2nd and 3rd February: 1st Dhrupad Festial in The Netherlands (Utrecht)

With the establishment of the modern state of India, various local courts lost their raison d’être. As a consequence, lots of dhrupad artists lost not only their patronage, but also an audience of connaisseurs at the court. Dhrupad moved to the fringes of musical life. The upcoming bourgeoisie preferred the more virtuoso Khayal style. At the end of the last century we see a new interest for the dhrupad style, not only in India, but also in the West. The basic techniques of perfect intonation, pure melody and improvisation feed the artistic imagination of the new musician, be he trained in classical music, jazz or otherwise.

Therefore the time is ready for a Dhrupad Festival in the Netherlands!

In coproduction with RASA Centre for World Cultures in Utrecht, The Association Dhrupad Festival Nederland organises the first Dhrupad Festival in the Netherlands on the 2nd and 3rd of February 2013. The festival is dedicated to the art of Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar, who celebrated his 80st birthday last June. Besides performing, Ustad Fariduddin Dagar will give a masterclass.

The full program see here…

Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar & Pandit Nirmalya Dey vocals

Pandit Pushparaj Koshti surbahar

Ustad Bahauddin Dagar rudra veena

Women in Dhrupad: Marianne Svašek & Céline Wadier

• Saturday, 2nd February…

20.00 p.m. – Opening of the Festival

20.15 p.m. concert

‘Women in Dhrupad’

Marianne Svašek studied dhrupad with Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar. She teachesvocal dhrupad at Codarts in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. With her former student Céline Wadier, she performs dhrupad in jugalbandi, unique in the world of classical Indian music. On pakhawaj Nathanaël van Zuilen.

21.45 p.m. concert

Ustad Bahauddin Dagar
rudra veena

Ustad Bahauddin Dagar, son of veena player Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar and nephew of Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar, continues the succession of the Dagar instrumentalists.

• Sunday, 3rd February

11.00 a.m. Masterclass
by Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar

information about admission to the class will be given later.

15.00 p.m. concert

Pandit Pushparaj Koshti 
surbahar

Pandit Pushparaj Koshti, the unsurpassed maestro of the surbahar, brings homage to Ustad Fariduddin. The surbahar, the alto version of the sitar, combines the overtone quality of this instrument with the solemn tone of the veena.

16.30 p.m. concert

Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar &
Pandit Nirmalya Dey 
vocals

The art of Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar, teacher of many musicians, continues to mesmerize the audience. His disciplePandit Nirmalya Deycontributes to the concert and takes care of the vocal support for his teacher.

The concerts are accompanied by a fringe-program (to be announced later).

(Source: 01/2013 – dhrupadfestival.nl)

Related articles

• We like to remember the 86th birthday: Rahim Fahimuddin Dagar (2/2/1927 – 7/27/2011) (imcradiodotnet.wordpress.com)

Happy Birthday to The Indian Comedian Brahmanandam (1st Febr 1956)

Brahmanandam as Music director of Indian Classics…

Fabulous, no need to understand Indian languages. 

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Brahmanandam Kanneganti (born 1 February 1956), credited as Brahmanandam, is an Indian character actor and comedian from Sattenapalli, Andhra Pradesh, who mostly appears in Telugu films. Prior to films, he was a Telugu lecturer in the town of Attili, a town in West Godavari district in the state of Andhra Pradesh. He holds the Guinness World Record for acting in the most number of films in a single language: He has appeared in over 921 films. He is noted for physical comedy and satire. Brahmanandam is one of the versatile Indian actors in this genre.

On a visit to Hyderabad, Brahmanandam happened to accidentally meet writer Adi Vishnu who introduced him to MCV Sashidhar of DD. They started a serial called Pakapakalu. Adi Vishnu, musicologist Raja and BV Pattabhi Ram recommended him to Jandhyala. Brahmanandam met Jandhyala and showed many of his skits. Jandhyala was very happy and appreciated Brahmanandam. He has been continuously growing in popularity as a comedian in South Indian films especially for Telugu film audience, logged himself in Guinness Book of World Records for doing more than 1000 films.

(Source: 01/2013 – Wikipedia.org)