Summer school + concerts of Indian – Chinese – Japanese music + possible associated concerts

Rajan and Sajan Misra – khyal
Uday Bhawalkar – dhrupad
Sunanda Sharma - Thumri

Cheng Yu – pipa

Taiko drumming and Japanese Koto

With seminars on various subjects

SHEHNAI group led by Satish  Prakash Qamar

The shehnai is a reed oboe type of instrument from North India, made famous around the world by the late Ustad Bismillah Khan. The renowned Satish Prakash with his shehnai Ensemble will perform an elevating and powerful tribute to his life and work.                                  

Background
Traditionally the shehnai was used at ceremonial occasions; welcoming the king back to his palace, keeping watch from the turrets, in battle - working up the emotions of the fighters - to accompany various kinds of dances for example the famous circle dances of Gujarat, but it is especially used in weddings with which it is most associated. The shehnai became famous as a solo classical instrument only in the last 50 - 60 years or so especially with the world famous Ustad Bismillah Khan.
 
The Shehnai Ensemble comprises of the outstanding Satish Prakash who trained mainly in the vocal tradition of the Delhi Gharana with Ustad Chand Khan, with also some guidance from the great Ustad Bismillah Khan. This meant that Satish developed the difficult technique of playing the shehnai in the gayaki or vocal style with difficult meends  ( glissandi and gamak ) (slow and fast vibrato) and of course fast passages. Apart from the strictly classical music Satish revels in the lighter thumri styles associated with Varanasi - such as chaiti , dadra and dhun . He is accompanied by four of his students who all play the shehnai with him providing in the traditional way the drone and supporting melodic lines. The whole makes for a powerful performance with tabla accompaniment.

Rajasthan is referred to as the "land of Kings" with its beautiful princely States and palaces which patronised and nurtured so much in the cultural life of India. Alongside the magical palaces there developed a rich and vibrant village tradition in which musicians performed for themselves as well as for their patrons in the traditional "jajmani" system.

The musicians came from hereditary castes of long family traditions of music - the most well know are the Manganiyar and Langa amongst the Muslim artists. Others include the Meghwals, Bhopa for example and the various dancers such as Kalbelia and ghoomer.

The songs were mostly composed by women but performed by men and covered a wide range of topics relevant to weddings, birth and deaths and other life cycle ceremonies. Other music was based around Sufi poets such as Bulesha, Shah Latif ; other songs were about separation and love such as Laila and Majnun , Heer/Ranja; there are songs in praise of deities , about nature, About their animals ( especially camels).

Their music is characterised by powerful singing and musicianship. It is traditional and the artists are colourful in their vibrant turbans and shawls.

The Kamkars

Monday 26 July 2010 at 7.30pm

Widely recognised as one of the leading musical ensembles in Iran today, the ever-popular Kamkars make a welcome return to London with their inspiring new repertoire. This Kurdish family of seven brothers and a sister perform a compelling and richly diverse programme ranging from the entrancing melodies of Persian classical to the driving rhythms of Kurdish dance music.

The Barbican 020 7638 8891
www.barbican.org.uk
tickets £15, £20, £25, £30, £35

See flyer

Festival of Afghanistan – Music from Herat

The nationwide tour, Music from Herat , will feature a mixture of Herati vocal and instrumental music, along with the Afghan classical music that has been performed in Herat since the 1930s.

Featuring the talents of Nasim Rahim Khushnawaz (Afghan rubab), Ustad Gada Mohammad (Herati dutar), Naimatullah (Herati vocal), Muhammad Aziz (classical vocal and harmonium), Yusuf Mahmoud (tabla) and female vocalist Mina Amani

For educational events at the Asian Music Centre click here

To download a copy of the tour flyer click here

Asian Music Curcuit in association with Red Orange presents

Terry Riley, Talvin Singh and George Brooks. California Kirana - The West Coast Legacy of Pran Nath

Terry Riley has been away from the UK for many years, and this is his 75th Birthday. The Asian Music Circuit are honoured to tour the world famous Terry Riley as he performs Indian ragas with arrangements on the saxophone played by the ever progressive saxophonist George Brooks and Mercury Music awarded tabla player Talvin Singh. Solos from each artist as well.

Music, like all living beings, must evolve to keep pace with a changing environment. The ancient arts of India struggle for survival in a world moving at an every increasing speed. Technology and desire for wealth move us forward and leave little time for the reflection and introspection necessary to evolve the high art known as raga.

Pran Nath's music was rooted in the masters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As a young man he survived a harrowing journey during partition from Lahore to the new nation of India and later to the US where his most dedicated students absorbed his teachings and continue to reflect on them in deeply personal forms of artistic expression. Pran Nath took the ancient traditions of fierce dedication to craft and guru and handed them to a new generation of American disciples.

Terry Riley, George Brooks and Talvin Singh will perform traditional ragas arranged for piano, voice, saxophone and percussion, focusing on some of Pran Nath's favorite ragas from the Kirana tradition such as Darbari, Bageshri, Malkauns, Yemen and Bhimpolasi. In addition they will perform works from their duo repertoire including movements from "Salome Dances for Peace" and "Ebony Horns". Each artist will also perform a solo work.

Music for meditation

Qin Series (China) – Gong Linna

Music in China has often been closely associated with nature and the "inward" search for peace and gnosis. Taoist monks play the traditional and beautiful instrument the guqin – often in ensemble. Their repertoire was passed down through the ages and included performance techniques whose purpose was to "cleanse" and "heal" and to "energise" the mind and body to unite these with the energy of the universe, leading to enlightenment.

Gong Linna (singer), with Lin Chen (qin) and Wang Hua (Xiao).
The Qin (or Guqin) has been the most important instrument in Chinese classical music for many centuries. Songs accompanied by the Qin and the Xiao often used classical poems as lyrics and constituted a highly sophisticated vocal style, performed predominantly in very small circles of literati and artists. Today this genre is almost not to be heard any more. Gong Linna, Lin Chen and Wang Hua sensitively revive the repertoire and carefully adapt it for the concert hall. Historically informed performance thereby is basic for their approach.

Gong Linna was born 1975 in Guiyang, Guizhou province (located in the Southwest of China). She first appeared on stage at the age of five. At 16 she began her studies at the Chinese Conservatory of Music where she held her first and highly acclaimed concert as soloist in 1999. Since that she has been a soloist with the Zhongyang Minzu Yuetuan, China's most renowned traditional music orchestra. In addition to many other awards, she won the Chinese National Singing Competition in 2000 as best female singer, including the Special Audience Award, gaining the audience votes of over a million Chinese television viewers.

Besides her work on new creations with her unique mix of traditional singing techniques and modern sounds, Gong Linna devoted lot of her time to do research on Chinese classical music and folk songs. Her project of performance and recording of qin-songs caused a shock-wave in the Chinese art-music and singing scene.

Qin Series (China)- Luca Bonvini and Xu Hong (qin and poetry).

After twenty years of successful career as a trombone player on the Jazz scene and other genres Luca Bonvini picked up the Soprano of the trombone family, the Slide Trumpet, and performed in his first CD on his name, ATEMPORE, with Ares Tavolazzi and Steve Arguelles. His second CD, THE MYSTIC TRUMPETER, has been the disc of the month in jazz magazines in Italy.

Luca Bonvini performed and recorded with the most influential Italian jazz groups in the two last decades of the last century and played with Orchestre National de Jazz (ONJ - France), Steve Lacy, Dave Holland, George Lewis, Dave Liebman, Enrico Rava, Dave Murray, Roswell Rudd, Jeanne Lee, Leroy Jenkins, Muhal Richard Abrhams, Glenn Ferris, Michel Godard, Vic Juris, Cameron Brown, Elliot Zigmund, Frank Sinatra jr. Big Band, Carla Bley and Steve Swallow, Elliot Sharp and others.

Chinese Four Seasons: performance of four traditional musical pieces each followed by a reading of relevant classic Chinese poetry.
Beyond Seasons:  four original pieces (including Coltrane) and improvisations accompanied by contemporary poetry by Xu Hong.

The whole concert is in Chinese but the public follows the poetry text from a written program. Total length: 120min with a short break.

Tibet

Amdo nomad singers and also aspects of Tibetan Opera.

Turkey – "whirling dervishes" and Sufi music.

Contemporary Western composer works with traditional music from India

Francis Silkstone and the Misra Brothers with selected members of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. The culmination of a study into intercultural composition based at Goldsmiths College led by Dr Francis Silkstone whose works have been performed by Ensemble Moderne, funded by AHRC and supported by the AMC