Special concert: New Western instruments in today’s Indian classical music
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The phenomenon of Western-instrument crossover in North & South Indian classical music during the 20th century is a fascinating and beautiful one, and this concert showcases some of the foremost Bay Area musicians working in this area.
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Set 1, 8pm: North Indian Jugalbandi: Teed Rockwell, Peter van Gelder, and Samrat Kakkeri
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Western instrument: Chapman Stick®-based touch-guitar, modified into a "Touch-Style Veena"
Jugalbandi expands the solo format of classical Hindustani (North Indian) music to combine two melody instruments playing together with tabla drums. However, it can't be seen as a step in the direction of a band or orchestra. It is instead a completely different perspective altogether: two soloists in interactive conversation with each other. This form was invented by Indian music greats Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Kahn, and for this concert it will be expanded even further by two of Ali Akbar Kahn’s most dedicated disciples.
Line-up:
— Teed Rockwell is the only person in the world to play Indian music on the touchstyle veena- a guitar-like instrument which is played by tapping the strings with the fingertips, making it possible to play a separate part with each hand. He took over a hundred classes with Ali Akbar Khan, and also studied extensively with sitarist Shahid Parvez. His group Australian Bebop Ragas, which combines Indian ragas and rhythms with the playing of didjeridu master Stephen Kent, has received extensive air play and has performed in concerts throughout the United States. He frequently performs in the festival of harps concert series with harpist Diana Stork, and is featured on the Polygram album Harpestry, which has sold over 200,000 copies.
— Peter van Gelder (sitar) first appeared on the San Francisco music scene playing bass guitar & soprano sax in the seminal Great Society rock band with Grace Slick. He was one of the first American disciples of India’s great Maestro Ali Akbar Khan, and one of the very few people to have studied with the great Annapurna Devi, sister of Ali Akbar Khan and wife of Ravi Shankar. He has performed with world superstars of Indian music, including Zakir Hussain, Chitresh Das, and Lalgudi Krishnan. His lucid sitar style has won praise from audiences around the world, from Europe to the Fiji Islands as well as India and China.
— Samrat Kakkeri (सम्राट कक्केरी), tabla comes from a long line of musicians. He inherited his talent from his father Pandit Mohan Rao Kakkeri, professor of tabla at Thyagaraja School of Music & Dance, who was his first tabla guru. He was a child prodigy who received acclaim as an accomplished tabla player from an early age and has performed both as a solo artist and accompanying artist all over India. Samrat is additionally skilled in the unique genre of tabla playing for Kathak style of classical dance from North India. He's accompanied many prominent Kathak dancers including Urmila Nagar and Nilima Devi and master musicians such as Vishwa Mohan Bhat, Kankana Banerjee, Irshad Khan, and Satish Vyas.
Ragas Puriya Dhanashri and Jog will be performed.
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Set 2m 9pm: Classic South Indian format: Prasant Radhakrishnan & Rohan Krishnamurthy
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Western instrument: saxophone.
Due to the pioneering virtuosity of “Padmashri” Dr. Kadri Gopalnath, the Western saxophone has joined the violin and mandolin as a prominent cross-over instrument in Karnatic (South Indian) classical music.
— Prasant Radhakrishnan (ప్రశాంత్ రాధాకృష్ణన్), saxophone, is the foremost disciple of “Padmashri” Kadri Gopalnath, with whom he studied in the traditional gurukulam format for about a decade, and whom he accompanied in hundreds of concerts. He has had the privilege of performing with luminaries such as M.S. Anantharaman, Guruvayur Dorai, Mannargudi Easwaran, Srimushnam Raja Rao, Poovalur Srinivasan, V. Suresh, B. Rajashekar, as well as superstars of the younger generation such as B.U. Ganeshprasad, P. Satishkumar, Embar S. Kannan and Delhi P. Sunderrajan, among others. In parallel with his meteoric development as Karnatic artist, Prasant immersed himself in jazz at the U. of Southern California, and after moving to the Bay Area, founded the acclaimed Indo-jazz band VidyA, as well as performing in Sameer Gupta's Indo-jazz band Namaskar and with Indo-jazz musician George Brooks. Prasant has been commissioned by the de Young Museum Cultural Encounters Initiative and Intersection for the Arts, as well as being awarded with grants and fellowships such as a Zellerbach grant and the prestigious AIIS Senior Performing Arts fellowship to study in Chennai.
— Rohan Krishnamurthy (ரோகன் கிருஷ்ணமூர்த்தி), mridangam. Acclaimed an “international mridangam performer” by USA Today and “pride of India” by India's leading newspaper, The Times of India, Dr. Rohan Krishnamurthy initially received mridangam training with Damodaran Srinivasan and continued advanced training from maestro, Guruvayur Dorai. Rohan has shared the stage with the leading artists of Indian classical music, including M. Balamuralikrishna, T.N. Krishnan, N. Ramani, R. K. Srikantan, T.N. Seshagopalan, Chitravina N. Ravikiran, S. Shashank, T. M. Krishna, O.S. Thyagarajan, and "Ranjani & Gayatri". Having intensely studied many styles of music, he has also spearheaded new cross-musical collaborations with eminent symphony orchestras, jazz ensembles, and musicians including Grammy Award-winners Glen Velez and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Anoushka Shankar, Jamey Haddad, and Ayano Ninomiya. He recently premiered Rohan, a concerto for South Indian percussion and Western percussion ensemble written for him by composer and percussionist Payton Macdonald, which was premiered on both coasts at The Juilliard School in NYC and SF Conservatory of Music.
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Cost: $10-$20 sliding scale