Arvindkumar Azad - Tabla
Rohan Misra - Sarangi
Join us at the Chhandayan Center for an evening tabla solo by the prominent musician Arvindkumar Azad. The performance will also be streamed on-line.
Arvindkumar Azad
Arvind Kumar Azad was born in Jamshedpur, the largest city in Jharkhand, to a family of tabla players who originally hailed from Bihar. He received his initial training in the instrument from his father, Lal Baboo Prasad, an eminent tabla player. Subsequently, he studied under veteran percussionist Jagdish Shankar Mishra, popularly known as Lallu Maharaj, and Kishan Maharaj, both of the Benares gharana (a specialist school of Indian classical music).
Azad has won recognition among the stalwarts of the music circle for the control, balance, and quality of tone of his tabla renditions. His melodious and pristine Benares gharana tabla playing, along with the perfected use of his bayan (the larger drum in a set, used for a deeper bass), is highly acclaimed. It is believed by connoisseurs of music that playing the Teental theka, a particular rhythmic pattern vocalised as ‘Na Dhin Dhin Na’, with just one finger at a tremendously fast speed is the unique specialty of the Benares gharana. Azad is known for exhibiting this feat with clarity and emotion. He describes his passion for tabla as, ‘The tabla, for me, is not merely a skin-covered percussion instrument! It is neither just a leading rhythm instrument nor the ruling accompanying instrument, but is the way of life; it is life itself for me!’
He is a sought-after accompanist for vocal and instrumental music, as well as for classical dance forms like Kathak. He has provided accompaniment to leading performers at prestigious music festivals held across India. Prominent among them are Ram Narayan, M.S. Gopalakrishnan, Girija Devi, Rohini Bhate, Birju Maharaj, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Rajan and Sajan Mishra, D.K. Datar, Dr N. Rajam, Shahid Parvez, and Rashid Khan. He is equally known for his solo recitals and has travelled extensively in India and abroad for performances. He has also conducted lectures, tabla demonstrations, and seminars.
Azad was given the grade ‘A’ by All India Radio (AIR); a committee of experts from the field award musicians one of four grades: B, B-high, A, and Top. He is also an approved artist of the national television channel Doordarshan. He serves as a PhD guide at Savitribai Phule Pune University’s centre for performing arts, Lalit Kala Kendra, and is an honorary advisor at various educational and classical music institutions throughout the country, including the Bharati Vidyapeeth School of Performing Arts, Pune. He is also a senior examiner at the Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal, one of the pioneer institutes of music and fine arts in India, founded by veteran musicologist Vishnu Digambar Paluskar.
Azad lives in Pune, where he has been for more than three decades. He is one of the founding members of the Talayan Music Circle, formed in 1995 with other music lovers. Its name comes from the phrase ‘Taal aur laya ko dekhne wale nayan’, which connotes the perception of rhythm through the eyes of those who perform and hear. Talayan’s objective is to promote, encourage, and maintain the traditional values of Hindustani classical music. It organises seminars and workshops by musical maestros and has been affiliated with the Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal, Miraj, for the past few years. Talayan offers scholarships and accommodation to deserving candidates to encourage and propagate music.
Rohan Misra
Rohan Misra is a young promising musician, specialized in the unique Indian bowed instrument called the Sarangi. As the son and disciple of great Sarangi virtuoso Pandit Ramesh Misra, Rohan has inherited many of his father-Guru’s specialties, including tonal quality and aesthetic approach.
Rohan Started learning the Sarangi (translation: An instrument with a hundred colors) from his father at the age of six. His exposure to music since early childhood attracted him to learn other Indian instruments as well. He has been learning Tabla from the renowned maestro Samir Chatterjee. Rohan is also pursuing his education in western music, particularly focused on the Piano and Clarinet. Coming out of the family of nine generations of Sarangi players, Rohan aspires to be successful as the 10th generation in his lineage. He also wishes to further his musicality by blending certain aspects of western music into his emblem of Indian classical music and emerge with a unique musical expression.
Rohan has performed at the Carnegie Hall, Columbia University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., California and North Carolina. He has performed with luminaries such as Pt. Birju Maharaj, Smt. Kumudini Lakhia, Pt. Anindo Chatterjee, Samir Chatterjee, among others. He is on the faculty of Chhandayan Center for Indian Music in New York City.