"Gharana" Music Festival on March 30, 31 and April 1st 2007 at 7 pm at The Museum Theatre based upon the unexpected success of the Dhrupad festival held in February 2006. We were approached by several people to bring another such music festival to Chennai. Inspired by this, we present Gharana music festival. On 30th March we will have Dhrupad vocal by the very senior and respected musician Sangeet Ratan Ustad Fahimuddin Dagar with Pravin Arya on the Pakhawaj. On 31st March Hindustani Music on the Sarangi by Dhruba Ghosh with Yogesh Samsi on the tabla, on 1st April, Surbahar by Pt.Pushpraj Koshti with Akhilesh Gundecha on the Pakhawaj.

30th March 2007 - The distinctive musical idiom of the Dagar family is the Dagar bani, one of the four traditional styles of alaap – dhrupad singing. It is said to have arisen from the Shuddha Giti style mentioned in Sharangdev's famous musical treatise 'Sangeet Ratnakar' and in accordance with the practical tradition of the Nayaks, particularly Nayak Baiju and Nayak Gopal who were famous musicians of the 12th century. Compositions of these Nayaks preserved by the Dagar family are as remarkable for their poetic content as for their musical value. The Dagar family is perhaps the only one in North India to have maintained the tradition of the Vedic pronunciation base of Hindustani music as contained in Sanskrit musicology.

Ustad Rahim Fahimuddin Khan Dagar

Shri. Pravin Arya

Ustad Rahim Fahimuddin Khan Dagar was born in Alwar (Rajasthan) in the year 1927. He studied the Rudra Veena with his uncle Ustad Ziauddin Khan Dagar. He also took occasional lessons from his other uncles Ustad Hussainuddin Khan Dagar (better known as Tansen Pandey) and Ustad Imamuddin Khan Dagar. Rahim Fahimuddin learnt Sanskrit from his father and Pt. Girdharilal Shastri and acquired the ability to recite Sanskrit texts properly. The Ustad is known not only for the power and spontaneity of his alaap, but also for his rich repertoire of compositions, some of which are believed to date back to the 12th and 13th centuries.. It is the quality of music which has taken him to many countries like the USA, France, Germany and Italy for performances before select audiences and several honours beginning with the Sangeet Ratan in 1956. Awards include Sangeet Natak Academy honour, Meyar Foundation award, Kalidas Samman, Ustad Hafiz Ali Kahan award, Sahitya Kala Parishad award, Nada Life time achievement award among many others.

Shri. Pravin Arya learnt Pakhawaj from Raja Chhatrapati Singhji and belongs to the Kudau Singh gharana. He is a young pakhawaj player but has already accompanied almost all senior dhrupad vocalists performing today.

31st March - Sarangi by Pt.Dhruba Ghosh with Shri Yogesh Samsi Tabla

Pt.Dhruba Ghosh

Yogesh Samsi

The Sarangi is the premier bowed instrument in Hindustani concert Music. It is performed solo as well as in accompaniment to Hindustani vocal music. It has a concert music history of more than a hundred and fifty year although it has been existing in the folk genre in varying shapes, timbres and names for centuries. There are many schools or styles of playing and techniques developed by their great exponents.

The Sarangi is held vertically and placed on the lap. The three main strings are of gut and are played with the cuticles of the middle three fingers of the left hand. Thirty-five sympathetic strings of steel pass beneath the main strings. The main strings rest on an ivory bridge while the sympathetic strings pass through it. This bridge is placed on a leather strip which rests on the parchment membrane covering the hollow belly. The melody bowed on the main strings along with the resonance from the sympathetic strings gives the deep and sonorous voice to the Sarangi.

Pt.Dhruba Ghosh is known as one of the leading exponents of this beautiful instrument. Dhruba Ghosh is the inheritor of the tradition of his masters, his father Pandit Nikhil Ghosh, the famed percussionist and pedagogue, the renowned sarangi maestro, Ustad Sagiruddin Khan of the legendary Bundu Khan style of Delhi, the veteran vocalist-composer Pandit Dinkar Kaikini, and the Sarod Maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. He is currently working closely with the Ensemble Modern, Frankfurt. He has been at the core of the formation of a World String Orchestra in Japan involving the traditional bowed instruments of Japan, China, Korea, Uzbekistan and India. He has been successfully collaborating with several western classical musicians.

Yogesh Samsi is the son of Pt. Dinkar Kaikini a renowned vocalist of Agra Gharana and Smt.Shashikala Kaikini a musician of repute. Yogesh Samsi is a disciple of Tabla maestro Ustad Alla Rakha and has performed with his guru and gurubhai Zakir Hussain in their solo performances. He has performed all over the world, participated in World Music Seminar at Theatre de la Ville, Paris and at World Music Conference, Durban.

1st April - Dhrupad on the Surbahar by Pt. Pushpraj Koshti, Pakhawaj by Akhilesh Gundecha

Pt. Pushpraj Koshti

Akhilesh Gundecha

The surbahar is to the sitar, what the cello is to the violin. In its contemporary form, the surbahar has a string-count identical to the present-day sitar, the difference being in the thickness of the strings, the pitch at which the instrument is tuned.

Shri Pushpraj Koshti had his initial training from his father Late Shri Ramlal Koshti and from Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, under whose guidance Shri Pushpraj Koshti mastered the Technique of Sitar and Sur Bahar playing. His rendering of Alap and Jod are meditative and he is unmatched in his serene style of playing. At present, he is getting guidance from Ustad Zia Farududdin Dagar. He has toured extensively through out the country and abroad, participating in various Music festivals and conferences both as a Surbahar player and as a Sitarist.

Akhilesh Gundecha has learned Pakhawaj playing from Pandit Shrikant Mishra and Raja Chhatrapati Singh JuDeo. He is a post graduate in music and graduate in Law. Has accompanied many of the Dhrupad Maestros and has played solo recitals in major music festivals in India and abroad.