Poetry of the Saints and Sages of India
sung by
Dr. Krishnakant Shukla
(on tour from Varanasi, India)
Saturday, May 14, 07:30 p.m.
Venue: Air Force Auditorium , Subroto Park, New Delhi, India
(Free & Open to the Association of IT-BHU Alumni members)
Krishna Kant Shukla gave up his job as assistant professor of astronomy at an American college and returned to his native India to live his dream of singing bhajans (Indian devotional songs expressing love for the Divine). A distinguished lecturer with a Ph.D. in solid state physics now turned musician, his love for Varanasi, oldest living city in the world and holy city of India, and his passion for music “combine to serve as his breath for survival”. “Time stands still in Varanasi” Dr. Kant Shukla has saidand “music is in my blood,… singing makes me come alive”. His bhajan performances at various cities in India have won him accolades. He has performed at the London Mela as a distinguished guest of the Mayor of London, but of more particular interest to Baba lovers is that Krishna has sung for Meher Baba’s old disciples at Meherazad, where, according to Meherabad resident Peter Booth, his “performance was one of the most moving and powerful I have experienced in thirty years.”
More about KRISHNAKANT SHUKLA: While teaching Physics and Astronomy as an assistant professor in upstate New York, Dr. Shukla decided to quit academics and follow his heart and soul deep into the fathomless waters of Indian Classical Music. Having studied with great maestros like Srimati Laxmi Shankar, Ustaad Ali Akbar Khan, and Dr. Tapan Bhattacharya, he returned to India in 1994 to explore the roots of Indian Classical Music in the great living oral folk traditions. His musical search led him into remote villages in the Himalayan foothills, as well as far flung and difficult to reach dwellings in the central plains. He has been particularly influenced by the songs of Kabir, Gorakhnath, and other nirguna bhakti poet-saints—songs that have been sung as part of a living oral tradition that is over six hundred years old.
Dr. Shukla’s repertoire includes compositions of Tyagaraja, Tulsidas, Surdas, Meera, Tukaram, Purandardas and other poet-saints of India, as well as the musical compositions of Sufi saints. He has also been researching, recording and performing the folk songs of rural northern India, which, according to him, is an art form of unparalleled beauty which is fast becoming extinct.
Dr. Shukla has performed widely in India and has recently toured the U.S. . He has been recognized as a singer of devotional music by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations, an agency of the central government that supports artists to represent India culture abroad. More details are there on the website www.krishnakantshukla.org
Location: Air Force Auditorium , Subroto Park, New Delhi, India
For questions please email: aiba@itbhuglobal.org
I heard you on DD in morning and found your talk very interesting…looking forward to join your spiritual ecology.Iam a research scholar at IIT Delhi in plasma physics.
speechless………………..!!!
krishna kant ji ! namskar ! d.d, par aapka interview suna bahut hi acha laga.mera koi prashn nahi hai kayonki muche jeewan aur adhyan ka anubhav bahut kam hai phirbhi mujhe lagta hai ki agar hum kisi prani ke tan man aur kriya kebare main poori tarah janna chahate hain to bhawana ko alag karna padega anyatha hama jayan adhura rahega.pata nahin main sahi hoon ya nahi ?ek bat aur aapne kaha hum suraj ko ped ko prnam karten hain …. jab main pracheen aarya dharm ke bare main sochati hoon to lagta hai ki shristi main jitani bhi vastuyen vidman hain sabhi ke prati aadar ka bhava rkhana chahiye .chahe vah durwadal ho ya gobar.kayonki jiski satta hai usaki aavashyakta hai. yah lok dharm ,lok sangeet , lok kalayen hi jeevan ko samvedan sheel banati hain joki vijayan ko viksit hone se nahi vjkrit hone se bachti hain. samvedansheelta aur samvedanheenta shayad dono hi jaruri hain. meribat jahan thik nahi ho kripya samjhayen. sadar sasneh karuna.mo.no. 09456607376.
Shri Krishnakantji,
my deep respects!
I saw your interview on Aaj Savere a few days back.It reminded me few lines which
I came across long time ago.”After Silence that which is nearer to expressing the Inexpressible is Music”.Your Bhanjans took me into deep silence.Intensely,feel to meet you in person.
really speechless …………………..
thanks, vishwesh beta. shubhaashish.
chacha