Fresh Classical Expressions (Sunday, June 8th)

Concerts at Meherabode

presents

Fresh Classical Expressions

A Concert of North Indian Music & Dance

featuring vocalist

Girish Chatterjee

in a rendering of ragas in Khayal & other classical & devotional song forms 
followed by a dance performance

featuring

• Date:       Sunday, June 8, 2014
• Time:      5:00 p.m.
• Venue:      Meherabode (Avatar Meher Baba Center)
• Location:      1214 S. Van Ness Ave., LA, CA 90019

• After the Concert, an Organic Vegan Dinner will be served (at no extra charge) 
• Suggested donation:  $20 * at the gate, or  $17 in advance –
  http://Girish-concert.bpt.me  [web-page not yet live -- but soon!] 
• Email: Meherabode.concerts@gmail.com

                  * Students $15, or $12 in advance

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This will be the 10th of our "Concerts at Meherabode" and
the final concert event in our Spring 2014 season.  Do come!
And please spread the word!

See also the Facebook EVENT page:  Fresh Classical Expressions (FB Event)

Meherabode is located off Arlington Ave., between Olympic Blvd. and Pico Blvd. From Arlington, turn east onto 12th Street. (The big iron gate to Meherabode is at the end of a short block, on the left side of the street.)

A listing of Concerts at Meherabode

The Concerts at Meherabode initiative was launched with a first concert held April 21, 2013, featuring singer Indrani Mukherjee. Since then, we have so far held 8 additional concerts, the most recent featuring singer Mitali Banerjee Bhawmik, on May 3, 2014.

Our NEXT concert (to be announced further on this blog shortly) is slated for Sunday, June 8, featuring both vocal music and Kathak dance. This brief post lists the roster of these events.

Concerts at Meherabode to date have included: 
1. Indrani Mukherjee, Pankaj Mishra, Subhajyoti Guha (vocal/sarangi/tabla) - April 21, 2013
2. Barun Kumar Pal & Arup Chattopadhyay (hansa vina/tabla) - June 2, 2013
3. Suman Laha & Hindole Majumdar (slide-guitar vina/tabla) - Sept. 29, 2913
4. Sandip Ghosh with musicians (vocalist) - Oct. 6, 2013
5. Branan Dubh & Inoue Sou (vocalists) - Nov. 22, 2013
6. Indradeep Ghosh & Aloke Dasgupta (violin / sitar) - Feb. 22, 2014
7. David Trasoff & Angshubha Banerjee (Sarode & Tabla) - March 29, 2014
8. Paul Livingstone & the Arohi Ensemble - April 6, 2014
9. Mitali Banerjee Bhawmik with musicians (vocal) - May 3, 2014

And upcoming will be:
10. Girish Chatterjee & Khalil Alashar [with others] (vocal & dance) - June 8, 2014

AN ETHEREAL DUET Sitar & Violin d'amore Concert Saturday, February 22, 2014 at 7:00 pmwith Aloke Dasgupta & Indradeep Ghosh

Hear ye!  Hear ye!

Our first Indian Classical concert of the 2014 season has been confirmed and is hereby announced!

An Early Evening Concert of North Indian Classical Music, featuring:
Indradeep Ghosh:        Violin d’amore
Aloke Dasgupta:            Sitar
Hemant Ekbote:           Tabla
  
These gifted musicians will present the rarely-heard melding of top-notch sitar with the haunting violin d’amore (with sympathetic strings like a sitar).
 
This rich concert is presented in “pre-celebration” of Avatar Meher Baba’s birthday (which will be more properly celebrated this year at Meherabode on February 23rd & February 25th).

 ■ Date: Saturday, February 22, 2014
 ■ Time: 7:00 p.m.
 ■ Venue: Avatar Meher Baba Center of Southern California "Meherabode"
 ■ Location: 1214 S. Van Ness Ave., LA, CA 90019
 ■ Suggested donation: $15 (students $12, children free)

 ■ Prior to concert, at 6:00 p.m., Organic Vegan Dinner
            (with dal & brown rice) will be served at no extra charge

 ■ View / Download the Concert Flier: Ethereal Duet - Sitar-Violin Jugalbandi (PDF)
 ■ Info & tickets: http://Sitar-Violin-Duo.bpt.me/
[note: this Brown Paper Tickets link is not yet live, but it will be soon]

Come and enjoy the musical bliss!

 

The Meditative Music of Dhrupad Spans the Globe: Duet Vocal Concert -- Friday, November 22 at Meherabode

Concerts at Meherabode is delighted to join the Music Circle in co-producing a special concert featuring two Dhrupad singers (senior students of the celebrated Gundecha Brothers) and a pakhawaj (percussion) accompanist.  Branan Silvius Dubh, Inuoe Sou, and Dnyaneshwar Deshmukh will be making their debut U.S. tour.  The concert will be held at 8:00 PM, Friday, November 22, at Meherabode.

This announcement will be updated with more details very soon.

Below are bio-notes about the artists.

Australian-born Branan Silvius Dubh has studied Dhrupad singing for over 10 years with the Gundecha Brothers (who are both recipients of the coveted Padma Shri Award from the Government of India, and have dedicated their lives to teaching and perpetuating the Dhrupad tradition along with extensive, world-wide concertizing). Acclaimed as one of the finest Western exponents of this rich, sober, and spiritually-elevating style of singing, Branan is a recipient of an Ian Potter Cultural Trust award (an Australian grant for outstanding emerging artists) to further his studies in India   When not continuing his studies in India, he performs in both traditional and innovative contexts, and teaches music mainly from his home in Perth, Western Australia.

Japanese-born Inoue Sou began to study music when he was six years old.  The successor in a family lineage of traditional Shinto flute players, Sou began his study of Indian classical music on bansuri (Indian bamboo flute) in Japan.  Wishing to delve deeper into the mysteries of Alaap [meditative musical improvisation], he travelled to India in 2008 for full-time, 7-days-a-week study of Indian classical vocal music in the ancient Dhrupad style from the Gundecha Brothers at the their unique music school, Dhrupad Sansthan, located at the geographical heart of India in the countryside on the outskirts of the city of Bhopal -- the only traditional Dhrupad gurukul in India, where Sou continues to study.  Prior to coming to India, he trained in traditional Japanese shrine music (Kagura Ongaku) on flute and drums from Makino Saburo.  Sou has been performing in this genre since 1984, and has played in many shrine ceremonies in Japan.  As a soloist, he has performed since 1989 in Japan and other countries around the world.  Before coming to India, Sou studied Hindustani classical music on bansuri (Indian bamboo flute) from Mr. Nakagawa Hiros, a disciple of Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, in Kobe, Japan, beginning in 2003.

India-born Dnyaneshwar Deshmukh has been a student of pakhawaj (Indian barrel-drum) for 12 years, and in 2009 began his study on that instrument with Pandit Akhilesh Gundecha at Dhrupad Sansthan in Bhopal.  He has also studied with Panduranga Appa Datar.  Dnyaneshwar has performed all over India in various major concerts and conferences both as a solo artist and as an accompanist.

See Branan's and Sou's YouTube links, or go to dhrupad.com/the-meditative-dhrupad-music-of-india-spans-the-globe for further information.

Vibrant Voice of the Soul: Sandip Ghosh in Concert Sunday, Oct. 6th

Please join us in welcoming Pandit Sandip Ghosh, the vocalist with the golden voice, together with accompanists Dayita Datta (vocal), Pt. Shashanka Bakshi (tabla), and Pankaj Mishra (tabla).  The musicians will regale us with Khayal (literally "imagination"), Thumri ("coloration"), Bhajan ("adoration"), and other traditional Indian forms of joyous, ornate, vocal astonishment.

      Date:  Sunday, October 6, 2013 
     Time:   3:00 p.m. 
   Venue:   Meherabode (Avatar Meher Baba Center)
Location: 1214 S. Van Ness Ave., LA, CA 90019

• Suggested donation:  $15 (students $12, children free)
• Second recital in our Autumn Concert Series
• Prior to concert, starting at 1:30 p.m., an Organic Vegan Lunch will be served outdoors (under canopies, at no extra charge). Come early & join the music-lovers gathering for this convivial event. 
• Email: Meherabode.concerts "at" gmail.com

Hope to see you at the event!
Yours in music,
David Raphael Israel

ps:  I'll post photos from last week's concert after a few days . . .

pps: prior to the Lunch, beginning at 11:30 AM, there is a regular Sunday meeting, which this week will be comprised of readings about the phase of Meher Baba's archetypal work known as the "NEW LIFE."  For more info on this and other programs at Meherabode, see:  NEW LIFE MONTH (October 2013 programs)

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Meherabode is located off Arlington Ave. (between Olympic Blvd. and Pico Blvd.)  From Arlington Ave., turn east onto 12th Street. (The big, black iron gate to Meherabode is at the end of one short block, on the left side of the street.) Just a 5-minute drive north from the Arlington Ave. exit off of Interstate Highway 10.

Three upcoming concerts at Meherabode!

Dear friends and well-wishers....

We are delighted to announce an upcoming autumn concert season of Indian classical music, to be held at Meherabode -- continuing our new initiative (begun this past spring) of opening the doors wide to music-lovers in the greater Los Angeles area, to share in the elevating & delightful artistry of notable exponents of classical & devotional music from India.

Here's a quick run-down of three upcoming concerts tacked down so far for this season.
All of these live-music events will be held at Meherabode.  The first two concerts are on Sunday afternoons.  The third concert is on a Friday evening.

Sunday, September 29th, beginning at 3:00 pm 
Hindustani (North Indian) vichitra vina artist Suman Laha
accompanied by Hindole Majumdar on tabla (hand-drums)

Suman Laha has developed his own distinctive version of a vina -- bearing close similarity to the traditional Indian vichitra vina, while also sharing some qualities with an American slide guitar. Suman, whom we esteem as one of Los Angeles' hidden musical treasures, is schooled and rooted in dhrupad-style vina music. His Meherabode concert will include both dhrupad-based and khayal-based instrumental expositions of Indian classical ragas. He will be joined by the vivacious Hindole Majumdar, who comes to us on tour from his native Kolkata.

Sunday, October 6th, beginning at 3:00 pm [time to be confirmed]
Hindustani (North Indian classical) vocal artist Pt. Sandip Ghosh
performing together with upcoming vocalist Dayita Datta
accompanied by Pankaj Mishra on sarangi
and by Pt. Shashanka Bakshi on tabla

A quartet of Kolkata artists will regale us with the ornate beauties of khayal [literally "imagination"] and other classical vocal-music forms. Sandip Ghosh is outstanding among India's current generation of Hindustani-music vocalists, gifted with a rich and melodious voice. In addition to khayal, he is also noted for his performance of Bhajan [devotionals], Nazrul Geeti [poet Nazrul's songs], Rabindra Sangeet [poet Tagore's songs], and Shyama Sangeet [traditional Bengali songs devoted to the divine Mother Kali]. Dayita Datta, Pankaj Mishra, and Shashanka Bakshi are all Kolkata-born artists who now spend a significant amount of time in Southern California. This concert brings them together with Dayita Datta's celebrated music-teacher, Sandip Ghosh.

Friday, November 22nd, beginning at 8:00 pm [time to be confirmed]
Dhrupad vocalists Branan Dubh and Inoue Sou
accompanied on pakhawaj (barrel-drum) by Dnyaneshwar Deshmukh
(Co-produced by Concerts at Meherabode and Music Circle)

Dhrupad is a deep and stately form of North Indian classical singing, regarded as the oldest extant style of classical vocal music in India. Vocalists Branan Dubh (Australia-born) and Inoue Sou (Japan-born) are advanced Dhrupad acolytes of the renowned Gundecha Brothers, both of whom have studied this rich, sober, arcane and spiritual vocal-musical tradition at Dhrupad Sansthan (the Gundecha Brothers' residential music-school in Bhopal, in the literal center of India) over a period of many years. Percussionist Dnyaneshwar Deshmukh is likewise an advanced student from Dhrupad Sansthan. This is the artists' debut U.S. tour, and we are delighted to co-present this duet-vocal recital in collaboration with the Music Circle [a distinguished LA-area presenting organization founded by the late Pt. Ravi Shankar and Harihar Rao in the early 1970s].

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Prior to each concert, a free lunch [yes there is such a thing] will be served to concert-goers who arrive early -- featuring an organic & vegan repast.

Further details about these concerts will be circulated (including on this blog) soon. This is simply a "save that date!" heads-up!

Looking forward to seeing many of you at these musical events in the upcoming season!

Namaste,
David