Barun Kumar Pal - Hansaveena
Steve Gorn - Bansuri
Aditya Phatak - Tabla
The Baithak concert series is dedicated to the fond memories of Mr. Chandrakant Rao.
Barun Kumar Pal
Barun Kumar Pal is admired all over the globe as a solo player, composer, dedicated Guru and a musician who renders his music from his soul in a spiritual level.
“He is an outstanding Hansaveena artist of the north Indian classical music”
– Pandit Ravi Shankar
Pt. Barun Kumar Pal is one of the most reputed and prominent artists of India. He is one of the foremost disciples of Bharat Ratna Pt. Ravi Shankar. Pt. Barun Kumar Pal is recognized as the pioneer in introducing the Hawaiian slide guitar to the world of Indian classical music. His distinctive playing style, many years of research in creating a powerful connection between the slide guitar and Indian Classical Music has led to the invention of a revolutionary sound which aesthetically incorporates the blend of the Veena, Sitar and Sarod.
Pt. Barun Pal shared a very special and spiritual bond with his revered guru Pt. Ravi Shankar for more than 35 yrs. Pt. Ravi Shankar cherished and recognized Barunji’s dedication and commitment towards his teachings and sentiments, following which Pt. Ravi Shankar entrusted the responsibility of the Ravi Shankar Institute of Music and Performing Arts (RIMPA), New Delhi, into the hands of Barunji, to carry forward the tradition of the Maihar gharana.
Since 1983, Pt. Barun Kumar Pal has been travelling extensively all over the world giving solo performances, music workshops, lecture demonstrations and Radio-TV interviews. Amongst the major concerts he has performed are WOMAD fest in London, Bath Festival, Pt. Ravi Shankar’s Parampara Festival in San Diego, SPIC Macay (StanFord, U.S.A.), I.I.T. Annual Fest,Ali Akbar Music College summer Festivals, Chhandayan whole night concert,Doverlane Music Festival, Haridas Sangeet Samaroha,Tansen Sangeet Sammelan, SIFAS Festival of Indian Music and Dance in Singapore. He has been awarded with several National Broadcasts of All India Radio -Doordarshan Sangeet Sammelans. He has released numerous cassettes, LP’s and CD’s worldwide. His concerts are preserved by the British National Archives. Barunji is the recipient of several honors and awards such as “Sangeet Prabhakar”, “Sangeet Ratna”, “Kal ke Kalakar”, “Allauddin Sangeet Ratna”, “Abhinav Kalakar”, “Vadya Ratan” to name a few.
Pt. Barun Kumar Pal’s contributions as a composer, music director and conductor in Indian classical music for A.I.R, Doordarshan, DD-7, and National Youth Festival are well known. He is also popularly known for having produced “Raga Symphony” and “Millennium Symphony”, and numerous choirs with young talents, with over 75 presentations including those of the Vienna Children’s Choir and the Choir of RIMPA.
Steve Gorn
Steve Gorn has performed Indian classical music and new American music on the bansuri bamboo flute in concerts and festivals throughout the world. Originally a disciple of the late bansuri master Gour Goswami of Calcutta, he also studied with the late Ustad Z. M. Dagar, and at present he is under the guidance of Professor Deba Prasad Banerjee of Calcutta and Pt. Raghunath Seth of Mumbai.
Steve's father was a concert pianist, and the home resonated with music, but it was at Penn State, where Steve was studying composition and playing jazz that his journey to India began. Hearing the influence that Indian music was having on John Coltrane, and Charles Lloyd, Steve hit the road and headed East. Traveling overland, he arrived in India in 1969. After a season in Benaras, the great center of spirituality and music, where he studied shenai, he was drawn to Calcutta where he met his musical guru, Sri Gour Goswami. Ever since, Steve has delved deeper and deeper into the richness of Indian classical music, and has returned to India many times to study and more recently perform.
Describing his 1996 performance in Mumbai at the Sangeet Research Academy's Indian Music and the West Seminar, SRA West Chairman, Arvind Parikh has said, "Steve Gorn's concert was widely appreciated for its outstanding musicianship.... and has won him a host of admirers." In 1998, Steve returned to India performing to enthusiastic audiences at The Nehru Center, NCPA, and the Dadar Matunga Music Circle in Mumbai.
Steve's numerous recordings include Luminous Ragas, one of the Los Angeles Reader top ten recordings of 1994, and recently re-issued on Steve's label, Bamboo Ras. It has become a cult favorite for yoga and meditation. His Indian classical recording, Parampara, (Wergo) is accompanied by tabla maestro Pandit Samir Chatterjee. The landmark Indian-jazz fusion recording, Asian Journal (Music of the World) and Wings and Shadows (Bamboo Ras), on which his bansuri is accompanied by the haunting sound of thousands of birds singing at twilight in Pune, India, offer still more examples of his blending of India and Beyond.
Widely know in the West for his creative blends of Indian and Western music, Steve composes for film and television and has recorded extensively. His long collaborations with Glen Velez and Jai Uttal, Layne Redmond and Badal Roy have led to numerous recordings. In 1995, he toured Europe and Africa with the legendary jazz drummer, Jack Dejohnette, and was a featured soloist in Jerome Robbins' ballet, Watermill, in New York and Paris. He has also created an acoustic/electronic score for Ranjabati Sircar's dance, "Cassandra", which was premiered in Calcutta in 1996. His recording with Paul Simon got him a Grammy nomination.
"Steve Gorn performed exquisitely and evocatively on the bamboo flute." The New York Times
"Steve Gorn plays with liquid grace. He is a master of sound-magic; may the world discover his gift." Paul Winter
"An extraordinary flute recital by Steve Gorn from the USA." The Pioneer, Mumbai
"Steve Gorn has adapted Indian Classical Music on the bansuri so nicely and properly that one should feel proud of him." Pandit Hari Prasad Chourasia
"........ an astonishing treatment of raga .... Gorn went beyond the notes to reach a place where his instrument was more effective than the human voice." Anand Bazar, Calcutta
Aditya Phatak
Aditya Phatak is a young student of Indian music, with special aptitude in Tabla. He started playing tabla at the age of two, even before he was tall enough to reach the drums. He was initially inspired by his grandfather Deepak Phatak and guided by his uncle Shivraj Phatak. Since February of 2008, when he was four years old, he came under the loving mentorship of Pt. Samir Chatterjee in the formal Guru-Shishya (master-disciple) relationship. Eleven years into his talim (grooming), through utmost sincerity and diligence, Aditya qualified to make his entry into the field of performance. His music is certainly worth listening to. He is also studying Hindustani Classical vocal music with Smt. Rucha Jambhekar.