My wife let me know about a performance of classic Indian music taking place at the University of Notre Dame for free on April 27th. I love classical Indian music, so I was willing to stay up a bit late even though I had to work early Friday morning to catch this show.
The performers were a pair of brothers named Ritesh and Rajnish Mishra. They’re classically trained and singing duets in classical Indian music isn’t easy since you have to harmonize and be able to improvise at any moment. The brothers put on a nice show, and their enthusiasm was contagious as they laughed and cheered not only each other but also their backing musicians.
Tabla player Hindole Majumdar put down great beats and harmonium player Anirban Chakrabarty created a hypnotic drone and bass. The four men performed for almost two hours with only ten minutes intermission. This was also the third time the Mishra brothers had performed at UND, and they certainly deserved a larger audience than the couple dozen of us who were there.
The ragas they performed were spiritual at first and then playful by the end. They also explained the beat structure of each before performing it. I love that about classical Indian music shows. The performers almost always give you a little music composition lesson at the beginning.
It was a nice way to spend the evening, and the lack of sleep was worth it.
Keep your mind open.
[Don’t forget to subscribe before you go.]
