Hyderabad: The strumming of sitar, the beats of the tabla and the Kathak dance marked a fitting tribute to the legends of Hindustan music dance — Pandit Ravi Shankar and Pandit Birju Maharaj — on Saturday.
The event was organised by Art Hub and Surmandal at the NTR auditorium in Public Garden.
The Kathak performance was by Mukti Shri, who used the Kasturi Tilakam slokas as an invocation to Lord Krishna. She followed this with a performance of Sita Swayamwar and concluded with Ravan Vadh, ahead of Ramanavami on Sunday.
The US-born Paul Livingstone on the sitar accompanied by Shashanka Bakshi on the tabla performed a combination of the ‘raags’ Jog and Rageshwari in ‘teen taal’, Manj Khamaj bandish in ‘aadha teen taal’ followed by a composition in ’Drut teen taal’ ending in Jhaala.
Mukti Shri, who trained under Pandita Shama Bhate for more than 10 years, said, “For me dance is equivalent to worship. Perseverance and compliance have been my mantra.” She said she had a pure Kathak repertoire and also experimented with contemporary and jazz music.
Tabla maestro Pandit Bakshi said he had studied the tabla from the age of six and had trained under Pandit Bhola Prasad of the Benares gharana.
“My recordings were released through Music of the World, New York. I have toured extensively throughout India and in different parts of Europe, the UK, the United States and several West Asian countries,” Pandit Bakshi said.
Sitarist Livingstone remarked, “I am one of the few American disciples of Pandit Ravi Shankar and trained under Pt Rajeev Taranath and Amiya Dasgupta. I have performed around the US, in Mexico, Europe and South Asia with leading tabla artists including Pt. Swapan Chaudhuri.”
Livingstone, whose first sitar performance in India was in 1985, said he also played upright bass and explored the meditative inspiration of dhrupad.
“As a composer of 'ragajazz chamber music' in the realm of world music synthesis I lead my own Arohi Ensemble as well as performing regularly as a classical sitar soloist,” said Livingstone, adding that he had composed and recorded for film and television and created music for live theatre and dance productions. He said he had featured on two Grammy Award-winning records.
