Various concerts in Benares

A few snaps of some concerts I've attended in Varanasi over the last few weeks...

Pt Pushpraj Koshti (surbahar) from Mumbai, opened the concert series at the Ganges View Hotel, a very stylish setting for Indian Classical Music.

Pt Pushpraj Koshti (surbahar) accompanied by Shrikant "Toon-ji" Mishra (pakhawaj - Varanasi).


Toon-ji brought a pakhawaj in the wrong key, which broke when he tried to tune it up, resulting in him having to leave for another instrument during the first composition by Pushpraj-ji. Very unfortunate.

Pundlik Bhagwat giving tabla solo in Rudra Taal (11 beats), accompanied by Vallabh "Bhaiyan-ji" Gujrati on harmonium. The tabla solo was very strong and confident - Pundlik Bhagwat is playing very well and is one of the top players in the city nowadays. Bhaiyan-ji invited me to his house to practise tabla solo together. He is a very fine lehera accompanist.

Ram Kumar Mishra performing tabla solo accompanied by Santosh Mishra on sarangi. Very glamorous. Ram Kumar is a relative of Pt Anokhelal Mishra and very much follows his style of tabla solo presentation.

Devashish Dey performing at Ganges View Hotel with Soumya Kant Mukherjee on tabla and Bhaiyan-ji (not in shot) on harmonium

Pt Amarnath Mishra (sitar) accompanied by Kuber Nath Mishra (tabla) at Ganges View Hotel - a very sweet concert.

You can also read reports of some of these concerts by Canadian tabla player Shawn Mativetsky at his blog, Benares Chronicles, Part 1. 日本語で、ユキちゃんのブログポスト、「音の世界への導き 」。