I just came to the hostel from the final musical soiree. It was wonderful! Bombay Jaya Shree sang bajan first.
Then Chaurasia played for almost 2 hours. He played Raga Durga and another raga of which I can't remeber the name. Something starting with D. He was accompanied by a tabla player and pakhwaj player who were superb. He played and waited for them to play the drums. It went on like that slowly and fast and it was a nice harmony.
The last one was in teentaal and all the compositions were breathtaking. He has come to play at Pondicherry only in 1984. He said at the end he will come again after 20 years. Now he is 71!
When he stopped, the audience was clapping non stop for about 3 minutes and all got up requesting to play more. He then played a bajan.
I went and talked to him at the end. I greeted him with both my hands and said 'Pundit jee, I am from Sri Lanka. I am a huge fan of you. May you live long! I just thought of Brindavan!'. He raised his eyebrows when I said of Brindavan and said 'you can see my own brindavan in Bombay'. It was the moment of my life :D
The audience was the Indian elite who grew up at the Ashram, the French and everyone was in 50s, 60s and even older. It was a respectable gathering and none disturbed in anyway throughout the performance.
The actress 'Revathi' came too and she made the opening remarks for Bombay Jayashree. I went there everyday one hour earlier and sat right in front!
I am so happy I came to India to see these things which I could never have done otherwise! Like 'Yusike' who forgot to invite Sunday to come everyday, I forgot to request the organizing committee to bring Pdt. Shiv Kumar Sharma and Zakir Hussein.
Then Chaurasia played for almost 2 hours. He played Raga Durga and another raga of which I can't remeber the name. Something starting with D. He was accompanied by a tabla player and pakhwaj player who were superb. He played and waited for them to play the drums. It went on like that slowly and fast and it was a nice harmony.
The last one was in teentaal and all the compositions were breathtaking. He has come to play at Pondicherry only in 1984. He said at the end he will come again after 20 years. Now he is 71!
When he stopped, the audience was clapping non stop for about 3 minutes and all got up requesting to play more. He then played a bajan.
I went and talked to him at the end. I greeted him with both my hands and said 'Pundit jee, I am from Sri Lanka. I am a huge fan of you. May you live long! I just thought of Brindavan!'. He raised his eyebrows when I said of Brindavan and said 'you can see my own brindavan in Bombay'. It was the moment of my life :D
The audience was the Indian elite who grew up at the Ashram, the French and everyone was in 50s, 60s and even older. It was a respectable gathering and none disturbed in anyway throughout the performance.
The actress 'Revathi' came too and she made the opening remarks for Bombay Jayashree. I went there everyday one hour earlier and sat right in front!
I am so happy I came to India to see these things which I could never have done otherwise! Like 'Yusike' who forgot to invite Sunday to come everyday, I forgot to request the organizing committee to bring Pdt. Shiv Kumar Sharma and Zakir Hussein.
- Nangi -
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