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Event
Music of the Himalayas
Music of the Himalayas
A concert of classical and folk music of Nepal
Featuring
Parashuram Bhandari - sarangi
Ram Kumar Singh - bansuri
Abhijit Banerjee - tabla
Anna Stirr - voice, madal
Babette Ackin - tanpura
Tickets: $10-20
Parashuram Bhandari is a Nepali master of the sarangi. The sarangi, whose name means "hundred colors," is an instrument with a cello-like timbre, bowed on three melody strings, with thirty-six sympathetic strings underneath, giving it a haunting cello-like resonance and bright reverberating echo. It is best known for its emotional intensity and its uncanny similarity to the timbre and inflections of the human voice. Parashuram is the only sarangi musician in Nepal to play in the North Indian Classical style. He plays Nepali traditional music on the country's traditional sarangi. The Nepali sarangi is a small hand-carved version of the classical sarangi, an instrument equivalent to the traditional American fiddle.
Born in the Kathmandu Valley and educated in India, Parashuram studied with guru Pandit Bacchalal Misra of Varanasi and Senior Musician Gopal Nath Yogi. He received his Master's Degree in Music from Prayag Sangit Samiti. An independent artist, Parashuram Bhandari has published the only textbook on sarangi and is the recipient of National music awards in Nepal. He has performed in numerous countries and released two solo CD's among others with the acclaimed musical group Om Shringara Nepal. When home in the Kathmandu Valley, Parashuram performs in Nepal television, radio, and theatre productions. Parashuram is the Indian Classical Music Circle of Hawaii Artist-in-Residence.
Considered among the top class of tabla players from India, Abhijit Banerjee has crafted a unique style and creative approach which has brought him accolades and awards throughout the world. He is known for his sensitivity, skill and deep sense of musicality. Apart from his contributions to Indian music he has delved into a diverse variety of world music crossover as both a performer and composer.
Recognizing his talent and natural inclination towards music his father steered him to tabla at the age of four. Abhijit also studied vocal music and violin later in his life in making a complete musician out of him. He is considered as one of the main disciples of the illustrious guru, the late Pt. Gyan Prakash Ghosh.
Abhijit has accompanied on tabla nearly all of the top ranking stars of Hindustani classical music including Pt.Ravi Shankar, Late Pt.Nikhil Banerjee, Begum Parweena Sultana, Pt.Jasraj, Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma, Dr.Balamurali Krishnan to name a few.
In addition to a highly successful career in Indian Classical music, his crossover work includes collaborations with musicians such as Ry Cooder, Larry Corryell and Trilok Gurtu, Jon Santos, Kenny Endo and many other. He has also collaborated with Balinese Gamelan Artiste Dewa Barata of CUDAMANI group and produced Rabindranath Tagore's AMI CHITRANGADA which was first staged with Balinese and Indian Dancers and later was released as music Album. Abhijit founded his own ensemble TARANG performing his original compositions.
Abhijit founded & established Dhwani Academy of Percussion in Los Angeles and Kolkata attracting talented students from around the world. He has conducted workshops and educational performance seminars on the intricacies of Indian music in universities & cultural centers in The US, Spain, Germany, France, UK, Japan & Mexico.
Ram Kumar Singh has played bansuri flute since he was a child in the Himalayan foothills, and has been active all his life as a musician, singer, and songwriter in multiple genres of Nepali music. He released his first album of Nepali folk songs, Dangko Bazaar, in 1997, and his 2008 album Memories of Motherland showcases his arrangements of songs from different ethnic groups and regions of Nepal. Songs he has written have been recorded by various Nepali singers, and his flute playing can be heard on the nearly one thousand recordings for which he has been a session musician. Ram studied Hindustani classical bansuri flute with Durga Khatiwada and Nepali folk flute with Sushil Bishwokarma, as well as classical vocals with Bhola Prasad Rai. He holds a Senior Diploma in Music from Sruti Sangeet Vidyalaya in Kathmandu, the highest formal degree available in Nepali folk music. Ram teaches flute and madal privately, and has taught a Nepali music ensemble at UH Manoa. He regularly performs at events around Oahu, and has given many performances on the US mainland, in Europe, and in Nepal.
Anna Stirr is a musician and ethnomusicologist specializing in Himalayan performance traditions. Best known for her Nepali folk songs (such as 2007's Sirful Kapalma with Komal Oli) and her witty improvised lyrics in conversational duet songs known as dohori, she also has a strong instrumental background. After a bachelor's degree in western classical flute performance from Lawrence University, she studied Hindustani classical bansuri flute with Steve Gorn and Jeevan Ale, and learned the folk style of bansuri informally with many excellent Nepali performers. As a singer, she has studied the Hindustani classical tradition with Prabhu Raj Dhakal in Nepal and Ustad Mehboob Nadeem in London, and learned Nepali folk and dohori song and madal drumming through oral tradition. Anna holds a PhD from Columbia University and is Assistant Professor of Asian Studies at UH Manoa, where she teaches classes on Asian performing arts, broader Asian humanities, and South Asian culture. She regularly performs for different Nepali communities and media outlets in the US, Europe, the Middle East, and of course, in Nepal.
Babette Ackin will accompany on tanpura (a long-neck lute). She is a devoted student of raga for over ten years, and Founder and Director of the Indian Classical Music Circle of Hawaii.
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LocationEast-West Center, Imin Center - Jefferson Hall (View)
1777 East-West Road
Honolulu, HI 96848
United States
Categories
| Kid Friendly: Yes! |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: Yes! |
| Wheelchair Accessible: Yes! |
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