Bangalore gets to witness history in the making as an ensemble of musicians, masters in their own rights, combine their diverse repertoires for an evening of pure melodic bliss.
When one’s heart needs repairing, or a connection with the divine is to be rebuilt, they often say music comes closest in healing and reassuring a tired soul. It is therefore no surprise that pure musical concerts attract hordes of aficionados whenever they’re organised in our city.
Splendour of Masters is definitely one such concert — an evening meant exclusively for music that breaks set boundaries and goes far into a realm of co-existence, peace and a general appreciation of all things that sound pleasing. What makes this concert even more a talk-of-the-town is that it brings together artistes from diverse music backgrounds, who quite willingly and proactively create, recompose and present music with a wonderfully indulgent and a new all-inclusive sound.
Bangalore will witness this musical extravaganza for the third time come Thursday and this time round, The Banyan Tree, the organisers, have managed to put together a wonderful ensemble of artistes from three repertoires — Carnatic, Hindustani and Jazz, including Ustad Shujaat Khan (Sitar — Hindustani), Vidwan Vikku Vinayakram (Ghatam — Carnatic), Ganesh-Kumaresh (Violin — Carnatic) and George Brooks (Saxophone — Jazz and New Age) along with Patri Satish on Mridangam, Amit Choubey on Tabla and Ojus Adhiya on percussion.
We spoke to the artistes before they began rehearsals in Mumbai earlier yesterday, to see what Bangalore can look forward to in this edition of the celebrated concert and here’s what they had to say.
“I’ve played with most of the artistes before, but this will be my first time with Ganesh and Kumaresh. People often ask me what I will be performing, considering the fact that these repertoires supposedly clash, but what they don’t seem to realise is that the music at the end of the day is the same. The seven notes that define music are the same all across the globe, and so, combining styles is not really that huge a problem, as long as one is open to the idea,” Ustaad Shujaat Khan explains. “We’re just going into rehearsals and I am really excited to see what comes out of this amazing diverse combination of artistes. What does come out, as new as it might be, will be what Bangalore gets to indulge in soon,” he adds.
George Brooks shares the same enthusiasm and he doesn’t mince his words when we speak to him. “I’m fresh from three music festivals all across India, and I have really been having a wonderful time. Never before have I been so convinced of the mixing of three wonderfully diverse forms such as Carnatic, Hindustani and Jazz and the upcoming rehearsals are sure to open up interesting new ideas. I have performed with almost all the artistes in this ensemble and so I am quite exited to be combining my talents with them again. I shall be featuring some of my original compositions, and so will Ganesh and Kumaresh,” he tells us. “The Bangalore crowd has always excited me, especially recalling the enthusiastic response we received last year. This year however, I hope to see a much younger crowd amalgamated into the regulars, as I was told that our music is finally reaching out to the young, after a recent concert in Pune,” he adds.
Catch these masters unravel some wonderful combinations of three equally melodic repertoires as they get together and make music for Bangalore at the Chowdiah Hall in Vyalikaval, on January 26, 6.30 pm onwards.
romal.singh@dnaindia.net
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