Wow what an year 2013 !!!

Wow what an year 2013 !!!
Year 2013 was a fabulous year for music lovers in UAE. There were a number of concerts.
The ones that I attended are:

1. Nirvana-Zhakir Hussein (tabla) & others.
2. Sunidhi Chauhan & Shankar Ehsan Loy (Vocal)
3. Mysore brothers (violin)
4. Rajesh Vaidhya (veena)
5. L. Subramaniam and Ambi (Violin)
6. Monalisa Ghosh & Kundan Mukherjee (Odissi dance)
7. Hariprasad Chaurasia (Bansuri) & Gweneth Wentink (Harp)
8. Amjad Ali Khan (sarod) & Amman, Ayyan
9. Ustad Rashid Khan (vocal)
10. Chirag Katti (sitar)
11. Shiv Kumar Sharma (santoor)
12. Bikram Ghosh (tabla)
13. Pandit Jasraj (vocal)

And then there were some that I could not attend viz:

1. Asha Bhosle (Vocal)
2. Shubha Mudgal (Vocal)
3. Rahat Fateh Ali Khan (Vocal)
4. Pankaj Udhas (Vocal)
5. Rajan-Sajan Mishra (Vocal)
6. Bal Murli Krishna (Vocal)
7. Rahul Sharma (Santoor)

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU.

Pandit Jasraj (Vocal)

Mandar's concert report

Attended a concert of Pt Jasraj (vocal) assisted by Pt Ramkumar (tabla- he is grandson of legendary anokelal), Parthasarathi (pakhawaj), Mukund (sanvadini- he is disciple of Appasaheb Jalgaokar), Ratan Mohan Sharma ( tanpura & vocals- he is nephew of Jasraj) & Preeti (tanpura & vocals) at DUCTAC, Dubai on 21st December 2013 with Aditi, Thangaokar family, Banchhode family, Amit, Prakash, Ashok, Yashodhan and Raju.

Concert started with alap followed by 'Shyam murari' then 'Mata kali ma' then a Thumri 'kaun raag'  and finally bhajan 'Govindam'. Audience requested him to sing Darbari but he declined sighting shortage of time and making use of a bit of humor.

Panditji sung very well and demonstrated so many variations in lower, middle & upper octaves that the audience was left spellbound. It was as if he was peeling music layer by layer for the audience and showing the intricacies and beauty of each layer.

All the compositions presented by Panditji were devotional. His ability to control and hold his breath, even at the age of 83, is amazing. His kharja (खर्ज) was especially good. Age has not impacted his singing ability. His voice was not at its best at the start. I could sense slight noise in his voice. But then it improved with time and was back to normal by the time alap ended.

Panditji kept giving looks & instructions to Ratan giving impression that he was not singing to expectations. Sanvadini player sat in Vajrasan (वज्रासन) for the entire duration and played nimbly. Tabalji and Pakhwajiya were good and were applauded by audience frequently. Tabalji, especially, was too good.

An excellent concert. Rating 8.75/10

Zhakir Hussein (Tabla) Fusion

Attended 'Nirvana' a concert by Zhakir Hussein, Edgar Meyer, Bela Fleck, Rakesh Chaurasia & U Srinivas at World Trade Center Dubai on 14Feb13.

This concert was fusion music concert where Zhakir Hussein played tabla (obviously) accompanied by Edgar Meyer (Upright bass), Bela Fleck (Banjo), U Srinivas (Mandolin) and Rakesh Chaurasia (Bansuri).

Zakir, Edgar and Bela played full time and Srinivas and Rakesh joined for certain pieces. Upright bass played by Edgar was an instrument more than 100 years old.

This was my first time to listen live banjo and live mandolin & I enjoyed it. We were witness to some scintillating and enchanting music.

All the musicians were superb and concert was a delight but............

I felt there was not enough of Zakir Hussain in it !!!

Sunidhi Chauhan and Shankar-Ehsan-Loy (Vocal)

Went for a concert of Sunidhi Chauhan and Shankar-Ehsan-Loy on 8th March 2013 at World Trade Center in Dubai.

Seats in Zabeel Hall in world trade centre were on a flat surface rather than slope so visuals were bad. Sound was so loud that we had to use ear plugs to save the ears from decibel assault.

1st half was Sunidhi. The performance was at best mediocre with flashes of brilliance in a couple of songs like “Sheela”. Rather... than starting slow and building up the tempo, she started with fast songs, but audience did not warm up and every one started waiting for Shankar.

2nd half was Shankar-Ehsan-Loy. He started with Vishwavinayak and was a delight to ears all along. He was ably supported by Raman and Rasika as co-singers and of course Ehsan & Loy. He is a man with miraculous voice and sung for almost two hours effortlessly without halt. His breathless was breath taking and end with Senorita was very appropriate.

Shankar also lightened the mood by his witty commentary and by thinking on his feet.

Finally we left the auditorium thinking that it would have been better if the concert was only Shankar-Ehsan-Loy.

Mysore brothers (Violin duet)

Attended grand violin concert in Indian Embassy, Abu Dhabi by Mysore brothers. Mysore Sri Nagraj & Mysore Sri Manjunath on violin. Accompanied by Padma Vibhushan Umayalpuram Sri K. Sivaraman on Mridangam and Sri Giridhar Udupa on Ghatam.

It was first time I watched synchronized violin. Fabulous. Who says violin is not an Indian instrument?

K.Sivaraman and Giridhar Udupa played excellant solo mudangam and Ghatam pieces.Mridangam and Ghatam jugalbandi stole the show.

2.5 huors flew by.However the concert did not end with a creshendo.

All in all a very good one.