Lovers of Indian classical music will be treated to a festival titled Three Shades of Raga in February 2010. The festival is headlined by the doyen of Indian classical vocal, Pandit Jasraj, and also features ace violinist Kala Ramnath, tabla maestro Pandit Anindo Chatterjee and Swiss based sarodist Ken Zuckerman. BBC presenter, musicologist and author Jameela Siddiqi will present a pre-concert talk.
Blessed with a soulful and sonorous voice, which traverses masterfully over all three and a half octaves, Pandit Jasraj’s vocals are characterized by a harmonious blend of the classic and the opulent, projecting traditional music as an intense spiritual expression, at once chaste and yet densely coloured.
Pandit Jasraj celebrates his 80th birthday in January, and Three Shades of Raga is part of his global birthday celebrations.
Perfect diction, clarity in sur (musical notes), and gayaki (creative musical progression), command in all aspects of rhythm, depth of composition and an unmistakable interplay between notes and words to evoke the desired mood and emotion, are the hallmark of his music. This sensitivity, added to the pure classical approach, has given his singing a lyrical quality, which is the quintessence of the Mewati tradition of singing.
As a mentor and guru, Jasraj has already presented to the world an impressive number of disciples whom he has nurtured and trained in accordance with India’s rich tradition of the Guru-Shisya Parampara (the ideal teacher-student relationship).
Three Shades of Raga is produced by Inner Circle Entertainment, the premier producer of Indian classical music concerts in South Africa. Its previous productions include Raga on 200 Strings (featuring the santoor legend Shivkumar Sharma with Grammy award winner Bhawani Shankar and Rahul Sharma), Jagjit Singh Live in South Africa, Raga Afrika (the world’s first musical collaboration between South Africa and India), and more recently Two Shades of Raga (with sitar genius Ustad Shahid Parvez and flautist Rupak Kulkarni).
Performances take place on February 10 at the Durban City Hall, February 12 at the Artscape Opera House in Cape Town and at the Lyric Theatre in Johannesburg on February 14. Tickets are available through Computicket.
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