THE MEDIEVAL INDIAN MUSIC ENSEMBLE
December 4, 2011, 2:00 pm
TheRenaissanceCenter*
650 East Pleasant Street, Amherst,MA01002, 413-577-3600, www.umass.edu/renaissance
The Program:
Mr. Greig will present a short talk on the topic of Indian music in the 16th c. Following this introductory discussion, J. Andrew will play the Tambur. Mr. Row will then demonstrate some courtly music on the Rudra Vina, with J. Andres accompanying on the drone Tambur and the frame drum Daf. Krishna Kant Shukla will sing several songs from the period. Accompanying him will be drone Tambur, Daf, and various other musical implements. Indian music is improvised. And, as old as it is, it is always new!
The Musicians:
J. Andrew Greig started learning North Indian music on the Sitar in 1966 in New York City. He holds a M.A. in South Asian studies from the University of London, School of Oriental and African Studies, and a Ph.D. in South Asian history at UCLA. Both focused on music; his pioneering dissertation examined music in the 16th century, using Persian, Sanskrit, and iconographic sources. He has studied Sitar with Ustad Imrat Khan, and Rudra Vina with Ustad Asad Ali Khan, who was the last exponent of the Khandarbani Dhrupad tradition. Sandy will be playing a variety of instruments representing Central Asian performance traditions, some of which he imbibed as a career cultural attaché in the U.S. Foreign Service. He is currently a Visiting Fellow at the Renaissance Center, working on a book on 16th Century music from northernIndia, and co-founder of the Medieval Indian Music Ensemble.
Peter Row, performer on Sitar and Rudra Vina, is a member of the faculty of New England Conservatory in Boston, where he teaches Indian music. He also served as Dean (1983-1990) and Provost (1990-1996 and 2000-2004) in that premier institution. Peter studied Sitar and Rudra Vina in Kolkata, India (1965-1973) with Pandit Gokul Nag of the Vishnupur Gharana and obtained the Bachelor of Music, Master of Music and Doctor of Music (Sangitacharya), from the Prayag Sangit Samiti in Allahabad, India. Peter has performed in concert throughout North America and India and has made numerous radio and television appearances. A former president of the Northeast Chapter of the Society of Ethnomusicology, he is widely published and has lectured about Indian music across the U.S. He was the recipient of a JDR Fund Fellowship for doctoral studies in India. Peter is joined this afternoon by his son, Andrew. He is co-founder of the Medieval Indian Music Ensemble.
Krishna Kant Shukla, MIME’s guest artist, is a renaissance man; having studied in India and U.K, he obtained a M.S. and Ph.D. at the SUNY Buffalo in solid state physics. He then left academics to follow his heart and return to India to explore India’s living oral folk musical traditions, especially devotional music. He counts Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Pandit Kumar Gandharva as his most important musical mentors. His travels have taken him into remote villages from the Himalayan foothills to far-flung settlements in the central plains. He is particularly moved by the songs of Kabir, the quattrocento poet-saint. and those in the much older lineage of Gorakhnath. Krishna Shukla has performed to acclaim in India and the U.S. He is an empanelled artist with the Indian Council of Cultural Relations, the India’s national cultural service. The Medieval Indian Music Ensemble is fortunate to have him appear with them at this event.
There were many works on music written in later periods explaining various characteristics, types and techniques of music.The traces of music in ancient India can be produced from written works like NātyaShastra.