WORLD MUSIC DAY 2018 AT OUR SACRED SPACE

     The twin cities of Hyderabad & Secunderabad celebrated World Music Day on the 24th of June 2018.

     And what better place to celebrate music than at Our Sacred Space, Secunderabad’s own community cultural centre!
     Our Sacred Space is a bridge between the earthy and the urban; the place for the meditative and the activity seeker. The community space that holds organic bazaars and believes in non-violent communication. It is an environmental and cultural centre, where dance and painting and yoga and music is in the air. It’s a space for those wanting to learn and those wanting to teach. It’s a place to meet people that we like to meet. 

And it’s a place to connect with your inner world if that’s what you want. It’s a place of peace and calm, where one can realign one’s senses. It’s an oasis in the urban sprawl!

So that’s the setting in which Secunderabad’s World Music day was celebrated. An interesting line-up of musicians performed for a music loving audience and the evening’s fare was as diverse as the activities at Our Sacred Space.

    The first performer was Kaushik Lahoti, Hindustani vocalist. This 

musician with a smooth and melodious voice was able to hold the attention of a varied audience that had come to hear different genres of music, though it was the opening act, and people were still settling down. He performed Raag Kamod, a bada Khayal, “Hun toh jaane mann chhandon”, followed by drut laya composition in ektaal “Laguna rinoree nayi Lagan". His harmonium and tabla accompanists were first class.

      Namrata Varma accompanying herself on acoustic guitar 

sang a medley of retro songs from Hindi films. Her mellow voice was very listenable and her simple presentation and arrangement of the songs were appealing.

     Karuna & Amit Deshwal  and Ram added to the diversity of music with a few American folk songs, one of which was Bob Dylan’s ‘Blowing in the Wind’. Karuna sang, while Amit accompanied her on harmonica and ‘banjolele’, an instrument of his own imagination and making. Ram played an percussion instrument from South America with good effect.   

     Young K. Sudeep Kumar  showed his prowess on the keyboard by playing film music melodies to which he had programmed the accompanying orchestration.   

    
     A superb young pianist, Sai Manas Pandrangi, rendered the simple sounding, but difficult to play, Grande Valse Brillante Op. 18 – a composition for solo piano by Frederic Chopin. Sai Manas played on a Keyboard without reading the score and brought out the elegance of the composition. It was truly well performed. How much better it would have been if he played a real piano. One hopes that he pursues music further as he takes himself to the very high level that he seems capable of. 

The students of Ashrita D’Souza ‘Strings & Tunes’- performed a blend of jazz, pop music & Western classical and pieces from musicals and animated movies. A few songs were done by a chorus, and the rest were solo’s by Ashrita’s students, and though the fare varied, it was Ashrita’s own performance of that stood out, for both, her beautiful and warm voice and her musicianship.

     The next two acts were by professional musicians, and they were outstanding in every way.

     Ruma Sengupta, is a Hindustani classical singer specialising in Thumri and Rabindra Sangeet. This singer was so good that we treasured every note that floated out of her so effortlessly, with such feeling, that we felt the sentiment of the music without understanding the words. Ruma Sengupta’s session made deep impact on the audience, but it ended too soon, we thought. She played the harmonium while singing, and was accompanied by an excellent tabla player.

     The last to perform was Soham Pal, singer -
the accompanists were themselves superb musicians on keyboard, percussion and Bansuri with Soham himself playing ‘Khamak’ or ‘Anand Lahari’ while singing. This unique instrument is a percussion instrument that also produces a melody. 

So this band of musicians performed Soham Pal’s own wonderful music that is an amalgam of Baul music and the folk music of Bengal and also Robindro Sangeet. Interestingly, Rabindranath Tagore’s compositions were also influenced by the mystic Baul musicians of Bengal. This was a magical performance that, like Ruma Sengupta’s, ended too soon. But that’s all there was time for! And we all had to go home.

     But as we went our way home, there was music abroad in the air, and we were awash in the warm feeling of satisfaction - in our own sacred spaces.