Saptak Annual Festival 2012 (01/01-01/13/2012 + 02/12/2012)

About Saptak

The famous Russian composer and concert pianist Sergei Rachmaninov had once said that, “Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music.” To delve deeper into the world of music, a group of performers and music connoisseurs in Ahmedabad started on a journey in 1980 The quest was to connect with all those who were associated with Indian classical music – as a performer, as a student or as a rasika (listener). The initiative had the blessings of two legends of Indian Classical Music – Pt. Ravishankar and Pt. Kishan Maharaj. Nearly 30 years later, the spark of inspiration continues to burn bright, lighting up the path for newer initiatives that continue to evolve.

“I have been associated with this institution “Saptak” for the past 25 years and I am very appreciative of the work done by it. Saptak is a reputed institution which has always supported new and upcoming artists. It provides a platform for the talent of all artists to be showcased. I wish Saptak great and sustained success in their noteworthy endeavor. “

Sarangi maestro
Ustad Sultan Khan
(1940-2011)

Saptak Events

Saptak annual festival of music
The annual festival of music organised by Saptak from the 1st to 13th of January every year, is a musical feast that is the delight of any music connoisseur. This celebration of music is quite a unique experience in itself. The evening’s performance always begins with an emerging talent. With several luminaries in the audience, this is a grand stage for the young performer.

As the evening progresses, some of the most renowned performers in Indian classical music take the stage. The rasikas often leave in the early hours of the morning with a Raag Baghesri, Malkauns or Lalit still humming in their ears. It’s a celebration of music in its purest form. There are no tickets, no reservations, and one gets to be in the hall only through invitation. With the hall brimming over with highly knowledgeable and sensitive music connoisseurs, the performers are motivated to put forth their best performance at Saptak.

What makes the annual fare a memorable one is that it scales over popular demands to provide a rich bouquet of experience. While the audience gets treated to vintage khayal performances from the established maestros, they also have an opportunity to experience the dhrupad gayaki, thumris, rajasthani folk music, instrumental recitals of sitar, sarangi, flute, the mohan veena, rudra veena and percussion recitals on the tabla, pakhawaj and even the mridangam by the great contemporary musicians and musical experimentations of fusion . With nearly 125 top artistes and about 50 performances spread over 13 days (15 Baithaks including 2 morning baithaks), the music lovers from all over India and abroad converge at the Saptak music festival for an unparalleled experience.

Other Saptak Events

Apart from the annual festival, Saptak also organises a week long Saptak Sankalp Saptah Festival to showcase and promote emerging talents alongwith accomplished, senior Gurus. Shorter festivals to celebrate various seasons such as Vasant (spring) and Varsha (monsoon) are also organised by Saptak.

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Saptak Annual Festival 2012 (01/01-01/13/2012 + 02/12/2012) – partial list of artists…

Vocal : Pt. Ajoy Chakraborty, Smt.Girijadvi, Shri Gundecha Brothers, Pt. Jasraj,Ms. Jayshree – Bombay, Smt. Kaushiki Chakraborty Desikan, Pt. Rajan Sajaan Mishra, Ustsad Rashid Khan, Shri Shaukat Hussain Khan, Smt. Subha Mudgal, Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar

Instrumental : Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Ustad Bahauddin Dagar , Shri Buddhaditya Mukerjee , Shri George Brooks (Sax), Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pt.Krishnamohan Bhatt, Smt. Rajam N, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Pt. Shivkumar Sharma, Shri Shubhendra Rao, Ustad Sujat Khan, Ms.Saskia Rao, Pt.Vishwamohan Bhatt

Dance : Pt. Birju Maharaj

Percussion : Shri Akhilesh Gundecha, Shri Fazal Qureshi, Pt.Puran Maharaj, Shri Sapan Chaudhary, Shri Sandeep Das, Shri Shubh Maharaj, Shri Vishnu Sahay

+ Visarata Vadyo [ less poplular heritage instruments] : [Surbahar, Vichitra Veena, Rudra Veena, Israj, Rubab, Nakkara, Naal, Khadtal ]

Smt Manju Mehta has been awarded the prestigious Marwar Sangeet Ratna Award for exceptional and outstanding achievement by the Mehrangarh Museum Trust.

More details @ Saptak Facebook Fanpage

(Saptak is registered in Ahmedabad as a Public Charitable Trust (No. E.4054), enjoying exemption under S.80G of the IT Act – Copyright: Saptak Trust, Ahmedabad, India) 

Related articles

• Indian Festivals in December (mahindrahomestays.com)
• Sultan Khan, Indian Classical Musician, Dies at 71 (nytimes.com)
• 1940-2011: Music maestro Ustad Sultan Khan passes away today… (imcradiodotnet.wordpress.com)
• StudioTalks… a deep going insight for Indian Classics… (imcradiodotnet.wordpress.com)

Some impressions of Saptak Festival 2011 (delivered by our colleagues of TV9)…

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HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012 – Feliz Año Nuevo 2012 – हैप्पी न्यू वर्ष 2012

Many thanks to all fantastic people around the globe
for challenging a tough 2011 side-by-side.
.
Tks to all our listeners and their interests, trust and critical feedback,
Tks to all the artists of dance, music, poetry, theatre… for sharing and performing,
Tks for all the new friends, new business partners giving the confidence.
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Tks to be part of a global community of music lovers by heart and mind,
Tks for encouraging each other to live the spirit serving Indian arts
truthfully, honestly with a spiritual soul and of devotion.
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Let’s proceed same in 2012 (with 158 broadcastings).
All the best wishes for you and your families… and ever lasting health !

(tks to musically Wolfgang for this wonderful clip with the divine bell-ringing of the Cologne Dome)

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The Jhaptal Project… A Documentary In Ten Beats

Jhaptal A Documentary In Ten Beats 

… explores the spiritual, artistic, and educational philosophy at the root of the world’s most evolved musical tradition, Shastriya Sangeet ~ Indian Classical and Hindustani Music ~ as it cries out for the progress of culture and peaceful development between East and West today… bringing to light a longstanding musical brotherhood between Hinduism and Islam, and the sacred knowledge of sonic bliss ~ the art and science of Raga & Tala ~ that is still streaming forth from the wisdom of ancient India, yet risks being lost amidst cultural westernization.

The story…

Spurred by the desire to learn music, to find God, and to better understand India’s oral/aural tradition of artistic education, filmmaker Sandi Higgins (now Utpal Devi), travels across oceans to meet the masters and exponents of Indian Classical and Hindustani Music. Through her energetic and engaging lens, we look backstage, listen onstage, and travel offstage to learn about the basics of Raga & Tala and the Guru Disciple Tradition today; while glimpsing the world of the musicians, and the Hindustani culture, in ways that audiences rarely have the chance to see and hear.

Contact…

E 10 ST Productions 

Phone: (212) 475-2075
email:  contact_e10st@me.com
Web site: www.e10st.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/E10ST and www.facebook.com/Jhaptal

(Source: 12/2011 – E10st)

Merry X-mas 2011…

Playlists 2011/2012…

Music examples (teaser) of Indian Music …
Listen to and enjoy some tunes from our playlists:

12/22/2011 – ThoughtExperiment No. 00: The Concept of Culture

New ThoughtExperiment No. 01 is coming soon: 26th January 2012 …

Worldwide as Internet-Radio … Broadcastings for Indian music culture: in Germany: each 3rd Monday @ 11:00 p.m. CET (Tide Radio) + each 1st, 3rd and 4th Thursday @ 09:00 p.m. CET (radio multicult.fm) + every 4th Sunday @ 03:00-05:00 p.m. CET (radio multicult.fm) in Switzerland: each 2nd and 4th Monday @ 10:00 p.m. CET (RaSA Radio) in Austria: each 2nd and 4th Sunday @ 11:00 p.m. CET (Radio FRO) download annual broadcasting calendar (as PDF) from here *) EST = CET – 6 hrs, Indian Time = CET + 4.5 hrs (winter time)

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example of a raga form: Raga Jhinjoti – the beauty of this melodious raga lies in its simplicity. It utilizes all the notes and use “komal Ni“*.This is a supportive raga of the Thaat Khamaj*. Elaboration of this raga is normally restricted to the lower and middle octave. The play time is the second quarter of the night.

Aroha (= ascending scala): SaReGaMa Pa Dha Ni Sa;
Avaroha (= descending scala): SaNiDhaPa MaGaReSa

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*) … Thaat consists of the seven notes (SA, Re, Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, Ni) and is designated by the change of shuddha (naturally played), komal (softly played) and teevra (hard played).

The Concept of Culture…

1. Vilayat Khan, Bismillah Khan – Track 2: Chaiti Dhun (13:00) – LP (Vinyl) Duets From India (1967, Capitol Records (ST 10483))
2. Rajeswari Dutt – Track: Sakhi Aandhaarey Akelaa Gharey (3:30) – LP Songs of Rabindranath Tagore  (1977, Hindusthan Record)
3. Sukhwinder Singh – Track 1 (Vol. 1): Dhan Te Nan Aaja Aaja (From Kaminey) (4:46) – (Double) CD Saavn Presents: Bollywood Hits 2009 (2009, Saavn)
4. Kadri Gopalnath – Track 1: Naanenu Maadidheno (6:26) – CD Saxophone (1997/2006, Geethanjali)
5. Mambalam Sisters (R. Vijayalakshmi & R. Chithra) – Track 3: Sarasiruhaasana Priye (6:47) – CD Sarasvati – The Goddess Of Knowledge And Wisdom (2008, Charsur Digital Workstation)
6. Vijay Prakash (composer: Sharangg Pandit) – Track 4: Samaveda (14:39) – CD Essence Of The Vedas (Sanskrit Devotional Compilation) (2004, Times Music)
7. Abida Parveen – Track 1: Meda Raanjhan Raawal Mange (9:33) – CD Abida Hazrat Shah Hussain (2002, Times Music)
8. Pandit Jasraj – Track 3: Raag Bihag (14:38) – CD A Spiritual Journey (2005, Times Music)

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Jingle: WEST meets EAST – indian ragas on western instruments
(CDNF 150562 ADD Made in India . PKD. 12/2004)

1. MISHRA KALENGRA: JINAN PRAKASH GHOSH (Harmonium) & V.G. JOG (Violin) 2. THUMRI in RAGA KHAMAJ in ADDHA TEEN TAAL 3. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (Slide Guitar) 4. RAGA KALAVATI: Shankar Jaikishan 5. RAGA MADHUVANTI: Charanjeet SINGH (Synthethizer)

P & C 2004 Owner, Manufacturer: SAREGAMA INDIA Ltd., 33, Jessore Road, Kolkata – 700 028. India (Original sound recording: The Gramophone Company of India Ltd.)

Moderation Script (12/18/2011): 726 years of Celestial Music (Raga CDs of the Months)

View this document on Scribd

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CH – Raga CDs of the Months (12/12): Ragas in Indian Monsoon (Rainy Season Ragas)

In our regular shows “Raga CDs of the Months” you can listen easily to some new examples of original Indian Classical Music interprated by renowned music maestros out of India. This radio show focuses onto Indian Monsoon Ragas, e.g. the rainy season ragas Megh, Megh Malhar, Miyan ki Malhar and Gaud Malhar , played on the Mohan Veena (Indian Slide guitar), the Sarode and by vocals.

Ragas in Indian Monsoon
M e g h – M a l h a r

Indian Ragas are played at certain times (day/night) or seasons (Ritu). The Ragas of the seasons and Monsoon (beginning of July till October) can be played at every day and night time.

date of broadcasting…
26th December 2011 – 10:00-11:00 p.m. CET (04:00 EST) @ Radio RaSA (CH)
(premiere: 2nd Oct 2007 (09:00 pm CET) @ Tide Radio)
broadcasting plan | streaming (Internet Radio & Mobile Radio) | podCast

 In Hindustani music, the North Indian classical style, the strongest expression of Raga compositions appears to the rain season. The range of the emotional expression from “majestic” (veer Rasa), “pathetic” (Karuna), joyful (Sringar) to “in isolation imprisoned” (Viraha-Sringar).

Indian Monsoon @ Wikipedia

In India the rain season (Megha – Barkha Ritu) lies between hot summer season (Bhairavi) and autumn (Pancham). With Monsoon time (Varsha Ritu) the post Monsoon (Sharad Ritu = autumn) is connected. Sharad Ritu begins at the full moon time in October (in 2007 on 10/10/).

The deep doing solidarity of the Indian population with nature is particularly expressed by the Monsoon ragas which can cover/express the whole nuances and shades of human emotions. – It’s characteristic for Indian culture to be inspired from the nature world does nature on it’s own reflect the Divine.

Indians associate the Monsoon with heavy, dark clouds, hoists (strong winds), rain, flash lightning and the ‘get together’ of lovers on thunderstorm evenings, a frequent motive in Bollywood scores. Particularly the characteristics of Monsoon is awarded for let be the loving most romantically.

In the time of post Monsoon – Sharad Ritu – dominate hunting melodies and singing with themes of cloud-imposed moons, cool nights, Krishna, loving and be-loved ones.

The term Malhar (Mallar or Malaar) is co-relating with the season of the rain. Malhar means “that one, which washes away the dirt”. For Indian Monsoon preferentially Raga s from the Malhar group are performed.

The Raga Malhar expresses the joy of the bloom time. It is a peacefully and refreshing Raga, with a seven (7) note scale, a complete Raga. Outside of the rain time the Malhar Ragas can be sung & played at the late evening hour or in early morning.

Over centuries Raga Megh was the main raga of the Malhar family. Later (and until today) Megh has been replaced of Raga Miyan ki Malhar.

SHASHANK SUBRAMANYAM: Quality standards for the arts? (The Hindu)

(re-print from The Hindu)

Audiences deserve a formal mechanism to grade artistes. Photo: V. Ganesan

I often come across a lot of enthusiastic parents and children seeking my advice on various aspects of their musical journey. For a long time I have wanted to jot down my experiences as a student and performer since my childhood.

Unlike other professions such as Engineering, Medicine and so forth, the demand for south Indian music has been disappointingly low. It is a matter of concern that even highly talented musicians need to solicit opportunities from concert presenters. This trend has not changed in the last three decades. The reason is not so much the artiste or the concert organisers, but the limited number of people who patronise the art. Classical music is predominantly supported by a few communities and there are too few members belonging to these communities. Even these numbers are dwindling by the year.

Against this background, it takes much courage and determination on the part of the parents to encourage their children to pursue music as a profession. Many issues haunt them and students — right from the point of acquiring skills to finding a deserving place for their hard earned musical assets. Thanks to the intense shortage of performance slots and financially viable platforms, nepotism, favouritism, corruption and other unfair practices creep into the system.

A time has come when everyone involved in the system needs to wake up to the realities and reassure those who embark into this very uncertain and risky career.

Dance and music, once entirely patronised by temples and kings, evolved into professions with the creation of “sabhas” or music organisations. Those who loved the arts contributed money to enjoy these art forms.

It is now over a 100 years and perhaps time to review the working pattern of this system in relation to the democratic and constitutional status of many other professions administered by the State and Central governments.

I must mention at this point, the practices followed by most Western countries and other advanced nations.

A need for unions

Governments of developed countries have encouraged performers and composers from all art forms to form unions and set down rules and conditions for the conduct of performances. There is an urgent need in India for the formation of such artiste bodies so that every organisation is bound by rules and brings in absolute accountability and transparency in the conduct of professional events.

At present, the whole environment is rather chaotic, random and guided by no particular rule. Seldom have artistes agreed to come together to form unions and to conform to a degree of professionalism in India. If we could follow the west in such aspects related to the music field, it would project a just, clean and professional image of the arts and help eliminate exploitation to ensure a respectful livelihood for every artiste.

Art of any kind is a product of hard work even when it is a gift at birth. The generations to come, and particularly, the parents who support their children for extensive training, certainly deserve such a change. It would also prevent the rapid rise in the number of organisations which cannot boast of the minimum infrastructure necessary to conduct performances.

Merit be the winner

Mediocre talent is often promoted, unfairly at times, in the name of musical lineage, or because of ‘connections’. It isn’t uncommon to witness poorly-equipped musicians lacking a basic understanding of pitch and rhythm, patronised beyond what they deserve, while truly talented performers from other geographical locations have been ignored.

The numbers attending a performance is not quite indicative of the quality of the artiste. An ideal situation would be to have institutions or bodies that could evaluate performances with absolute sincerity and promote artistes in proportion to their talents.

In this context, we need to draw examples from the practices in the West wherein records and performances are evaluated and published in reputed magazines dedicated to various genres of music such as Rock, Pop, Folk, Country, Jazz and World. It is noteworthy that people attend performances of artistes and buy records of those whose works have been reviewed in such trend-setting magazines.

It is my dream to witness people from various communities and walks of life starting to appreciate this great form of art, making way for increasing the number of opportunities for aspiring artistes and thereby reducing the scope for unfair practices that exist now.

One may wonder why the number of specialised musicians is on the decline. The reason is not the paucity of talent in a given society.

The reasons are more to do with the limited venues, unscientific teaching methods, lack of financial support and consequent manipulation of the field by those at the helm of affairs. Moreover, the ready availability of enormous sponsorship funds has resulted in the mushrooming of organisations where many a time, the prime intention is anything but the propagation of good music.

It is time that the funding agencies did some introspection to ensure whether generously donated funds are reaching the deserving musicians.

The need of the hour is to establish organisations that can monitor and evaluate artistes and performances genuinely, and provide some sort of benchmark for sponsors and concert promoters to implement. This is bound to infuse confidence in parents and children wanting to pursue music professionally akin to other fields where possibilities of a dignified survival is assured.

All our efforts should be channelised towards making this sacred art form, and the industry, more transparent, fair to everyone and a scenario where organisers and artistes coexist with dignity, equality and mutual respect.

(The writer is a well known Carnatic flautist @ Facebook | official website)

(Source: December 19, 2011 | The Hindu – ARTS » MUSIC)

CH – Raga CDs des Monats (12/12): Monsoonragas…

Mit der Sendung am 2. Weihnachtsfeiertag gibt’s zum Thema “indischer Monsoon (Juli-Anfang Okt.)” die Regenragas Megh, Megh Malhar, Miyan Ki Malhar und Gaud Malhar auf der Mohan-Veena (indische Slide-Gitarre), der Sarod und im Gesang. Wie in all unseren Sendungen “Raga CDs des Monats“ hören Sie Beispiele original indisch-klassischer Musik, gespielt von renommierten Musikmeistern Indiens. 

Ragas im indischen Monsoon
Megh – Malhar

Indischen Ragas werde zu bestimmten Tages- oder Jahreszeiten (Ritu) gespielt. Die Ragas der Jahreszeiten und des Monsoons können zu jeder Tages- und Nachtzeit gespielt werden.

Sendetermin…

26. Dez. 2011 – 22:00-23:00 CET (04:00 pm EST) @ Radio RaSA (CH)
(Premiere: 2. Oktober 2007 – 21:00 CET @ Tide Radio)
broadcasting plan | streaming (Internet Radio & Mobile Radio) | podCast

In der Hindustani-Musik, der nordindischen Klassik, finden sich die ausdrucksstärksten Ragakompositionen zur Regensaison wieder. Die Bandbreite des emotionalen Ausdrucks reicht von „majestätisch“ (veer rasa), pathetisch (karuna), freudvoll (Sringar), bis zu „in Einsamkeit gefangen“ (viraha – sringar).

M o n s o o n @ Wikipedia

In Indien liegt die Regenzeit (Megha – Barkha Ritu) zwischen der heissen Sommersaison (Bhairavi) und dem eigentlichen Herbst (Pancham). Der Monsoonzeit (Varsha Ritu) folgt der Post-Monsoon (Sharad Ritu = Herbst). Sharad Ritu beginnt zur Vollmondzeit im Oktober (in 2007 am 10.10.).

Die tiefe Verbundenheit der indischen Bevölkerung mit der Natur drück sich besonders in den Monsoonragas aus, mit der sich Stimmungen und Emotionen des Menschen ausdrücken lassen. – Es ist kennzeichnend für die indische Kultur, sich zutiefst aus der Naturwelt inspirieren zu lassen, spiegelt die Natur selbst das Göttliche wieder.

Die Inder assoziieren den Monsoon mit schweren, dunklen Wolken, Winden, Regen, Blitzen, dem Treffen von Liebenden an Gewitterabenden, ein häufiges Motiv in Bollywoodfilmen. Man spricht dem Monsoon besonders die Eigenschaft zu, in der die Liebenden am Romantischsten sind.

In der post-monsoonen Zeit Sharad Ritu dominieren Jagdmelodien und Gesänge überwolkenverhangene Monde, kühle Nächte, Krishna, Liebende und Geliebte.

Der Begriff Malhar (Mallar oder Malaar) steht in Verbindung mit der Jahreszeit des Regens (rainy season). Malhar bedeutet in seinem Wortstamm „jenes, das den Schmutz wegwäscht“ (that which washes away the dirt). Zum indischen Monsoon werden daher bevorzugt Raga-s aus der Malhargruppe gespielt.

Der Raga Malhar drückt die Freude der Blütezeit aus. Er ist ein friedvoller und kühlender Raga, mit einer 7-stufigen Skala, ein vollständiger Raga. Ausserhalb der Regenzeit können die Malhar-Ragas zur späten Abendstunde oder dem frühen Morgen gesungen und gespielt werden.

Viele Jahrhunderte lang war Raga Megh der Hauptrage der Malhar-Familie. Er wurde später (und bis heute) abgelöst von Raga Miyan Ki Malhar.

Thought Experiment(s) – vichinthana pratisaMvedan: The Concept of Culture (every 3rd Thursday)

Thought Experiment(s) no. “00” – vichinthana pratisaMvedan

The show will be broadcasted monthly, every 3rd Thursday at 09:00 pm CET (03:00 pm EST) worldwide as Internet radio (radio multicult.fm / Berlin) and bi-lingual and repeated following Sunday from 07:00-08:00 am CET (11:30-12:30 Indian Time).

The introductory premiere shortly before Christmas is given the topic “The Concept of Culture” and illuminates in a first outline the relationship between culture and civilization, with reference to Immanuel Kant‘s sense orientation, cultural symbolic language and cultural regions.

date of broadcasting…

25th Dec 2011 – 07:00-08:00 am CET (11:30-12:30 am Indian Time) @ radio multicult.fm (Germany/Berlin)
(premiere: 22nd Dec 2011 – 09:00 pm CET @ radio multicult.fm)
broadcasting plan | streaming (Internet Radio & Mobile Radio) | podCast

Thought experiment(s) literally means in Sanskrit: vichintana pratisaMvedan. – ‘vichintana’ has the meaning: ‘thinking about the aftermath more than once’. And pratisaMvedan is the experiment. The term collectively can be understood as “thinking about the aftermath in an empirical fashion“.