Newsletter April 2009

1. 15% Discount on all wind and string instruments
- Company Info -

15 years - 15%! With this onetime offer we celebrate India Instruments' 15th anniversary in business. Until April 30 there is still a 15% discount off the normal price of all wind instruments, including bansuris, shahnais, nageswarams, and pungis. Throughout May it's the bowed instruments' turn; 15% off all esrajs, dilrubas, and sarangis.

These discounts continue until September, with 15% off tablas in June, tanpuras in July, harmoniums in August and sitars and sarods in September. With a possible saving of up to Euro 298.50 it behooves anyone considering buying an instrument to plan now for the coming months. The offer applies from the first to the last day of each month, and as long as supplies last. All ordered instrument purchases will be reckoned from the date of the order.

During this discount each purchaser will receive a free postcard of Saraswati. As patron goddess of music, she is revered by Hindus and Muslims alike as a symbol of the unifying and universal power of music.

2. Flute repair service
- Company Info -

Traditional Indian bansuri-flutes consist basically of a simple length of bamboo with a number of holes in them, and are from this point of view not that delicate. Nevertheless, the bamboo can develop cracks, due to radical climate changes, rendering the instrument useless. Now India Instruments offers an effective repair solution to this problem as well. The cracks are carefully sealed and the flute is expertly bound. The hide glue seals the crack(s), and the new binding assures stability and prevents new cracks from appearing. The results are fully restored sound, stability and appearance - the flute is like new again! With simple standard-bansuris, the cost of such a repair, as a rule, aren't worth it, but with premium concert bansuris, the cost of repairing rather than repurchasing are a far more economical and simple solution. The cost for a simple crack repair with sealing and rebinding is Euro 20 plus shipping. More demanding repair jobs will be reckoned at Euro 30 / hour.

Our repair service now extends to practically all Indian instruments. Ripped heads or torn straps on tablas, broken gourd resonators on sitars and tanpuras, broken strings or tuning pegs on stringed instruments, wheezing or out-of-tune reeds on harmoniums and shruti boxes, malfunctioning electric tabla, tanpura, and lahara boxes - we offer solutions for all these problems as well as many other repairs, expertly handled and fairly priced. We can also provide damage assessments and repair estimates for insurance purposes. Just ask us; we're glad to help! An overview of our complete repair services is available at Repairs.

3. Fifth Yoga Vidya Music Festival
- Scene Info -

For the fifth year, the Yoga Vidya Center Bad Meinberg (in the Bielefeld / Paderborn area), Europe's largest yoga center, will host their music festival from May 21 through 24. The extended weekend offers a nearly round-the-clock spectrum of concerts, workshops, and yoga classes with related music from renowned artists and teachers. On hand this time around are Prem Joshua & Band and Indigo Masala with Indian - inspired world music, Ahura Project & Param Jyoti with Sufi music and dance, Gudrun Märtins with classical Indian Odissi dance as well as Satyaa & Pari with mantras. During the days, several programs run simultaneously, so that attendees can assemble their own individual, optimal schedules. The common denominator is the link between music and sound to yoga, spirituality, and India. Besides tickets to the entire festival, attendees can also select individual events to attend. More info is available at www.yoga-vidya.de

4. Highest state honors for Bhimsen Joshi
- Scene Info -

On February 10, 87-year-old singer Bhimsen Joshi was awarded the Bharat Ratna (Jewel of India), the highest state honors given to civilians. Because of his physical condition, the award ceremony was held at his home in Pune, rather than the usual location in New Delhi, with the President of India officiating. The last recipients were singer Lata Mangeshkar in 2001, and shahnai master Bismillah Khan, who passed away in 2006. Previously only two musicians had been awarded the honor; singer M.S. Subbulakshmi in 1998, and sitarist / composer Pandit Ravi Shankar the following year. That this award has been presented to these musicians, reflects the prestige which the classical raga tradition enjoys in Indian society.

Bhimsen Joshi was born in the south Indian state of Karnataka in 1922, and is an exponent of the Kirana Gharana or school of classical north Indian vocal music. In time, he incorporated elements of other gharanas, creating his own unique style, which he for decades presented to audiences worldwide, with incomparable charisma. He is also famed for his interpretation of popular bhajans, or religious songs. Though not coming from a musical family, he studied from 1936 until 1940 under Sawai Gandharva, master disciple of the legendary Abdul Karim Khan, founder of the Kirana dynasty. He gave his first concert at 19, and already at the age of 22 released his first LP recording of songs in the Kannada and Hindi languages on the renowned label HMV. In 1972 he received the Padma Shree award, in 1976 the Sangeet Natak Academy award, in 1985 the Padma Bhusan, and in 1999 the Padma Vibhusan. His first LP to go platinum was in 1986. He reached an audience of millions in 1988 with the State-promoted television broadcast of a song of reconciliation - "Mile sur mere tumhara", which enjoys even now the status of an unofficial national anthem. Since suffering a stroke, Bhimsen Joshi could be heard only rarely in public in recent years.

At India Instruments, you can find numerous recordings of Bhimsen Joshi. His classical ragas can be found at CD Catalogue. His bhajans can be accessed at Bhajan

This newsletter has been translated from the original German by Willy Schwarz.