Thursday 30 April 2009, 7.30pm

Celebrating the ninth anniversary of the AllaRakha Foundation, renowned Indian artists come together to pay homage to the tabla legend Ustad AllaRakha.

Uma Dogra of Jaipur Gharana and Gauri Sharma of Lucknow Gharana present classical Kathak dance in their unique style. Ustad AllaRakha’s son and talented percussionist Taufiq Qureshi joins the performance with his trademark style incorporating body and vocal percussion to create unique rhythms spanning across cultures. They are accompanied by disciple of Ustad AllRakha Yogesh Samsi on tabla, Sanju Sahai on tabla, Fida Hussain on harmonium and Surjeet Singh on sarangi.

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Recently there was a concert at a temple hall, of an artist who was visiting from India and I had to take a train and then a bus to reach the temple. I waited and waited at the bus stop, but characteristic of Sunday behaviour, the bus didn’t arrive. There was this nice Tamil speaking couple at the stop and they told me they’d been waiting for the bus for at least half an hour before I arrived. As it turned out they wanted to go to the same temple and knew of an alternate route. So with their help I took another bus and we walked the rest of the way. Since it was dark and lonely, I was grateful they were around. They kept talking to each other in Tamil and when talking to me switched to English. Finally they asked me if I spoke Tamil. I said no, otherwise I would have spoken to them in Tamil! I was surprised that they would think I would carry on in English, if I knew Tamil.

At the temple, I managed to figure out where the concert was, but there was not a soul in sight. I went to the main temple and sat there, as there were many more people there, said my prayers and then asked at the reception about the concert. An elderly gentleman and lady were there and they appeared rather annoyed. I said, I’m sorry I don’t speak Tamil, I can’t read any of the signs, and they visibly thawed and told me when the concert was expected to start, smiled and were helpful.

Concert begins. Opening speech in Tamil, singer speaks and introduces the music in Tamil and the concluding speech is in Tamil, in which the two words I kept hearing were sampradaya (which I understood) and avargal.

****

I often read or hear Carnatic musicians saying that Hindustani music is better appreciated in the West. What I have observed in London (the scene may be different in places like Amsterdam) is that big name Hindustani instrumentalists like Ravi Shankar and Amjad Ali Khan draw crowds that include non-Indians, and they perform in the bigger more well known theatres. Vocalists are less well appreciated. And Dhrupad is popular amongst a niche, non-Indian audience. Otherwise one has to go to the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan or the Nehru Centre.

Often, at concerts, Carnatic vocalists speak in Tamil, or largely in Tamil. Now I understand that Tamilians want to speak in Tamil. It is a beautiful language, one should be proud of it and one should speak it. But when one is addressing an audience of music lovers/students/listeners one has to assume there will be Indians and non-Indians there who will not understand Tamil but are trying to find out more about the music. There are people here who are trying to relate to both Hindustani and Carnatic vocal music. We already have to contend with the fact that concerts are badly advertised, that people who are not familiar with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan etc will never know when there is a concert on, that they are often few and far between or sometimes in far flung places. These concerts have to be made more accessible, in more ways than one.

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• Behag

Imagine my delight and surprise when I checked my mail this morning before reluctantly dragging myself off to work and I saw a mail from a Rama Varma titled “Mallu with a good voice ”

The mail began:

Namaste Ji This is just a little of appreciation for the fact that you seem to have enjoyed the sounds made by this “Mallu with a good voice.”

proceeding to ask me about my music classes in London etc

Rama Varma made my day, not because he’s a “Prince,” but because he’s a great musician, bothering to enquire about my musical education with great warmth, concern and interest.

So thank you, Prince, for cheering up a really grumpy person today.

Here is a great video of him singing Endaro Mahanubhavulu (Salutations to the Great Souls of this world), a Thyagaraja Pancharatna kriti, in MDR style.

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