Foreigners interpret Hindustani music for Bhopal

BHOPAL: Culture vultures in Bhopal recently got a rare feast. Foreign disciples of great Indian maestros gave some scintillating performances at Bharat Bhawan.

When Stephanie Bosch, elegant in a pink silk sari, played raag baageshri on the flute, the packed-to-capacity audience was in raptures. The 36-year-old German disciple of Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia was giving her first public performance in India. Apart from her, there were five other foreign performers.

“These singers are not ordinary foreigners. They are the brand ambassadors of Hindustani classical music abroad,” says Pawan Jain, secretary of the Bharat Bhawan Trust. It was also the first time that so many foreign performers of Indian classical music had come together on the stage in Bhopal.

Says dhrupad singer Ramakant Gundecha, who invited the artistes, “We wanted people to know how popular Hindustani music is abroad. These artistes dedicated themselves to their Indian gurus for years on end and mastered their disciplines.”

Among the artistes was Setsuo Miyashita from Japan, who gave up a money-spinning restaurant business in Nagoya city to learn the santoor. He is a disciple of Shivkumar Sharma.

The others included: Gianni Ricchizzi from Italy, who plays the Vichitra Vina; Steve Gorn from the US, who plays the flute; Philippe Falisse from Belgium, who is a dhrupad singer; and David Trasoff, who learnt to play the sarod from Ali Akbar Khan.

Says Setsuo Miyashita, “In ‘87, I heard Shivji (Shivkumar Sharma) on a Japanese TV channel. It was six minutes of divine music. It completely changed my life.” Sharma was in a concert in Japan and Miyashita watched the performance at his home in Gifu, 50 km from Nagoya city.

“I knew immediately what was my calling. Few years later I came to Mumbai and met Shivji,” says Miyashita, adding, he is the only Japanese disciple of Sharma. “I was a guitarist. Santoor is a very different instrument. Just imagine, the guitar has six strings, while the santoor has 100.”

Bosch’s story is equally inspiring. “When I came in contact with Pt Hari Prasad Chauarsia, I didn’t know just how much power the simple, little flute packs,” she says.

“The incredible melody of the flute can change anyone’s life.” Her parents wanted her to be a teacher. Instead, she pursued Hindustani classical music. “Though Indian music, I got what I was looking for in life.” Of course, her business card says: “Disciple of Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia.”