By MOHAN NADKARNI The Economic Times, December 31, 1989 Although it is an acknowledged fact that the scale of 12 notes forms the basis of international music of the East and the West, the Western system has evolved on the harmonic lines, while the music from the Orient, of which Hindustani music as well as Carnatic music form an integral part, came to be...
By MOHAN NADKARNI The Economic Times, February 5, 1989 The Dadar-Matunga Cultural Centre burst at the seams last week-end. It was, in fact, the week’s major event, organised by the disciples, friends and admirers of Pandit Pandharinath Nageshkar, the tabla maestro, on his 75th birthday. Although the event was not much publicised through the conventional media channels, the overwhelming turn-out on the occasion, which...
By MOHAN D. NADKARNI The Bombay Sentinel, January 20, 1958 THE death of Pandit Shankarrao Vyas in December 1956 is a grievous loss to the world of music, coming as it did at a time when the older generation of giants in music was gradually dying out. He personified in himself various aspects of musical activity. He was not merely a vocalist of repute...
(A curtain raiser on Haridas Sammelan festival of music and dance, 1959) By MOHAN D. NADKARNI writing as LALITMOHAN DUTTA, The Bombay Sentinel, February 26, 1959 Indian Dance is not just a representation of mechanical sequences in rhythm. It is its intimate relationship with human psychology that makes this art ever spontaneous and full of verve and grace. The range of Indian dance...
By MOHAN NADKARNI The Economic Times, October 8, 1989 Three good reasons prompted me to attend the sitar performance by the Calcutta-based Bimal Mukherjee under the auspices of Sangit Mahabharati at Juhu, in North Bombay, on September 24. In the first place, this was Mukherjee’s concert appearance that came after many years and, on the few occasions that I had heard him in the...
By MOHAN NADKARNI The Economic Times, May 7, 1989 Ustad Allah Rakha, the world-famous – and possibly the greatest – Hindustani percussion maestro of the present generation, became 70 on April 29. It was indeed a major event which comprised, besides the formal felicitation of the Ustad by the sitar maestro, Ravi Shankar, a musical session, featuring young vocalists, instrumentalists and percussionists. Yet, strange...