Sangeetha Bharathi Music School, Rasikas NZ & Sargam school of Indian music in association with Lotus Foreign Exchange Ltd is organising a classical Jugalbandi music concert of world famous Indian artists Padma Shri Kadri Gopalnath and Pandit Ronu Majumdar. This will take place on 19th May 2012 from 6.30 pm at Dorothy Winstone Centre, Auckland Girls Grammar School, Auckland. This is first of its kind in Auckland and both the artists are well known to Auckland music lovers.
For further information on this concert and sponsorships, please contact Mr. Govardhan Mallela on 09-6245922 / 09-9216928 / 0211455708 or Mr.Basant Madhur on 6262646 / 0210357954.
The Artists
Padma Shri Kadri Gopalnath
Shri Gopalnath had to make certain modifications to the conventional alto saxophone to play Carnatic music. So successful has this adaptation been that the great musician SemmangudiSrinivasa Iyer, the doyen of Carnatic music, has acknowledged Kadri Gopalnath as a true Carnatic music genius.
Gopalnath learned to play the instrument under Gopalkrishna Iyer of Kalaniketana, Mangalore. In Madras, Gopalnath came in contact with the mridangist T.V. Gopalkrishnan, who identified the youngster's potential and tutored him.
His maiden performance was for the Chembai Memorial Trust. The 1980 Bombay Jazz Festival was a turning point for Gopalnath. John Handy, a jazz musician from California was present at the festival. Hearing Gopalnath play, Handy asked if he could go on stage and perform alongside with him. So well did the two mesh, Handy in the jazz style and Gopalnath in the Carnatic style, that it became an instant hit with the audience. Gopalnath has participated in the Jazz Festival in Prague, the Berlin Jazz Festival, the International Cervantino Festival in Mexico, the Music Hall Festival in Paris, the BBC Promenade concert in 1994 at London, and has toured all over the world.
He has cut many albums and has recorded a number of cassettes and CDs. Together with jazz flautist James Newton, he recorded Southern Brothers. His production called 'East-West' is an audio-video presentation that, as the title suggests, is a fusion of Western and Indian music. This album took 6 months to produce and has compositions from Saint Tyagaraja, Beethoven and the likes.
Film director K. Balachander used Gopalnath's services in his Tamil filmDuet. The film had music composed by A.R. Rahman and all the songs had saxophonic instrumentation by Gopalnath, mostly in ragaKalyanaVasantam. He once said about this album: : "I played some 30 ragas for Rahman. He wasn't satisfied. Finally I played KalyanaVasantam, and he said, "Thats it!". After that movie I became known. I was in all the papers. It became difficult to travel in buses and trains. Of course I enjoyed the mass appeal."
Pandit Ronu Majumdar
In 1981, Ronu Majumdar won the first prize at the All India Radio competition, and the President's Gold Medal. In 1996,Ronu received a Grammy nomination for his work on the album Tabula Rasa with Bela Fleck, the American banjo virtuoso. He has associated with Pandit Ravi Shankar in albums like Passages, and Chants of India. He has more than 30 audio releases to his credit. He has won prestigious AdityaVikram Birla Award for the year 1999 for his dedication to music.Sahara India Pariwar felicitated him with life-time achievement award on occasion of JyotiDiwas 2001.
Today, Ronu Majumdar is among the more popular musicians on this instrument, and is especially popular with the younger generation for his creative improvisations. PtMajumdar's music is rooted in the Maihargharana which has musicians of eminence like PtRavi Shankar and UstadAli Akbar Khan to its credit. Apart from his concerts all over India in different music festivals, he also participated in the Festival of India in Moscow and Asiad '82 in New Delhi. He has toured extensively in Europe, the USA, Canada, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East.
Pt. Majumdar is also known for a number of collaborations and jugalbandis with other leading instrumentalists. An innovative composer, he has also composed several pieces in a fusion of Hindustani classical with other forms of music, particularly Western Classical Music, including the projects Carrying Hope (Music Today), A Traveller's Tale, Song of Nature (Magnasound), Kal Akela Kahan (Plus Music).