.

Films
Documentaries

* Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan: le dernier prophète (1996). Directed by Jérôme de Missolz.
* Nusrat has Left the Building... But When? (1997). Directed by Farjad Nabi. (This 20-minute docudrama focuses on Nusrat's early career.)
* A Voice from Heaven (1999). Directed by Giuseppe Asaro. New York, NY: Winstar TV & Video. (This 75-minute documentary, available on VHS and DVD, provides an excellent introduction to Nusrat's life and work.)
* Samandar Main Samandar (2007). A documentary aired on Geo TV detailing Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's career.
* The King of Qawalli (2009). A short film aired on Dawn News about Nusrat's life and career.

Concert films

* The JVC Video Anthology of World Music and Dance (1990). Video 14 (of 30) (South Asia IV). Produced by Ichikawa Katsumori; directed by Nakagawa Kunikiko and Ichihashi Yuji; in collaboration with the National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka. [Tokyo]: JVC, Victor Company of Japan; Cambridge, Massachusetts: distributed by Rounder Records. Features a studio performance by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Party (two Urdu-language songs: a Hamd, and a Manqabat for Khwaja Mu`inuddin Chishti. Filmed in Tokyo, Japan, September 20, 1987, for Asian Traditional Performing Arts).
* Nusrat! Live at Meany (1998). Produced by the University of Washington. (87-minute recording of a January 23, 1993 concert at Meany Hall, University of Washington in Seattle, during Nusrat's residency at the Ethnomusicology Program there.)
* Live in Concert in the U.K. (DVD, vols. 1-17) [OSA]; recorded between 1983 and 1993; first thirteen listed below:
o Live in Concert in UK (DVD vol. 1)
o Live in Concert (DVD vol. 2)
o Live in Concert (DVD vol. 3)
o Live in UK (DVD vol. 4)
o Live in UK (DVD vol. 5)
o Live in Concert (DVD vol. 6)
o Live in UK (DVD vol. 7)
o Live in UK (DVD vol. 8)
o Live in UK (DVD vol. 9)
o Live in UK (DVD vol. 10)
o Live in UK (DVD vol. 11)
o Digbeth Birmingham 12 November 1983 (DVD vol. 12)
o Digbeth 30 October 1983 (DVD vol. 13)
* Akhiyan Udeek Diyan (DVD) [Nupur Audio]
* Je Tun Rab Nu Manauna (DVD) [Nupur Audio]
* Yaadan Vicchre Sajan Diyan Aayiyan (DVD) [Nupur Audio]
* Rang-e-Nusrat (DVD, vols. 1-11) [Music Today]; recorded between 1983 and 1993 (same material as the OSA DVDs)
* VHS videotapes, vols. 1-21 [OSA]; recorded between 1983 and 1993 (same material as the OSA DVDs)
o Luxor Cinema Birmingham (VHS vol. 1, 1979)
o Digbeth Birmingham (VHS vol. 2, 1983)
o St. Francis Hall Birmingham (VHS vol. 3, 1983)
o Royal Oak Birmingham (VHS vol. 4, 1983)
o Private Mehfil (Wallace Lawley Centre, Lozells Birmingham, November 1983) (VHS vol. 5)
o Private Mehfil (VHS vol. 6, 1983)
o Natraj Cinema Leicester (VHS vol. 7, 1983)
o Live In Southall (VHS vol. 8)
o Live In Bradford (VHS vol. 9, 1983)
o Live In Birmingham (VHS vol. 10, 1985)
o Allah Ditta Hall (VHS vol. 11, 1985)
o Harrow Leisure Centre (VHS vol. 12)
o University Of Aston (VHS vol. 13, 1988)
o Aston University (VHS vol. 14, 1988)
o WOMAD Festival Bracknell (VHS vol. 15, 1988)
o Live In Paris (VHS vol. 16, 1988)
o Poplar Civic Centre London (VHS vol. 17)
o Imperial Hotel Birmingham (VHS vol. 18, 1985)
o Slough Gurdawara (SHABADS) (VHS vol. 19)
o Imran Khan Cancer Appeal (VHS vol. 20)
o Town Hall Birmingham (VHS vol. 21, 1993)



Bade Ghulam Ali Khan

Bade Ghulam Ali Khan



Bade Ghulam Ali Khan

Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (Devanagari: बड़े ग़ुलाम अली ख़ान, Shahmukhi: بڑے غلام علی خان, Urdu: بڑے غلام علی خان) (c. 1902 – 25 April 1968) was an Indian classical singer. He belonged to the Patiala Gharana of Hindustani classical music.,[1] and is considered to be an important representative of the Hindustani music tradition in the early and mid 20th century.


Early life and background

Bade Ghulam Ali was born in Kasur, Punjab, British India. His father was a famous singer, Ali Baksh Khan, in a West Punjabi family of musical heritage.

At the age of seven, he learned sarangi and vocal from his paternal uncle Kale Khan, who was a singer, and after his death he trained under his father.


Singing career

Khan started his career by playing sarangi. He became popular after his debut concert in Kolkata.

Khan amalgamated the best of four traditions: his own Patiala-Kasur style, the Behram Khani elements of Dhrupad, the gyrations of Jaipur, and the behlavas (embellishments) of Gwalior. His voice had a wide range, spanning three octaves, effortless production, sweetness, flexibility and ease of movement in all tempi.

After the partition of India in 1947, Khan returned to his home in Pakistan, but returned to India later to permanently reside there. He did not approve of the partition, stating: "If in every home one child was taught Hindustani classical music this country would never have been partitioned." In 1957, he acquired Indian citizenship and lived at various times in Lahore, Bombay, Calcutta, and Hyderabad.

He was reluctant to sing for films, but sang two songs based on ragas Sohni and Rageshree for the 1960 film Mughal-e-Azam, in which his voice was represented as Tansen's by the music director Naushad. To dissuade Naushad, he demanded a high price, reportedly Rs. 25,000/- per song, when the rate for popular playback singers such as Lata Mangeshkar and Mohammed Rafi was below Rs. 500/- per song.

Khan was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award and the Padma Bhushan in 1962.

Khan was married to Ali Jiwai, who died in 1932. Khan's son, Munawar Ali Khan (1930–1989), was a classical singer. His grandson, Raza Ali Khan, is also a Hindustani classical singer.

Khan died in Hyderabad at Basheerbagh Palace in 1968, after a prolonged illness which left him partially paralyzed in his last years. He continued to sing and perform in public with the support of his son Munawar until his death.


The legacy

Today, the Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Yaadgar Sabha, founded by his disciple Malti Gilani, keeps his music and memory alive. It aims to promote Hindustani classical music and organises many concerts to this end. Its primary aim, however, is to provide medical aid to ailing musicians. The Sabha organises a Sabrang Utsav every year in the memory of the maestro. Under his pen name, Sabrang, Khan left numerous compositions.


Discography

* Mehfil - Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan - Times Music
* Golden Milestones - Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
* Classical Vocal - Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan
* Sab Rang


Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Aye Na Baalam & Yaad Piya Ki Aye

Kishori Amonkar sings "Rang So Rang Milaaye"

Kishori Amonkar

Kishori Amonkar
Kishori Amonkar


Kishori Amonkar (Marathi: किशोरी अमोणकर) (born 1932) is an Indian singer who performs in the classical genre khyal and the light classical genres thumri and bhajan. Amonkar trained under her mother, classical singer Mogubai Kurdikar of the Jaipur gharana (musical tradition of Jaipur), but experimented with a variety of vocal styles in her career. She is considered one of the preeminent representatives of Hindustani classical music.


Life and career


In the early 1940s, Amonkar began to receive vocal lessons in Hindustani classical music from her mother Mogubai Kurdikar and later received training from tutors of several gharanas. Amonkar became interested in film music and sang playback for the movie Geet Gaya Pattharon Ne, but returned to classical music because of bad experiences in the movie industry. Amonkar lost her voice for two years in the late 1950s for unknown reasons.

Amonkar's work in light music has informed her classical singing and she modified her Jaipur gharana performance style by applying features from other gharanas. She has created many compositions for a number of ragas. Amonkar's students include Manik Bhide, Meena Joshi, Suhasini Mulgaonkar, Mira Panshikar, and her granddaughter Tejashree Amonkar.

Kishori Amonkar had two sons with her husband Ravindra Amonkar. She is sometimes described as "temperamental". Amonkar lives in Mumbai.



Recognition

Amonkar received the national awards Padma Bhushan in 1987 and Padma Vibhushan in 2002. She was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 1985 and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship for 2009.


Kishori Amonkar - Raag Alhaiya Bilawal

Devaki Pandit

Devaki Pandit
Devaki Pandit


Devaki Pandit (Marathi: देवकी पंडित, Hindi: देवकी पंडित) is a playback singer from Maharashtra, India. She is also a trained classical singer.

Besides Marathi, she has also sung songs in Hindi.

Career



Devaki was introduced to music at the age of two, and is a third generation musician from the Pandit household. She received her initial music training from her mother Usha Pandit.

She gave her to her first stage performance at age nine. In 1977, at the age of twelve she recorded her first song - a balgeet (translation: a song for children) for Polydor Records.

In 1986, she recorded her first playback song for the Ardhangi which went on to win her the Maharashtra State Award for "Best Female Playback Singer".

Gurus

After initial guidance by her mother, Devaki trained under Vasantrao Kulkarni for 10 years, Jitendra Abhisheki for twelve years and from Kishori Amonkarfor four years. For the last eight years, Devaki has been receiving instruction from Babanrao Haldankar.



Awards and recognitions

* Kesarbai Kerkar Scholarship - the only person to receive it twice consecutively
* 1986 - Maharashtra State Award for "Best Female Playback Singer" (Film Ardhangi)
* 2001 and 2002 - Alpha Gaurav Puraskar
* 2002 - Maharashtra Government Award for "Best Female Playback Singer"
* 2002 - Mewati Gharana Award
* 2006 - Aditya Birla Kala Kiran Award



[Nakshtranche Dene] Rang Maza Vegla


Pandit Bhimsen Joshi

Pandit Bhimsen Joshi
Pandit Bhimsen Joshi




Pandit Bhimsen Gururaj Joshi (Marathi: पंडित भीमसेन गुरुराज जोशी, Kannada: born February 4, 1922) is an Indian vocalist in the Hindustani classical tradition. A member of the Kirana Gharana (school), he is renowned for the khayal form of singing, as well as for his popular renditions of devotional music (bhajans and abhangs). He is the most recent recipient of the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, awarded in 2008


Early life

He was born into a Kannada Brahmin family in the town of Gadag in northern part of Karnataka state. His father, Gururaj Joshi, was a school teacher. Bhimsen is the eldest in a family of 16 siblings. Some of the siblings still live in their ancestral home in Gadag. Bhimsen lost his mother when he was young, and his step mother raised him.


Musical Training

Until the first half of the 20th century, Khyal was principally taught in the Guru Shishya (master-disciple) tradition. Bhimsen's guru Sawai Gandharva was the chief disciple of Abdul Karim Khan, who along with his cousin Abdul Waheed Khan was the founder of the Kirana Gharana school of Hindustani music.

Search for a Guru


Pt. Joshi heard a recording of Utd. Abdul Karim Khan's Thumri "Piya Bin Nahi Aavat Chain" in Raag Jhinjhoti when he was a child, which inspired him to become a musician. In 1933, the 11-year-old Pt. Joshi left Dharwad for Bijapur[disambiguation needed] to find a master and learn music.[3] With the help of money lent by his co-passengers in the train Bhimsen reached Dharwar first and later went to Pune. Later he moved to Gwalior and got into Madhava Music School, a school run by Maharajas of Gwalior, with the help of famous Sarod player Utd. Hafiz Ali Khan. He traveled for three years around North India, including in Delhi, Kolkata, Gwalior, Lucknow and Rampur, trying to find a good guru.[5] Eventually, his father succeeded in tracking him down in Jalandar and brought young Bhimsen back home. Bhimsen Joshi is also popularliy known as Anna (elder Brother) or Bhim-Anna.


Pt. Sawai Gandharva


In 1936, Pt. Rambhau Kundgolkar (alias Sawai Gandharva), a native of Dharwad, agreed to be his guru. Bhimsen Joshi stayed at his house in the traditional guru-shishya (teacher-student) tradition, gleaning knowledge of music from his master as and when he could, while performing odd-jobs in his house. Another renowned vocalist from the Kirana Gharana, Gangubai Hangal, was a co-student of Bhimsen during this time. Joshi continued his training with Sawai Gandharva till 1940.

Career

Pt. Joshi moved to Mumbai in 1943 and worked as a Radio Artist. He first performed live at the age 19. His debut album, containing a few devotional songs in Kannada and Hindi, was released by HMV when he was 22.


Hindustani Classical Music

Bhimsen's music has been hailed by both the critics and the masses. His performances have been marked by spontaneity, accurate notes, dizzyingly-paced taans which make use of his exceptional voice training, and a mastery over rhythm. He was ever the wanderer, engendering brilliant phrases and taans more intuitively than through deliberation. Never the one to be controlled by the rigours of theory, he sailed high, sometimes floundering, nevertheless reaching out to the stars. He makes occasional use of sargam and tihaais, and favours traditional compositions of the Kirana gharana. Over the years he has specialized in a few ragas, which he usually performs. Some of Pt. Joshi's more popular Raags include Shuddha Kalyan, Miyan Ki Todi, Puriya Dhanashri, Multani, Bhimpalas, Darbari, and Ramkali. Other than Utd. Abdul Karim Khan, Pt. Joshi has been influenced by many musicians, including Smt. Kesarbai Kerkar, Begum Akhtar and Utd. Amir Khan. Pt. Joshi's own style emerged over the years after assimilating various elements from what he liked in different musical styles and Gharanas.


Devotional Music


In devotional music, Pt. Joshi is most acclaimed for his Kannada, Hindi and Marathi Bhajan singing. His commercially successful CDs Daaswani and Enna Paliso included Kannada Bhajans, and Santawani included Marathi Abhangs.


Patriotic Music

Pt. Joshi is revered in India for his work in the Mile Sur Mera Tumhara music video (1985), which begins with him. Pt. Joshi was also invited to sing for the Bharat Bala production of the Indian National Anthem music video (2000).


Playback Singing

Joshi has sung for several films, including Basant Bahar (1956) with Manna Dey, Birbal My Brother (1973) with Pt. Jasraj and Nodi Swami Naavu Irodhu Heege. He also sung for films Tansen(1958)[citation needed] and Ankahee(1985).

Sawai Gandharva Music Festival

Pt. Joshi organized the Sawai Gandharva Music Festival as an homage to his guru, Pt. Sawai Gandharva, along with the Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal in 1953, marking Pt. Gandharva's first death anniversary. The festival has been held ever since, typically on the second weekend of December in Pune, Maharashtra and has become not only a cultural event for the city, but an annual pilgrimage for Hindustani Classical Music lovers all over the world. Pt. Joshi conducted the festival annually since 1953, until his retirement in 2002.


Students

Pt. Joshi has taught many students, several of whom have gone onto commercial success.

* Pt. Madhav Gudi
* Shrikant Deshpande
* Pt. Vinayak Torvi
* Upendra Bhat
* Shrinivas Joshi, Pt. Joshi's son.
* Pt. Rajendra Kandalgaonkar
* Anand Bhate


Personal life

Pt. Joshi's family arranged his marriage at his early age to a girl named Sunanda Katti; she was his cousin. They had four children together; two sons and daughters.Later, Pt. Joshi married Vatsala Mudholkar with whom he had two sons, Jayant and Shrinivas, and one daughter, Shubhada. Sunanda died in 1992 and Vatsala passed away in 2005. Elder son Jayant is a painter and younger son, Shrinivas is a vocalist and composer and has issued a few commercial recordings. Pt. Bhimsen Joshi has been a very private and down to earth person. He likes to lead a very quiet and simple life.

Awards and Recognitions

* 1972 - Padma Shree
* 1976 - Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
* 1985 - Padma Bhushan
* 1985 - National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer
* 1986 - "First platinum disc" [8]
* 1999 - Padma Vibhushan
* 2000 - "Aditya Vikram Birla Kalashikhar Puraskar" [9]
* 2001 - "Nadoja Award" from Kannada University [10]
* 2002 - Maharashtra Bhushan [11]
* 2003 - "Swathi Sangeetha Puraskaram" by Government of Kerala[12]
* 2005 - Karnataka Ratna
* 2008 - Bharat Ratna
* 2008 - "Swami Haridas Award" [13]
* 2009 - "Lifetime achievement award" by Delhi government[14]
* 2010 - "S V Narayanaswamy Rao National Award" by Rama Seva Mandali, Bangalore

Live at Pune - Pt Bhimsen Joshi

Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki

Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki

Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki


Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki (Devanagari: पंडित जितेंद्र अभिषेकी; 21 September 1929 – 7 November 1998) was an Indian vocalist, composer and scholar of classical, semi-classical, and devotional music. While he distinguished himself in Hindustani music, he was singlehandedly responsible for the revival of the Marathi musical theatre in the 1960s with his beautiful compositions.


Early life and background

Abhisheki was born in a priestly Padye brahmin family in Mangeshi, Goa. His family was traditionally attached to the Mangeshi Shrine of Lord Shiva in Goa. His father, Balawantrao aka Bikambhat, was a nephew and a disciple of Master Deenanath Mangeshkar, and the temple priest and a Kirtankar. Balawantrao taught Jitendra the basic principles of Hindustani classical music.

Abhisheki then went to Mumbai and sought advanced training in vocal music from Pandit Jagannathbua Purohit and Ustad Azmat Hussain Khan of Agra Gharana, and Gulubhai Jasdanwala of Jaipur Gharana.

He developed a distinct style of rendering khayal, and was also well-known for his renditions of Marathi Natyasangeet and devotional songs.


Career


After a degree in Sanskrit literature, Abhisheki joined All India Radio (AIR) at Mumbai for a brief period, when he came in contact with several musicians and also got an opportunity to display his musical talents by composing several pieces for some radio programs.

Around this time, Abhisheki received a scholarship from the Indian Government for advanced training in Hindustani classical music under Ustad Azmat Hussain Khan.

He composed vocal as well as background scores for 25 Marathi plays. After receiving a Homi Bhabha fellowship in the late sixties, he taught at a music school run in the USA by sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar.

Abhisheki maintained his ties to his homeland of Goa through his association with the Kala Academy, counseling and guiding students from that state.


Legacy

Besides son Shounak Abhisheki, the following are Pandit Abhisheki's well-known musical disciples:

* Asha Khadilkar
* Devaki Pandit
* Shubha Mudgal
* Ajit Kadkade
* Hemant Pendse
* Mahesh Kale
* Dr Mohankumar Darekar
* Prabhakar Karekar
* Raja Kale
* Ramdas Kamat
* Sameer Dublay
* Vasant Marathe
* Vijay Koparkar
* Sumedha Desai
* Makarand Hingne
* Shekhar Kumbhojkar
* Sudhakar Deoley


Discography


* Hymns from the Vedas and Upanishads, Vedic Chants (1996)


Awards and recognitions

* Homi Bhabha Fellowship (1969)
* Natyadarpan Award (1978)
* Padma Shri (1988)
* Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1989)
* Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar (1990)
* Gomantak Marathi Academy Award (1992)
* Balgandharva Puraskar (1995)
* Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar Award (1996)
* Master Deenanath Smriti Puraskar (1996)
* Lata Mangeshkar Puraskar (1996)
* Balgandharva Puraskar (Natyaparishad, (1997)
* Puraskar(Kailas Math Nasik, 1997)


jitendra abhisheki-sarvatmka sarveshwara


Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt

Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt

Vishwa Mohan Bhatt also known as V. M. Bhatt (born July 12, 1952) is an Indian slide guitar player. Bhatt is the creator of the Mohan Veena. He performs Hindustani classical music and won a Grammy Award in 1994.

It is for his Grammy winning album A Meeting by the River with Ry Cooder and other fusion and pan-cultural collaborations with Western artists like Taj Mahal, Béla Fleck and Jerry Douglas, that Bhatt is best known, although exposure such as an appearance on the 2004 Crossroads Guitar Festival, which was organized by Eric Clapton, does allow for this side of his playing to reach a larger audience.

He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1998 and the Padma Shri in 2002.

Folk musician Harry Manx, who studied with Vishwa Mohan Bhatt for five years, plays a Mohan Veena. Counting Crows' Bassist Matt Malley also plays a Mohan Veena and is a student and friend of Vishwa Mohan Bhatt.

Personal life

Vishwa Mohan is married to Padma and lives in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, with his two sons and his wife. His elder son Salil Bhatt is a renowned Mohan veena player (and also a player of the Satvik veena), while his younger son Saurabh Bhatt is a well known composer.

His nephew, Krishna Bhatt, plays the sitar and tabla.


Select discography

* 1992 - Guitar A La Hindustan, Magnasound (India)
* 1992 - Saradamani, Water Lily Acoustics
* 1993 - Gathering Rain Clouds, Water Lily Acoustics
* 1993 - A Meeting by the River (with Ry Cooder), Water Lily Acoustics
* 1995 - Bourbon & Rosewater (with Jerry Douglas & Edgar Meyer), Water Lily Acoustics
* 1995 - Mumtaz Mahal (with Taj Mahal & N. Ravikiran), Water Lily Acoustics
* 1996 - Saltanah (with Simon Shaheen), Water Lily Acoustics
* 1996 - Tabula Rasā (with Béla Fleck & Jie-Bing Chen), Water Lily Acoustics


Alla Rakha

Alla Rakha
Alla Rakha



Qureshi Alla Rakha Khan (Dogri: क़ुरैशी अल्ला रखा ख़ान) popularly known as Alla Rakha (29 April 1919 – 3 February 2000) was an Indian tabla player. He was a frequent accompanist of Ravi Shankar.

Personal life and education

Alla Rakha was born in Paghwal, District Samba Division, Jammu, India. His mother tongue was Dogri. He became fascinated with the sound and rhythm of the tabla at the age of 12, while staying with his uncle in Gurdaspur. The determined young lad ran away from home, became a disciple of and began studying tabla with Mian Kader Baksh of the Punjab gharana. He studied voice and Raag Vidya under Ashiq Ali Khan of the Patiala gharana. His regimen of practice and dedication were legendary: hours upon hours of hard, disciplined practice, that would later pay off.

He was married to Bavi Begum, and has three sons, Zakir Hussain, Fazal Qureshi and Taufiq Qureshi, a daughter Khurshid Aulia née Qureshi, and nine grandchildren. Alla Rakha had another daughter, Razia, whose death preceded his by less than 24 hours.


Career

Alla Rakha began his career as an accompanist in Lahore and then as an All India Radio staffer in Bombay in 1940, playing the station's first ever tabla solo and elevating the instrument's position in the process. Soon after, he composed music for a couple of Hindi films from 1943-48.

However, he still played as an accompanist, for soloists like Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Allauddin Khan, Vasant Rai and Ravi Shankar. The venerable master achieved world renown as Ravi Shankar's chief accompanist during his apex in the 1960s, delighting audiences in the West with his percussive wizardry, not only as an uncanny accompanist with flawless timing and sensitivity but also as a soloist where he was a master of improvisation, a prolific composer and an electric showman. The partnership was particularly successful, and his legendary and spellbinding performances with Shankar at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and the Woodstock Festival in 1969 served to introduce classical Indian music to general Western audiences.

He became a Guru (or teacher) to Yogesh Samsi, Prafulla Athalye, Aditya Kalyanpur, Anuradha Pal, Uday Ramdas, Shyam Kane, and his sons Taufiq Qureshi and Fazal Qureshi. His eldest son, Zakir Hussain is also an accomplished tabla virtuoso.


Global influence

Rakha popularized the art of tabla, playing across the globe, elevating the status and respect of his instrument. Abbaji (as he was affectionately known by his disciples) also bridged the gap between Carnatic music and Hindustani music by playing with both renowned Carnatic musicians and other Hindustani stalwarts.

Leading American percussionists in Rock n' Roll, such as the Grateful Dead's Mickey Hart, admired him and studied his technique, benefiting greatly even from single meetings. Hart, a published authority on percussion in world music, said "Allarakha is the Einstein, the Picasso; he is the highest form of rhythmic development on this planet." Rakha also collaborated with jazz drummer Buddy Rich, on their 1968 album Rich Ala Rahka.[2]

Rakha was awarded the Padma Shri in 1977[3] and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1982.


Death

Alla Rakha died on 3 February 2000 at his Simla House residence on Nepean Sea Road following a heart attack, which he suffered on learning of the death of his daughter, Razia, the previous evening

Ustad Allah Rakha & Zakir Hussain Tabla Solo Teental


Ravi Shankar, Alla Rakha - Tabla Solo in Jhaptal

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Pandit Jasraj

Pandit Jasraj


Early life

Jasraj was born in Hissar, Haryana in an orthodox brahmin family to Pandit Motiramji, a classical exponent. His family is well known for singing in the Mewati Gharana style. Motiramji died when Jasrajji was only four, on the day he was to be appointed as the state musician in the court of the Last Nizam.
Jasraj was initiated into vocal music by his father. He also received training from his elder brother, Pandit Maniramji, and later from Maharaja Jaywant Singhji Waghela. He was also greatly influenced by the voice of the famous ghazal singer, Begum Akhtar, whom he used to listen to, skipping school, at a small hotel that played her songs all day. This inspired him to learn vocal music.
In 1960, when Jasraj went to visit Bade Ghulam Ali Khan in hospital, Khan asked him to become his disciple, but Jasraj declined saying that he could not accept Khan's tutelage since he was already Motiram's disciple.
As a means of livelihood, Maniramji took Jasraj as an accompanying tabla player. However, at the time, just like sarangi players, tabla players were looked down upon as minor artists. At the age of 14, unhappy with his treatment as an accompanying artist, Jasraj left and vowed not to cut his hair until he learned to sing.



Performing career


Jasraj at the Pandit Motiram Pandit Maniram Sangeet Samaroh, Hyderabad, in 2007
Jasraj's vocal range extends across three-and-a-half octaves. His vocalizing is in perfect diction and clarity, a trademark of the Mewati Gharana's style of Khayal. He has also done extensive research in Haveli Sangeet under Baba Shyam Manohar Goswami Maharaj to create numerous innovative bandish (composition).
His greatest contribution to Indian classical music is his conception of a unique and novel jugalbandi, styled on the ancient system of Moorchana, between a male and a female vocalist, each singing in their respective scales and different ragas at the same time. In his honor, this legendary jugalbandi is known as The Jasrangi[3].
Jasraj has many students, and is ensuring the longevity of his genre. Amongst his flag-bearing disciples, Rattan Mohan Sharma, Sanjeev Abhyankar, Suman Ghosh, Tripti Mukherjee, Radharaman Kirtane, Pritam Bhattacharjee, Gargi Siddhant and Kala Ramnath are well-known exponents of the Mewati Gharana. Sadhana Sargam, a well-known Bollywood singer, is one of his disciples.
In memory of his late father, he organises a musical festival every year called the Pandit Motiram Pandit Maniram Sangeet Samaroh in Hyderabad, India. It completed 36 years in 2008. He has graced the Savai Gandharva Music Festival's stage innumerable times over the last forty years, and continues to do so even today; his legendary 1992 presentation of Raag Ahir Bhairav, in the unmistakable Mewati Style, is a favorite among listeners even today. He is also recognized as a master of the Bhairav family of Raags, along with the legendary Raags Darbari Kanada, Miya ki Malhar, and Jog.

Personal life

In 1962 he married Madhura, the daughter of the legendary film director V. Shantaram, who he had first met in 1955 during the filming of Jhanak Jhanak Payal Baje, as Jasraj then employed with AIR as a freelance artist wanted to join V. Shantaram’s production company as a musician. After marriage the couple lived in Kolkata for some time. They have a son, Sarang Dev, and a daughter, Durga Jasraj, a television anchor and presenter. Madhura Jasraj has directed documentaries, children’s plays, apart from directing and producing acclaimed ballets, Geet Govind, Kaan Kahaani and Surdas and the TV series, Faster Phene. She made a film, Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj on Pandit Jasraj, in 2009 and in 2010, directed her first Marathi film, Aai Tuzha Aashirwad, in which Lata Mangeshkar and her husband have sung in Marathi

Music composers Jatin-Lalit are his nephews


Awards

Padma Vibhushan, (art-classical music-vocal) in 2000
Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1987
Sangeet Kala Ratna
Master Dinanath Mangeshkar Award
Lata Mangeshkar Puraskar
Maharashtra Gaurav Puraskar
Surer Guru
Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship


Discography

Raga Symphony (2009)
Baiju Bawra (2008)
Upasana (2007)
Tapasya Vol. 1 (2005)
Darbar (2003)
Maheshwara Mantra (2002)
Soul Food (2005)
Jasraj, Pandit Vol. 2 - Haveli Sangeet
Inspiration (2000)
Ragas Triveni and Multani Live
Ragas Bihada and Gaud Giri Malhar
Worship By Music/Live Stuggart '88
Ornamental Voice
Filmography
Ladki Sahyadri Ki (1966, music by Vasant Desai)
Birbal My Brother (1973, music by Shyam Prabhakar)
1920 (2008, music by Adnan Sami)


58th Sawai Gandharva Music Festival (2010)

(Day 1) Thursday, December 9, 2010
Bhaskar Nath (Shehnai)
Sudhakar Chavan (Vocal)
Bhuvanesh Komkali (Vocal)
Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia (Bansuri)
Begum Parveen Sultana (Vocal)


(Day 2) Friday, December 10, 2010
Smt. Uma Garg (Vocal)
Sawani Shende (Vocal)
Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (Mohan Veena) & U. Shrinivas (Mandolin)
U. Shrinivas (Mandolin)
Pt. Jasraj (Vocal)


(Day 3) Saturday, December 11, 2010
Sharad Khaladkar (Shehnai)
Anand Bhate (Vocal)
Chandrakant Limaye (Vocal)
Pt. Shivkumar Sharma (Santoor)
Smt. Malini Rajurkar (Vocal)

(Day 4) Sunday, December 12, 2010
Morning Performances
Sameer Dublay (Vocal)
Debapriya Adhikary (Vocal) & Samanvaya Sarkar (Sitar)
Pt. Rajan & Pt. Sajan Mishra (Vocal)
Evening Performances
Smt. Meena Faterpaker (Vocal)
Utd. Shakir Khan (Sitar)
Smt. Padma Talwalkar (Vocal)
Upendra Bhat (Vocal)
Deepak Maharaj & Mamta Maharaj (Kathak)
Dr. Prabha Atre (Vocal)

Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav

Introduction


Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsava is a famous and important music festival held every year in Pune in the month of December. The festival was started in 1953, to commemorate the first death anniversary of Sawai Gandharva, the noted Hindustani vocalist. Well known musicians and even practicing artists gather in Pune to pay homage to the great musician in the form of this colourful festival. Each year the festival is organized by the disciples of Sawai Gandharva with the support of Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal and continues for 3 days. Artists including vocalists, dancers and musicians from all over India of all the gharanas arrive at Pune to show their talent.

Festival History

Rambhau Kundgolkar popularly known as Sawai Gandharva was a noted Hindustani vocalist who passed away on September 12, 1952. A private concert was organized on the sixteenth day after his death where his noted disciples Smt Gangubai Hangal, Pandit Feroz Dastur and Pandit Bhimsen Joshi performed. To commemorate his first death anniversary, his disciples organized a music festival under the patronage of Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal. Witnessing the grand success, this festival became an annual ritual in Pune and it eventually grew exponentially. Today Sawai Gandharva Music festival is one of the important and prominent music festivals of India.

Initially performers only from the Kirana gharana would perform, but today artists from all gharanas take it as a pride and honor to perform in this festival. To perform on the stage of Sawai Gandharva festival signifies the ‘advent’ of an artist in the scene of Indian classical music. Not only famous musicians perform here but people who have attained masters in their chosen field of music also get a chance to display their talent.

The festival today is a hallmark in the annual cultural calendar of Pune. The Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal who started the festival also had the intention of reviving Arya Sangeet Vidyalaya which was founded by Ustad Abdul Karim Khan in 1910, but became inactive by 1947. The original founders of the Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal were Nanasaheb Deshpande, Dattopant Deshpande, Shri BalasahebAtre, Abasaheb Mujumdar, Hirabai Badodekar, Kamlabai Badodekar, Saraswati Rane, Sureshbabu Mane, Shvrampant Divekar, Viththalrao Sardeshmukh, V.S. Sathe, D.V.Natu, Abasaheb Atre, Pandurangshastri Deshpande, Vamanrao Deshpande, Vasantrao Deshpande and Vamanrao Abhonkar. The festival is concluded by a grand performance of Pandi Bhimsen Joshi.

About Sawai Gandharva

Rambhau Kundgolkar known as Sawai Gandharva was born in 1886 in a town named Kundgol in Karnataka. Although he did not belong to a musical family, he showed deep interest in music from his early days and started training under Ustad Abdul Karim Khan. He was much impressed by the singing talent of the young boy and started the arduous task of teaching him the nuances of Indian classcial music. His long hours of training in voice culture made Rambhau a confident vocalist. Later he also learnt from other teachers like Bhaskarbuva Bakhale and Nasir Hussain Khan of Gwalior gharana. His intense training polished his voice further.

After his training, he got married and returned to his native twon where he joined a drama company. He became a popular singer in the company and earned the title of Sawai Gandharva. It was under him and another disciple of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan, Sureshbabu, that the Kirana gharana became popular. He started training several students who later on became noted musicians like Bhimsen Joshi, Basavaraj Rajguru, Feroze Dastur and Gangubai Hangal. After his death, following a paralytic attack in 1952, his disciples led by Pandit Bhimsen Joshi started the famous Sawai Gandharva Sangeet Mahotsav under the patronage of Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal

Famous gharanas

Gharanas in Hindustani classical music mean a system of social organization connecting musicians by music style, lineage or apprenticeship. Some of the best known vocal gharanas include Gwalior gharana, Agra gharana, Kirana gharana, Jaipur-Atrauli gharana and Rampur-Sahaswan gharana. Pt. Achchan Maharaj (Jagannath Maharaj is a famous exponent of Lucknow gharana, Ustad Masit Khan, Jyan Prakash Ghosh, Keramatullah Khan are exponents of Farukhabad gharana.

Monday, November 29, 2010

Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar


Ravi Shankar (Bengali: রবি শংকর; born 7 April 1920), often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.[1]
Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent his youth touring Europe and India with the dance group of his brother Uday Shankar. He gave up dancing in 1938 to study sitar playing under court musician Allauddin Khan. After finishing his studies in 1944, Shankar worked as a composer, creating the music for the Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray, and was music director of All India Radio, New Delhi, from 1949 to 1956.
In 1956, he began to tour Europe and America playing Indian classical music and increased its popularity there in the 1960s through teaching, performance, and his association with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and George Harrison of The Beatles. Shankar engaged Western music by writing concerti for sitar and orchestra and toured the world in the 1970s and 1980s. From 1986 to 1992 he served as a nominated member of the upper chamber of the Parliament of India. Shankar was awarded India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, in 1999, and received three Grammy Awards. He continues to perform in the 2000s, often with his daughter Anoushka.


Early life

Shankar was born 7 April 1920 in Varanasi to a wealthy and conservative Brahmin family of cultured Bengalis as the youngest of seven brothers. Shankar's Bengali birth name was Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury. His father, Shyam Shankar, an administrator for the Maharaja of Jhalawar, used the Sanskrit spelling of the family name and removed its last part. Shyam was married to Shankar's mother Hemangini Devi, but later worked as a lawyer in London. There he married a second time while Devi raised Shankar in Varanasi, and did not meet his son until he was eight years old. Shankar shortened the Sanskrit version of his first name, Ravindra, to Ravi, for "sun".
At the age of ten, after spending his first decade in Varanasi, Shankar went to Paris with the dance group of his brother, choreographer Uday Shankar. By the age of 13 he had become a member of the group, accompanied its members on tour and learned to dance and play various Indian instruments.[ Uday's dance group toured Europe and America in the early to mid-1930s and Shankar learned French, discovered Western classical music, jazz, and cinema, and became acquainted with Western customs. Shankar heard the lead musician for the Maihar court, Allauddin Khan, in December 1934 at a music conference in Kolkata and Uday convinced the Maharaja of Maihar in 1935 to allow Khan to become his group's soloist for a tour of Europe. Shankar was sporadically trained by Khan on tour, and Khan offered Shankar training to become a serious musician under the condition that he abandon touring and came to Maihar


Training and work in India
Shankar's parents had died by the time he returned from the European tour, and touring the West had become difficult due to political conflicts that would lead to World War II. Shankar gave up his dancing career in 1938 to go to Maihar and study Indian classical music as Khan's pupil, living with his family in the traditional gurukul system. Khan was a rigorous teacher and Shankar had training on sitar and surbahar, learned ragas and the musical styles dhrupad, dhamar, and khyal, and was taught the techniques of the instruments rudra veena, rubab, and sursingar. He often studied with Khan's children Ali Akbar Khan and Annapurna Devi.Shankar began to perform publicly on sitar in December 1939 and his debut performance was a jugalbandi (duet) with Ali Akbar Khan, who played the string instrument sarod.
Shankar completed his training in 1944. Following his training, he moved to Mumbai and joined the Indian People's Theatre Association, for whom he composed music for ballets in 1945 and 1946. Shankar recomposed the music for the popular song "Sare Jahan Se Achcha" at the age of 25. He began to record music for HMV India and worked as a music director for All India Radio (AIR), New Delhi, from February 1949 to January 1956. Shankar founded the Indian National Orchestra at AIR and composed for it; his compositions experimented with a combination of Western instruments and classical Indian instrumentation. Beginning in the mid-1950s he composed the music for the Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray, which became internationally acclaimed.

International career 1956–1969


Tabla player Alla Rakha, who was a frequent accompanist of Shankar, in 1988
V. K. Narayana Menon, director of AIR Delhi, introduced the Western violinist Yehudi Menuhin to Shankar during Menuhin's first visit to India in 1952. Shankar had performed as part of a cultural delegation in the Soviet Union in 1954 and Menuhin invited Shankar in 1955 to perform in New York City for a demonstration of Indian classical music, sponsored by the Ford Foundation. Shankar declined to attend due to problems in his marriage, but recommended Ali Akbar Khan to play instead. Khan reluctantly accepted and performed with tabla (percussion) player Chatur Lal in the Museum of Modern Art, and he later became the first Indian classical musician to perform on American television and record a full raga performance, for Angel Records.
Shankar heard about the positive response Khan received and resigned from AIR in 1956 to tour the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States.[21] He played for smaller audiences and educated them about Indian music, incorporating ragas from the South Indian Carnatic music in his performances, and recorded his first LP album Three Ragas in London, released in 1956. In 1958, Shankar participated in the celebrations of the tenth anniversary of the United Nations and UNESCO music festival in Paris. Since 1961, he toured Europe, the United States, and Australia, and became the first Indian to compose music for non-Indian films. Chatur Lal accompanied Shankar on tabla until 1962, when Alla Rakha assumed the role. Shankar founded the Kinnara School of Music in Mumbai in 1962.
Shankar befriended Richard Bock, founder of World Pacific Records, on his first American tour and recorded most of his albums in the 1950s and 1960s for Bock's label. The Byrds recorded at the same studio and heard Shankar's music, which led them to incorporate some of its elements in theirs, introducing the genre to their friend George Harrison of The Beatles. Harrison became interested in Indian classical music, bought a sitar and used it to record the song "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)". This led to Indian music being used by other musicians and created the raga rock trend.
Harrison met Shankar in London in 1966 and visited India for six weeks to study sitar under Shankar in Srinagar. During the visit, a documentary film about Shankar named Raga was shot by Howard Worth, and released in 1971. Shankar's association with Harrison greatly increased Shankar's popularity and Ken Hunt of Allmusic would state that Shankar had become "the most famous Indian musician on the planet" by 1966. In 1967, he performed at the Monterey Pop Festival and won a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance for West Meets East, a collaboration with Yehudi Menuhin. The same year, the Beatles won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band which included "Within You Without You" by Harrison, a song that was influenced by Indian classical music. Shankar opened a Western branch of the Kinnara School of Music in Los Angeles, California, in May 1967, and published an autobiography, My Music, My Life, in 1968. He performed at the Woodstock Festival in August 1969, and found he disliked the venue. In the 1970s Shankar distanced himself from the hippie movement.

International career 1970–present


George Harrison, U.S. President Gerald Ford, and Ravi Shankar in the Oval Office in December 1974
In October 1970 Shankar became chair of the department of Indian music of the California Institute of the Arts after previously teaching at the City College of New York, the University of California, Los Angeles, and being guest lecturer at other colleges and universities, including the Ali Akbar College of Music. In late 1970, the London Symphony Orchestra invited Shankar to compose a concerto with sitar; Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra was performed with André Previn as conductor and Shankar playing the sitar. Hans Neuhoff of Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart has criticized the usage of the orchestra in this concert as "amateurish". George Harrison organized the charity Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971, in which Shankar participated. Interest in Indian music had decreased in the early 1970s, but the concert album became one of the best-selling recordings featuring it and won Shankar a second Grammy Award.
During the 1970s, Shankar and Harrison worked together again, recording Shankar Family and Friends in 1974 and touring North America to a mixed response after Shankar had toured Europe.[33] The demanding North America tour weakened Shankar, and he suffered a heart attack in Chicago in September 1974, causing him to cancel a portion of the tour. In his absence, Shankar's sister-in-law, singer Lakshmi Shankar, conducted the touring orchestra.[34] The touring band visited the White House on invitation of John Gardner Ford, son of U.S. President Gerald Ford.[34] Shankar toured and taught for the remainder of the 1970s and the 1980s and released his second concerto, Raga Mala, conducted by Zubin Mehta, in 1981. Shankar was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Music Score for his work on the 1982 movie Gandhi, but lost to John Williams' E.T. He served as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper chamber of the Parliament of India, from 12 May 1986 to 11 May 1992, after being nominated by Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Shankar composed the dance drama Ghanashyam in 1989. His liberal views on musical cooperation led him to collaboration with contemporary composer Philip Glass, with whom he released an album, Passages, in 1990.
Shankar underwent an angioplasty in 1992 due to heart problems, after which George Harrison involved himself in several of Shankar's projects. Because of the positive response to Shankar's 1996 career compilation In Celebration, Shankar wrote a second autobiography, Raga Mala, with Harrison as editor. He performed in between 25 and 40 concerts every year during the late 1990s. Shankar taught his daughter Anoushka Shankar to play sitar and in 1997 became a Regent's Lecturer at University of California, San Diego. In the 2000s, he won a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for Full Circle: Carnegie Hall 2000 and toured with Anoushka, who released a book about her father, Bapi: Love of My Life, in 2002. Anoushka performed a composition by Shankar for the 2002 Harrison memorial Concert for George and Shankar wrote a third concerto for sitar and orchestra for Anoushka and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Shankar played his last European concert in June 2008.


Style and contributions


Shankar plays the raga Madhuvanti at the Shiraz Arts Festival in Iran in the 1970s
Shankar developed a style distinct from that of his contemporaries and incorporated influences from rhythm practices of Carnatic music. His performances begin with solo alap, jor, and jhala (introduction and performances with pulse and rapid pulse) influenced by the slow and serious dhrupad genre, followed by a section with tabla accompaniment featuring compositions associated with the prevalent khyal style.[6] Shankar often closes his performances with a piece inspired by the light-classical thumri genre.
Shankar has been considered one of the top sitar players of the second half of the 20th century. He popularized performing on the bass octave of the sitar for the alap section and became known for a distinctive playing style in the middle and high registers that uses quick and short deviations of the playing string and his sound creation through stops and strikes on the main playing string. Narayana Menon of The New Grove Dictionary noted Shankar's liking for rhythmic novelties, among them the use of unconventional rhythmic cycles. Hans Neuhoff of Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart has argued that Shankar's playing style was not widely adopted and that he was surpassed by other sitar players in the performance of melodic passages.Shankar's interplay with Alla Rakha improved appreciation for tabla playing in Hindustani classical music. Shankar promoted the jugalbandi duet concert style and introduced new ragas, including Tilak Shyam, Nat Bhairav and Bairagi.
[edit]Recognition
Shankar won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury at the 1957 Berlin International Film Festival for composing the music for the movie Kabuliwala.[45] He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 1962, and was named a Fellow of the academy for 1975. Shankar was awarded the three highest national civil honors of India: Padma Bhushan, in 1967, Padma Vibhushan, in 1981, and Bharat Ratna, in 1999. He received the music award of the UNESCO International Music Council in 1975, three Grammy Awards, and was nominated for an Academy Award. Shankar was awarded honorary degrees from universities in India and the United States. He received the Kalidas Samman from the Government of Madhya Pradesh for 1987–88, the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 1991, the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1992, and the Polar Music Prize in 1998. Shankar is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1997 received the Praemium Imperiale for music from the Japan Art Association. The American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane named his son Ravi Coltrane after Shankar.

Personal life and family

Shankar married Allauddin Khan's daughter Annapurna Devi in 1941 and a son, Shubhendra Shankar, was born in 1942. Shankar separated from Annapurna in the 1940s and had a relationship with Kamala Shastri, a dancer, beginning in the late 1940s. An affair with Sue Jones, a New York concert producer, led to the birth of Norah Jones in 1979. In 1981, Anoushka Shankar was born to Shankar and Sukanya Rajan, whom Shankar had known since the 1970s. After separating from Kamala Shastri in 1981 Shankar lived with Sue Jones until 1986 and married Sukanya Rajan in 1989.
Shubhendra "Shubho" Shankar often accompanied his father on tours. He could play the sitar and surbahar, but elected not to pursue a solo career and died in 1992. Norah Jones became a successful musician in the 2000s, winning eight Grammy Awards in 2003. Anoushka Shankar was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album in 2003.
Shankar is a Hindu and a vegetarian. He lives with Sukanya in Southern California.


Amjad Ali Khan




Amjad Ali Khan

Birth name Masoom Ali Khan
Born 9 October 1945 (age 65)
Gwalior, Central Provinces and Berar, British Raj
Genres Hindustani classical music
Instruments sarod
Associated acts Hafiz Ali Khan, Amaan Ali Khan, Ayaan Ali Khan, Gurdev Singh
Website sarod.com


Amjad Ali Khan (born 9 October 1945) is an Indian classical musician who plays the sarod. Khan was born into a musical family and has performed internationally since the 1960s. He was awarded India's second highest civilian honor, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2001.

Early life and career

Khan was born in Gwalior on 9 October 1945 as Masoom Ali Khan, the youngest of six children, to Gwalior court musician Hafiz Ali Khan and Rahat Jahan. His family is part of the Bangash lineage and Khan is in the sixth generation of musicians; his family claims to have invented the sarod. His personal name was changed by a sadhu to Amjad. Khan received homeschooling and studied music under his father.His family moved frequently and Khan performed on the sarod from a young age.
Khan first performed in the United States in 1963 and continued into the 2000s, with his sons. He has experimented with modifications to his instrument throughout his career. Khan played with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and worked as a visiting professor at the University of New Mexico.
[edit]Recognition
Khan was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1989, and received the Padma Shri in 1975, the Padma Bhushan in 1991, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2001. He was awarded the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 2004. The U.S. state Massachusetts proclaimed April 20 as Amjad Ali Khan Day in 1984. Khan was made an honorary citizen of Houston, Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee, in 1997, and of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2007.

Family and personal life

Khan cared for his diabetic father until he died in 1972. His family arranged a marriage, which failed, and Khan was married a second time, to Bharatanatyam dancer Subhalakshmi, on September 25, 1976. Subhalakshmi Barua Khan is a native of Assam and has stopped performing. They have two sons, Amaan, the older one, and Ayaan, who were taught music by their father. Khan is a Muslim and his wife is a Hindu. Their family home in Gwalior was made into a musical center and they live in New Delhi


Amjad Ali Khan




Amjad Ali Khan

Birth name Masoom Ali Khan
Born 9 October 1945 (age 65)
Gwalior, Central Provinces and Berar, British Raj
Genres Hindustani classical music
Instruments sarod
Associated acts Hafiz Ali Khan, Amaan Ali Khan, Ayaan Ali Khan, Gurdev Singh
Website sarod.com


Amjad Ali Khan (born 9 October 1945) is an Indian classical musician who plays the sarod. Khan was born into a musical family and has performed internationally since the 1960s. He was awarded India's second highest civilian honor, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2001.

Early life and career

Khan was born in Gwalior on 9 October 1945 as Masoom Ali Khan, the youngest of six children, to Gwalior court musician Hafiz Ali Khan and Rahat Jahan. His family is part of the Bangash lineage and Khan is in the sixth generation of musicians; his family claims to have invented the sarod. His personal name was changed by a sadhu to Amjad. Khan received homeschooling and studied music under his father.His family moved frequently and Khan performed on the sarod from a young age.
Khan first performed in the United States in 1963 and continued into the 2000s, with his sons. He has experimented with modifications to his instrument throughout his career. Khan played with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and worked as a visiting professor at the University of New Mexico.
[edit]Recognition
Khan was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1989, and received the Padma Shri in 1975, the Padma Bhushan in 1991, and the Padma Vibhushan in 2001. He was awarded the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 2004. The U.S. state Massachusetts proclaimed April 20 as Amjad Ali Khan Day in 1984. Khan was made an honorary citizen of Houston, Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee, in 1997, and of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 2007.

Family and personal life

Khan cared for his diabetic father until he died in 1972. His family arranged a marriage, which failed, and Khan was married a second time, to Bharatanatyam dancer Subhalakshmi, on September 25, 1976. Subhalakshmi Barua Khan is a native of Assam and has stopped performing. They have two sons, Amaan, the older one, and Ayaan, who were taught music by their father. Khan is a Muslim and his wife is a Hindu. Their family home in Gwalior was made into a musical center and they live in New Delhi


Vijay Ghate

Vijay Ghate


Vijay Ghate, originally from Jabalpur, has been recognized by all musicians and dancers alike as the most brilliant and exciting among tabla players of the present generation.

Vijay started learning his art at a very early age of three in Jabalpur.He then moved to Mumbai, and for over twelve years he put himself under the tutelage of Pandit Suresh Talwalkar. Even at the age of 16 he became well-known for his scintillating solo performances.He is one of the few rare tabla players who is adept and comfortable accompanying all the three streams of Vocal, Instrumental and Dance. Quickfire anticipation fulled with a very creative mind and imagination, clarity in playing, dextirity, accuracy are his forte.

He has been accompanying many well known artistes like Ustad Vilayat Khan, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Pandit Jasraj, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhat and many others all over the world. He has been very well acknowledged for his forays into fusion in world of music with well known artistes from the western world like famous group Jethrotul and great maestros in easy Jazz like George Dukes, Aljereu, Ravi Coltarin, and also frequently working with Egberto Gismonti, Larry Coryell, George Brooks, etc.He has also collaborated with well known Indian musicians in this field like Louis Banks, Shankar Mahadevan, Shivmani etc.

Friday, November 26, 2010

Rakesh Chaurasia

Rakesh Chaurasia


A famous name attached to this musician; young Rakesh is the nephew and child prodigy of flute maestro Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia. The most accomplished of disciples of his uncle, he shows all the promise to carry the Chaurasia legacy to new heights.
Just like his legendary uncle, Rakesh possesses the right balance of strength and serenity, very critical factors for an exceptional flautist. His dexterous blowing technique coupled with his training of ‘swar’ and ‘tala’ exudes adeptly in his emotions through the hollow piece of bamboo. Rakesh has already globe trotted many times over, enthralling audiences at classical and semi-classical concerts in Japan, Australia, Europe, South Africa and USA. He is also an accomplished musician having recorded with most of the leading stalwarts of the Indian film industry. And just like his illustrious uncle, he has composed music and worked with artists such as the Spanish guitarist Marco Salaun, Indian jazz pianist Louis Banks and percussionist Taufiq Qureshi, amongst others. “VIRA”, one of his most successful and highly acclaimed albums on which he was accompanied by Talvin Singh on the tabla, is released under the Sona Rupa label. Soon after its release, he and Talvin were invited to conclude the 24 hour live music broadcast to a worldwide audience on the BBC radio celebrating Her Majesty the Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee.

Despite his experimental work, Rakesh has never deviated from his main goal of becoming a full-fledged classical musician. The winner of “Surmani” (Mumbai) in 1998, he has regularly appeared in prominent festivals like St. Xavier’s in Mumbai, ‘Festivals of India’ in Russia, Japan and the USA. His growing maturity and status has brought him invitations to perform solo at major events within India and abroad such as the Festival of Saint-Denis in Paris with Talvin Singh, Leicester International Music Festival in England, ‘Ashirwadh Sangeet Samaroh’ in Varanasi, ‘Anubhuti’ in Mumbai where history was made when, for the first time ever, Rakesh, Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pt Shivkumar Sharma and his son, Rahul, all performed together on stage accompanied by the legendary Ustad Zakir Hussain. Having also appeared in Gwalior, Nagpur, Hyderabad and Bhopal, he has had the distinction of a solo performance in front of a 2000 capacity audience during the prestigious ‘Hindi Sahitya Sammelan’ in the city of Allahabad.

Modest Rakesh is the first to admit that he has a lot to learn, not just from his legendary uncle and maestro, but his peers too. He is indeed, destined to carve a niche for himself in the realm of Indian Classical Music with the simple yet extremely difficult to play bamboo flute, the Bansuri.

Prestigious concerts:
Festival De Saint-Denis, Paris with Talvin & Smadj
Ashirwadh Sangeet Samaroh, Varanasi
Chaturang Sangeet Utsav, Mumbai
ANUBHUTI,, Mumbai - first time ever 5 artist together, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Shiv kumar Sharma, Zakir Hussain, Rakesh Chaurasia & Rahul Sharma
Fine Art Social Welfare Society – New Delhi - Inaugural Sangeet Samaroh, Millennium 2001.
Yeshwantrao Chavan Pratishthan’s Rangswar, Mumbai – “Avani” – a fusion concert in aid of the Gujarat Earthquake victims.
Milap fest – the Indian festival – Liverpool (part of BBC Music Live Program)
Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, USA – Millennium festival, N.Y.
Vedic Heritage Inc. – Hempstead, USA – Dipawali celebration.
Sangeet Maha Yagna – 50 hour non-stop performance of Indian classical music by over 100 artistes on the occasion of India’s 50 years of independence.
South Central Zone Cultural Centre, Nagpur – Yuva Sangeet Nritya Mahotasav.


Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia


Hariprasad Chaurasia

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Background information
Born 1 July 1938 (age 72)
Origin Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India
Genres Hindustani classical music
Occupations Composer, flute player
Instruments bansuri
Website hariprasadchaurasia.com
Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia (born 1 July 1938) is an Indian classical instrumentalist. He is a player of the bansuri, the North Indian bamboo flute. Chaurasia is a classicist who has made a conscious effort to reach out and expand the audience for classical music.

Early life and background

Hariprasad Chaurasia was born in Allahabad in a non musical family. His father was a wrestler. His mother died when he was four. Hariprasad had to learn music almost in secret, scared of the father who wanted him to become a wrestler. He did go to the Akhada and train with his father for some time, although he also started learning music in secret, and practicing in his friend's house. He has credited this wrestling training for giving him the immense stamina and lung power that are the hallmarks of his flute playing, stating that,
“ I was not any good at wrestling. I went there only to please my father. But maybe because of the strength and stamina I built up then, I'm able to play the bansuri even to this day. ”

Career

Hariprasad Chaurasia started learning vocal music from his neighbour, Pandit Rajaram at the age of 15. Later, he switched to playing the flute under the tutelage of Pandit Bholanath Prasanna of Varanasi. Much later, while working for All India Radio, he received guidance from the reclusive Annapurna Devi, (daughter of Baba Allaudin Khan).
He is considered a rare combination of innovator and traditionalist. He has expanded the expressive possibilities of the bansuri through his masterful blowing technique.
Apart from classical music, he has made a mark as a Hindi language film music director along with Pt. Shivkumar Sharma, forming a group called Shiv-Hari. He has also collaborated with various world musicians in experimental cross-cultural performances, including the fusion group Shakti.
He serves as the Artistic Director of the World Music Department at the Rotterdam Music Conservatory in the Netherlands.
He has collaborated with several western musicians, including John McLaughlin and Jan Garbarek, and has also composed music for a number of Indian films. He has performed throughout the world winning acclaim from varied audiences and fellow musicians including Yehudi Menuhin and Jean-Pierre Rampal.

Personal life

Chaurasia is married to Anuradha, a classical vocalist.

Awards

He has won a number of awards including the Sangeet Natak Academy (1984), Konark Samman (1992), Padma Bhushan (1992),Yash Bharati Sanman (1994) and Padma Vibhushan (2000). In the year 2000, he also received the Hafiz Ali Khan Award and the Dinanath Mangeshkar Award.
Panditji was honoured by the Dutch Royal family at Amsterdam,and was conferred with the title OFFICER IN THE ORDER OF ORANGE-NASSAU( “officier in de Orde van Oranje-Nassau”) and was honored by Princess Maxima herself.
In the year 2009, shortly after his birthday he was honored by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of France. He has been appointed as KNIGHT IN THE ORDER OF ARTS AND LETTER (“Ordres des Arts et Lettres”) in appreciation for the significant contribution he has made to spread culture in France and the rest of the World.
In August of 2009, Pt. Chaurasia was awarded the National Eminence award, NADA VIDYA BHARTI by Visakha Music and Dance Academy, Vizag.
On 14 September of 2009 he was bestowed the Honorary Doctorate by the North Orissa University for his unparelleled role and contribution to the world of Indian Classical Music.

Biography

On 1 July, 2008 on the occasion of his 70th Birthday, his official biography "Woodwinds of Change" by Shri Surjit Singh was released by Mr. Amitabh Bachchan.

Discography

These are major albums released by Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, categorized by release dates.2


Chaurasia in 2007
1967
Call of the Valley with Shivkumar Sharma and Brij Bhushan Kabra
1978
Krishnadhwani 60
1981
Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia - Flute
1984
Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia - Flute (different set of ragas,same album name)
1987
Morning to Midnight Ragas - Morning Ragas
1988
Call of the Valley
1989
Venu
Live in Ahmedabad '89
1990
Immortal Series
1991
Megh Malhar
1992
Night Ragas
Live in Amsterdam '92
Morning to Midnight Ragas - Afternoon Ragas
All time Favorites
Live from Sawai Gandharva Music Festival - Video (VHS)
Raga-s DU Nord Et Du Sud
Immortal Series - Flute Fantasia
1993
Indian Classical Masters
Daylight Ragas
Flute - Hariprasad Chaurasia
1994
Thumri - The Music of Love
In A Mellow Mood
Possession
Immortal Series - Devine Drupad
Classic Greats1 - Ideas on Flute
1995
In Live Concert
Cascades of Hindustani Music
Maharishi Gandharva Veda - Sunrise Melody
Maharishi Gandharva Veda - Morning Melody
Maharishi Gandharva Veda - Midday Melody
Maharishi Gandharva Veda - Afternoon Melody
Maharishi Gandharva Veda - Evening Melody
Maharishi Gandharva Veda - Sunset Melody
Maharishi Gandharva Veda - Midnight Melody
Maharishi Gandharva Veda - Late Night Melody
Hariprasad Chaurasia - Flute
Malhar-Chandrika
Music 157 - Live in London
Music - Flute
Great Jugalbandis
Music from the world of OSHO - Above & Beyond
Prem Yog
Written on the Wind
Romantic Themes
Saptarishi - Live at Siri Fort
The Mystical Flute of Hari Prasad Chaurasia
Maestro's Choice
Basant Bahar
Chaurasia's Choice
1996
Hari Prasad Chaurasia & his Divine Flute
Flute Recital
Valley Recalls - In search of Peace, Love and Harmony
Krishna's Flute - Master of the Bansuri
Classical Encounters - A live Experience with Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia
Fabulous Flute
Pundit Hari Prasad Chaurasia
In Concert - Vancouver, B.C
Hariprasad Chaurasia - Flute
The Bamboo Flautist of His Generation
Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia - Nada in Jerusalem
1997
Classical Encounters - A Live Experience with Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia
Great Jugalbandis
The Golden Collection (Classical)
Immortal Essence
Golden Raga Collection
1998
Samarpan-VCD Special 60th Birthday Edition
The Charms Companion
Morning to Midnight - Morning to Dusk
Music for Reiki
1999
Jugalbandi
Rasdhaara
Live Inside Khajuraho
Live in New Delhi - '89
Golden Raga Collection
Musical Titans of India - Jugalbandhi Video (VHS)
Pure Joy - Positive Energy Music
2000
Music without Boundaries
Maaya - Far East
Hriday - Cuba
Caravan Spain
Live Concert at Savai Gandharva Music Festival
Gurukul - The Guru shishya Parampara
2001
Adi-Ananth
Love Divine - Parables of Passion
Power & Grace - Live at the Saptak Festival 2001
Discovery of Indian Classical Music
Flute Duet
2003
Flute Deity Hariprasad Chaurasia
The Greatest Hits of Hariprasad Chaurasia
Salvation - Instrumental Bhajans
[edit]Albums (release year unknown)
La Flute De Pundit Hariprasad Chaurasia
Hariprasad Chaurasia - The Most Celebrated Flautist of India
Sound of Silence
Charm of the Bamboo flute
Kalpana - Imagination
A Kaleidoscope of various ragas
Krishna Utsav
Kali - Classical Instrumental
Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia - the Living Legend of Flute
Moon Light Moods - Flute Recital
Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia - The Living Legend of Flute
Indian Music
HariDhwani
Buston Abraham - Fanar
Fusion India - Passage of India Series
Being Still
Dhammapada - Sacred teaching of Buddha
The Charms Companion
Eternity
Nothing but wind (1988) - Composed by Ilaiyaraaja
[edit]Music for Bollywood films

Along with Pandit ShivKumar Sharma he composed music for
Chandni
Darr
Lamhe
Silsila
Faasle
Vijay
Sahibaan