Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan performs at Gurgaon

[Editor]

Yesterday evening, I along with hubby had the pleasure of experiencing some great soulful music. The Sarod recital was organized by Aravali Centre for Art and Culture at Sri Ram School auditorium at Gurgaon. Aravali Centre for Art and Culture is an NGO formed a couple of years back. I must say that we witnessed something, which is difficult to express in words. But I would like to share it with you.

Ustad Amjad Ali Khan was accompanied by two of his disciples who played tabla. He presented some of his beautiful and soul-stirring compositions, started the evening with ‘evening raga’. He then enthralled the audience with music composed by the great Rabindra Nath Tagore and concluded the show with the exemplary raag Durga, which also involved the jugalbandi by the two tabla players.

In between the performances, he informed the audience about the importance of food for the soul. He remarked that we often worry about the food, which we eat, seldom thinking about the other aspect, which is food for the soul, which can be in the form of vibrant colors, dance, or listening to good music. He also emphasized that we often prefer listening to music which has words or lyrics because we think that we understand it better, ignoring the instrumental or the music which is just ‘sounds’ in the process. He said that this is also essential as it connects us directly to our inner self.

The whole experience of the wonderful evening can be just summed up in a few words as ‘food for the soul in the truest sense’. In fact, even my hubby, who is not much of a music freak, saw it as a welcome break and both of us enjoyed it thoroughly.

In case, you are one of those who have seen such performances and would like to share your gutfeel on them, you are most welcome.

[anshulseth]

Must b a gr8 outing Editor.
Just last month he performed in cal, along with his sons, but i somehow missed on it.

Though in the school time, I do remmber attending a recital of Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma.
It was soothing, though at that age it was difficult to comprehend, and I also din had much interest in classical music, bu he left us spellbound.

Shakespeare was very correct when he said,
"If music be the food of love, play on."

[Editor]

Yes indeed it was a great evening Anshul!

I have a penchant for light classical music along with ghazals thus i enjoyed it very much. In fact, i did miss out on the performance of Jagjit Singh sometime back.

I have heard pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma on television, never had a chance to attend his show, but i do have a couple of CD's of his son Rahul, who also plays santoor very well.

Lastly, you have mentioned Shakespeare, and i can't stop myself from commenting on this one, "If music be the food for love, play on"

I think a month back there was an article by Karan Thapar in Hindustan Times, sunday edition which discussed the incorrect use of such famous sentences. If you notice this one, there is an 'If' in the beginning, which suggests that the author does not say that music is the food for love, but just suggested it in some other context. But this phrase is mostly used incorrectly. Anyways it so happens that sometimes things that we do remember get distorted when we recollect them.