Newsletter September / Oktober 2013


1. Shrutibox - Paloma Large
- New Item -


Our new shrutibox Paloma large is a top quality instrument with a particularly balanced, warm, full sound and unmatched dynamic range. The unique bamboo look, silk mat surfaces and fine workmanship make this a truly exquisite instrument.

The large frame provides a much larger bellows volume as compared to smaller models, which permits an accurate dosing of air supply. Triple bellows on both sides give it an even bigger bellows volume than the large shrutibox from Monoj Kumar Sardar. In this way, the sound can be kept constant without any effort or prior practice even when up to four notes are played simultaneously. Moreover, the volume can be varied wider and finer than in any other of our shrutiboxes - from whispering tender and low to constantly powerful loud. The larger resonating chamber provides for a somewhat fuller overall sound. Despite its larger dimensions and relative heaviness, Paloma's shrutibox large can still be taken around easily. Only if you have to carry a lot of other stuff and if you are travelling by public transport or by foot, shape and weight might become inconvenient.

Check out pictures and further details here.

The shrutibox Paloma large is now available at 290.- Euros (plus shipping).



2. Indian Dance - Beyond Exoticism
- Symposium Report by Rajyashree Ramesh -


There is hardly another art form that is perceived from so many different perspectives as dance. Particularly when it comes to non-European dance forms in Europe, one is quick in classifying them as exotic, historical, religious, traditional, and so forth. Taking the example of the Indian dance form Bharatanatyam, one sees how a historical, religious or socio-cultural perspective is given predominance in defining its practise, outer form and aesthetics. One oversees the fact that it continues to be a living, yet changing tradition, still being practised even globally and by dancers who not necessarily have a religious or cultural connection to it. It has traversed time and location, and dancers of diverse backgrounds today practice Bharatanatyam globally. Various perspectives on its historical development and embedding in traditions have been discussed throughout the 20th century and continue to be the focus of discourses today. Yet Bharatanatyam practitioners in Germany, like dancers of other non-European dance forms, experience a eurocentric attitude that marginalises them as "culturally specific", "ethnic" and "exotic", or places their art in the past as an "ancient relict". These categorisations do not do justice to Bharatanatyam's uniqueness of embodying both change and continuity in its form, structure and content. We therefore thought it was time for a new discourse, which incorporates a dialogue between international practitioners, scholars and audience.

A performance that was coined the Berlin margam and which marked the culmination of Eva Isolde Balzer's training under Rajyashree Ramesh in Berlin was followed by two symposiums: First "Art and Embodiment - looking beyond exoticism" in cooperation with Werkstatt der Kulturen Berlin on June 22nd, and second "Indian Dance in a Global Age", supported by the International Research Centre of the Free University Berlin and the Indian Embassy on June 24th. Based on the performance, which under the dramaturgy of dance historian Avanthi Meduri presented some forgotten historical elements, the symposium discussed the changing historicity of dance in approach and understanding with invited international dance practitioners and scholars from diverse backgrounds. Taking into account its relevance and practice today in the European context, the margam was discussed as a path of transformation and translation, where however the structure and form follow some universal principles. The invited speakers Ashish Mohan Khokar (historian and critique), Avanthi Meduri, Phillip Zarrilli (theatre researcher who incorporates Kathakali and Kalaripayatu) and Martin Puttke (ballet) discussed with Rajyashree Ramesh and Eva Isolde Balzer the transcultural and transdisciplinary potential of dance. Indian dance was thereby presented as a historical continuum that is in a constant process of change, and a historicity of which the modernity, according to Meduri, began in India in the 19th century. The five T's: tradition, travel, translation, transmission and transformation reflect the global practice of dance forms like Bharatanatyam.

The symposium on June 24th continued the discussion with further invited speakers Prof. Shivaprakash of the Indian Embassy, Sandra Chatterjee (dancer and scholar), and Anja Weber (dancer and doctor). Gabriele Brandstetter from the Dance Research Department of the Free University Berlin presented the keynote address. This symposium was the first of its kind in Berlin. This seminar engaged with themes around the changing meaning and definitions of dance and examined these from historical, sociological, aesthetic, theoretical, embodiment, neurocognitive and global perspectives as they are articulated in India and Europe. Some of the relevant questions discussed were:
How has dance changed historically in just the span of the last century?
How do practitioners negotiate recontextualisations? What of the old is preserved and what is changed?
What are the many innovations happening within the field of dance in the age of globalisation?
Exoticism, migrant culture or artistic endeavour? The challenges faced by dancers today, especially when practising world dance forms in Germany.
These questions were placed in a transcultural and transdisciplinary context by speakers Martin Puttke and Anja Weber, who presented neurocognitive research material on movement and emotions.

In addition to these discussions, which triggered active audience participation as on June 22nd, young choreographers of European origin with training in classical Indian dance forms presented excerpts of their own innovative work that reflected how they negotiate between dance forms and cultural recontextualisations.

The two events revealed the potential such discussions and presentations carry in enabling a discourse on non-European dance forms from a practitioners and above all less eurocentric perspective. Interesting to note was the fact that the history of Indian dance continues to be written in Germany and elsewhere. However as opposed to its practice in, e.g. UK or USA, its history is being written anew in Germany on non-Indian bodies and incorporated into a culturally non-specific environment. This brings challenges and opportunities. And these have to be negotiated time and again, making dance in consequence a dynamic endeavour. Serious practice and a creative artistic approach however reveal how its form and structure, grammar and content can be culturally specific and transcultural, local and global at the same time - beyond exoticism.

Further info on the performance and the two symposiums is available here.

Rajyashree Ramesh is a dancer, master teacher and movement researcher. She has been teaching the classical vocabulary of Indian dance in Europe for more than three decades. Her trained dancers of international origin continue to incorporate the knowledge of Indian dance in their respective professions.



3. Kirtan (2) - Krishna Das, Yoga's Rockstar
- Series by Atul Krishna -


Krishna Das (*1947), aka KD, is probably the most famous western kirtan singer there is. KD's music is known for its easy western chords blended with smooth and slow Indian chants. His deep voice supplements this combination and will get you as relaxed as you can get. These aspects of his music also point out why some don't appreciate his music, seeing it as "using the same colour to paint over and over again". However, KDs live kirtans can not only set you in meditation - they can also make you move your hips and dance. If you would like to see what a concert with KD can be like, have a look at his recent performance in Berlin here.

KD started his career as kirtan singer in 1994, at the local JivaMukti yoga studio in New York. The crowd visiting him started getting bigger ang bigger, making him a popular local kirtan hero. This is the place where yoga's rockstar was really born. Soon he started traveling around as a kirtan musician, resulting in over 300,000 sold albums, sold-out concerts and being able to bring kirtan from yoga studios into the concert halls.

Before becoming a kirtan singer, KD had two main inpirational sources, Ram Dass and Neem Karoli Baba. Ram Dass, also a student of Neem Karoli Baba, is a US-born spiritual teacher and author. Ram Dass inspired KD to go on pilgrimage in India in 1970 and to meet Neem Karoli Baba or Maharaj-ji, as he is affectionally called by his students. Maharaj-ji was a well-known guru during the 1960s and 70s with Ram Dass, Bhagavan Das (yogi & teacher), Jai Uttal (kirtan musician) and KD as his most famous students. Maharaj-ji taught KD the practice of bhakti yoga and thus also the practice of doing kirtan. Maharaj-ji is KD's main source of inspiration in doing kirtan.

Since KD isn't a specific singing genious, it's even more remarkable how his music has inspired hundreds of thousands of people and even resulted in a grammy nomination in 2013. I personally appreciate KD's work for the kirtan scene a lot. If it weren't for him, kirtan would still be only done within Hindu temples. Now the gates towards yoga schools and even concerts halls have been opened.

India Instruments offers a songbook for KD's album Breath of the Heart. Bhakti Yogis believe that chanting God's names is the only way to break the cycle of reincarnation. So grab a songbook and sing!



4. The Young Maestros (8/8) - Purbayan Chatterjee -
- Background Reportage by Arunabha Deb -


In the first edition of the Indian music, dance and theatre magazine Avantika (published in January 2012), music journalist Arunabha Deb wrote about the new generation of great Hindustani classical musicians aged between 30 and 40. We present his article with an introduction and seven portraits of musicians as a series in eight parts.

Purbayan Chatterjee, 35, Kolkata, sitar player of the Senia Maihar gharana

The rules don't change for instrumental music. Purbayan Chatterjee had figured this out early. He stormed into the Kolkata performance circuit in his late teens; the early success could be attributed to the likeness of his playing style to that of late Pandit Nikhil Banerjee. His father and guru, Partha Chatterjee, was a disciple of Banerjee. Purbayan consciously modelled himself in the image of the maestro, to the extent that he played raag Darbari and raag Hemant in his first appearance at Dover Lane - the same raags played by Banerjee in his last appearance at the festival. The confidently performed pieces evoked nostalgia for many Banerjee fans and brought Purbayan significant recognition at the start of his career. But Purbayan knew he could not ride on nostalgia for long. Before people started calling him a clone, he considerably changed his playing style and then followed up by dramatically changing his musical persona.

Ask any connoisseur to identify the sitar's brightest hope and you are sure to get Purbayan's name. You can also be certain that after him, most people will fumble for a second name. In the generation of sitar players after Pandit Budhaditya Mukherjee and Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan, Purbayan has essentialy established a monopoly.

He asserts that it was the time spent with non-musicians that gave him a new perspective, which, in turn, made him reconsider his positioning as a musician. Before anything else, he wanted to dispel the myth that classical musicians are entitled to the top rung in the hierarchy of music. "I launched my first band, Shastriya Syndicate, as a classical ensemble," he says. "I had then felt that I was doing something more profound than fusion. I soon realised that this supposed high ground was of no use; that playing with other genres of music was challenging and enjoyable. I decided that I would perform both classical and collaborative music - and that I won't be shy or in denial about co-existing in the two different worlds."

The source of Purbayan's confidence is the faith that classical organisers still show in him. They might know that he is a popular choice in several corporate shows and that his antics with the electric sitar around his neck are several cultural worlds away from his classical avatar but he continues to be invited to all the important festivals in the country, be it Saptak, Sawai or the Tansen-Samaroh. His classical concerts bear no whiff of his experimental ventures: he adheres to the strict demands of raags and listeners have accepted his aesthetic blend of contemplative alap and forceful tayari, the latter often drawing from the Imdadkhani Gharana.

Purbayan will be performing at Rudolf-Oetker-Halle in Bielefeld on November 13th. Tabla accompaniment will be provided by Anubrata Chatterjee, son of Anindo Chatterjee. WDR (West German Radio Station) will broadcast the concert live from 20:05 - 22:00. Check our concert calendar for further details. Further info on the broadcast here.



5. Workshops - October to December
- Scene Info -


Workshops are a great opportunity of getting fresh inspiration for the study and practice of Indian instruments, Indian music and Indian dance. We support that! Therefore we publish an overview of current workshops regularly. Details of all workshops are available in our website's network section on the workshop page.

03.10. - 06.10. MELLATZ (Allgäu): Harmonium Seminar with Tobias Dickbertel - Gyanaroopa
06.10. - 11.10. OBERLAHR (WESTERWALD): HARMONIUM Advanced Seminar with GOVINDA ROTH
11.10. - 27.10. BERLIN: DANCE KATHAK ! Tanz Workshop with Ioanna & Ravi Srinivasan
11.10. - 13.10. HEMMOOR (Cuxhaven): Sitar - Step by Step... with Yogendra
11.10. - 13.10. BAD MEINBERG: HARMONIUM Advanced Seminar with JÜRGEN WADE
27.10. - 03.11. BAD MEINBERG: NADA-YOGA Basic Trainging with ANNE-CAREEN ENGEL
28.10. - 31.10. BERLIN: SCALE AND RAGA - The essence of Indian music with Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay
15.11. - 17.11. HORUMERSIEL (North Sea): NADA-YOGA Introductory Seminar with ANNE-CAREEN ENGEL
15.11. - 22.11. CH - BASEL: 28. Annual Seminar for Indian Music of the Ali Akbar College of Music
29.11. - 01.12. SAARBRÜCKEN: RAGA & TALA INTENSIV with YOGENDRA
29.11. - 01.12. BAD MEINBERG: NADA-YOGA Introductory Seminar with ANNE-CAREEN ENGEL



6. Concert Calendar - October to November
- Scene Info -


The concert calendar is loaded with fascinating events in the next two months! The highlight is certainly the European tour of Remember Shakti, the Indo-jazz project by the legendary duo of guitarist John McLaughlin and tabla master Zakir Hussain. Dance fans will enjoy the German tour of Gauri Diwankar with her kathak programme. Spiritual chants are presented by Snatam Kaur in Hamburg, Cologne, Zurich, Stockholm and Barcelona. And there is a lot of Indian classical music, of course, with star sitarist Purbayan Chatterjee in Bielefeld, amongst many others. But these names are just a small part of what's going on - check the overview below for many more great soloists and ensembles! As always you can find more detailed information, venues and times in our concert calendar.

01.10. ADELSHEIM: GAURI DIWAKAR - Kathak Dance
02.10. NUREMBERG: GAURI DIWAKAR - Kathak Dance
02.10. STUTTGART: Saraswathi Rajatesh - Mohiniattam- & Kuchipudi-Dance
03.10. STUTTGART: Saraswathi Rajatesh - Mohiniattam- & Kuchipudi-Dance
03.10. STUTTGART: INDIA LUCIA - Indische Musik & Flamenco
03.10. LINDLAR: PREM JOSHUA & Band - World Fusion
04.10. HEIDELBERG: GAURI DIWAKAR - Kathak Dance
04.10. BERLIN: DAVE STRINGER - Kirtan
05.10. POTSDAM: MATYAS WOLTER - Sitar
05.10. KASSEL: GAURI DIWAKAR - Kathak Dance
05.10. STUTTGART: Gayathri Balagurunathan - Bharatanatyam-Dance
06.10. FRANKFURT: GAURI DIWAKAR - Kathak Dance
09.10. HILDESHEIM: PULSAR TRIO - Indo-Jazz Fusion
09.10. BONN: DURGA ARYA - Kathak-Dance
09.10. HAMBURG: SNATAM KAUR - Sacred Chants
10.10. COLOGNE: SNATAM KAUR - Sacred Chants
10.10. LAUPHEIM: SUBRATA DE - Sitar
12.10. CH - ZURICH: SNATAM KAUR - Sacred Chants
12.10. STUTTGART: SUBROTO ROY-CHOWDHURY - Sitar
13.10. STUTTGART: SUBROTO ROY-CHOWDHURY - Sitar
14.10. SE - STOCKHOLM: SNATAM KAUR - Sacred Chants
15.10. DÜSSELDORF: ORIENT MEETS OCCIDENT - INDIAN IMPRESSIONS
18.10. BRAUNSCHWEIG: YOGENDRA - Sitar
18.10. FRANKFURT: Esha Bandyopadhyay - Vocal
19.10. FRANKFURT: Shakir Khan - Sitar & Indradeep Ghosh - Violine
19.10. WILDMANN (Harz): YOGENDRA - Sitar
20.10. HECKENBECK: YOGENDRA - Sitar
20.10. FRANKFURT: Shakir Khan - Sitar & Indradeep Ghosh - Violine
20.10. STUTTGART: SHIRIN SENGUPTA - Vocal
20.10. ES - BARCELONA: SNATAM KAUR - Sacred Chants
22.10. BERLIN: SUBRATA DE - Sitar 23.10. ERFURT: RANAJIT SENGUPTA (Sarod), SHIRIN SENGUPTA (Vocal)
24.10. F - AIX EN PROVENCE: REMEMBER SHAKTI
25.10. BERLIN: SUBROTO ROY CHOWDHURY- Sitar, MADHURI CHATTOPADHYAY - Violin
25.10. CH - ST. GALLEN: SOHINI DEBNATH - Kathak-Dance
26.10. I - BOLOGNA: REMEMBER SHAKTI
26.10. BERLIN: SUBROTO ROY CHOWDHURY- Sitar, MATYAS WOLTER - Surbahar
26.10. STUTTGART: SUBRATA DE - Sitar
27.10. I - TRENTO: REMEMBER SHAKTI
27.10. STUTTGART: SUBRATA DE - Sitar
28.10. CH - LUZERN: REMEMBER SHAKTI
29.10. CH - GENEVA: REMEMBER SHAKTI
30.10. BERGKAMEN: INDIGO MASALA - Acoustic Asian World Fusion
31.10. BEETZENDORF (Altmark): INDIGO MASALA - Acoustic Asian World Fusion
31.10. STUTTGART: Monalisa Ghosh - Odissi-Dance
31.10. POTSDAM: PULSAR TRIO
01.11. LEIPZIG: PULSAR TRIO
01.11. COLOGNE: REMEMBER SHAKTI
01.11. DESSAU: INDIGO MASALA - Acoustic Asian World Fusion
01.11. STUTTGART: Monalisa Ghosh - Odissi-Dance
02.11. GIESSEN: SUBRATA DE - Sitar, SUBHANKAR CHATTERJEE - Vocal
02.11. STUTTGART: RANAJIT SENGUPTA - Sarod
02.11. NORDHAUSEN: PULSAR TRIO
03.11. RUDOLSTADT: PULSAR TRIO
03.11. DARMSTADT: REMEMBER SHAKTI
03.11. STUTTGART: RANAJIT SENGUPTA - Sarod
03.11. CH - BASEL: Keshava, Anjali, Sumatra - Bharat Natyam Dance with Music Ensemble
04.11. F - PARIS: REMEMBER SHAKTI
07.11. B - BRUXELLES: REMEMBER SHAKTI
07.11. CH - BASEL: Keshava, Anjali, Sumatra - Bharat Natyam Dance with Music Ensemble
08.11. CH - RHEINFELDEN: Keshava, Anjali, Sumatra - Bharat Natyam Dance with Music Ensemble
09.11. CH - BERN: Keshava, Anjali, Sumatra - Bharat Natyam Dance with Music Ensemble
09.11. F - LYON: REMEMBER SHAKTI
11.11. F - CORMONS: REMEMBER SHAKTI
12.11. SEELZE: INDIGO MASALA - Acoustic Asian World Fusion
13.11. BIELEFELD: PURBAYAN CHATTERJEE - Sitar
14.11. HU - BUDAPEST: REMEMBER SHAKTI
15.11. BERLIN: INDIGO MASALA - Acoustic Asian World Fusion
15.11. CH - LUZERN: Keshava, Anjali, Sumatra - Bharat Natyam Dance with Music Ensemble
16.11. PL - BIESKO BIELA: REMEMBER SHAKTI
16.11. CH - BASEL: KEN ZUCKERMAN - Sarod
17.11. A - WIEN: REMEMBER SHAKTI
18.11. BAD AIBLING: REMEMBER SHAKTI
19.11. L - LUXEMBOURG: REMEMBER SHAKTI
21.11. GB - LONDON: REMEMBER SHAKTI
22.11. PL - WARSZAWA: REMEMBER SHAKTI
23.11. TR - ISTANBUL: REMEMBER SHAKTI
23.11. STUTTGART: MANOJ BARUAH - Violine
24.11. STUTTGART: MANOJ BARUAH - Violine
26.11. GR - ATHENS: REMEMBER SHAKTI
26.11. BERLIN: TABLA TRIO / INDO-ORIENTAL
28.11. MO - MONACO: REMEMBER SHAKTI

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