May 2023
Indian Classical Music Circle of Hawaii
TWO LIVE MUSIC CIRCLE BENEFIT CONCERTS IN MAY
PARASHURAM BHANDARI ON SARANGI
with
Daniel Christensen on Tabla
Babette Ackin on Tanpura
Sunday, May 14 at 2:30pm
New Thought Center, Kealakekua
https://www.newthoughtcenterofhawaii.com/
Celebrate Mother's Day with Live Raga
Sunday, May 21 at 3pm
Kalani Retreat Center, Pahoa
Mauka 15 Studio
Space Limited - Reserve Now
By email at [email protected] or
808-965-1053 (phone only) or 808-443-6814 (text/cell)
Suggested Donation: $25-35
$5 discount seniors & students w/ID
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Parashuram Bhandari is a Nepali master of the sarangi. He hails from the former Kingdom of Nepal, a country of dramatic beauty with a rich and appealing culture. His music ranges from the wildly exuberant to the hauntingly delicate, presented with the rhythmic power that is his signature.
The sarangi, whose name means "hundred colors," is an instrument with a cello-like timbre, bowed on three melody strings, with thirty-six sympathetic strings underneath, giving it a haunting cello-like resonance and bright reverberating echo. It is best known for its emotional intensity and its uncanny similarity to the timbre and inflections of the human voice. Parashuram is the only sarangi musician in Nepal to play in the North Indian Classical style. He plays Nepali traditional music on the country's traditional sarangi. The Nepali sarangi is a small hand-carved version of the classical sarangi, an instrument equivalent to the traditional American fiddle.
Born in the Kathmandu Valley and educated in India, Parashuram studied with guru Pandit Bacchalal Misra of Varanasi and Senior Musician Gopal Nath Yogi. He received his Master's Degree in Music from Prayag Sangit Samiti.
An independent artist, Parashuram Bhandari has published the only textbook on sarangi and is the recipient of National music awards in Nepal. He has performed in numerous countries and released two solo CD's among others with the acclaimed musical group Om Shringara Nepal. When home in the Kathmandu Valley, Parashuram performs in Nepal television, radio, and
theatre productions.
Parashuram was the Indian Classical Music Circle of Hawaii Artist-in-Residence 2007-2017.
https://www.parashurambhandari.com/
Daniel Christensen (Prakriti Das) started playing tabla in 2001, studying with Shashanka Bakshi from Kolkata whenever Shashank would come to Southern California to teach. Daniel had already mastered the drumset, having graduated from the Percussion Institute of Technology in 1982 and performing with bands for 22 years before taking up tabla. As a tabla player, he received moderate success in the US playing Indian Classical music and Kirtan from many musicians who appreciated his American style, yet he still yearned for the real flavor of India and Nepal where the spirit of this music came from. He traveled to South Asia and began to just “hang out” in Kathmandu, Banaras and Kolkata for about 8 years, exploring the streets and temples, taking tabla lessons from different gurus, going to concerts and playing music with friends, coming back to the US only occasionally. He finally was able to take lessons from Shashank Bakshi in his home in Kolkata, and also studied with other tabla teachers such as Shyam Kumar Mishra, the famous Kathak drummer in Banaras India, and Homnath Upadhyay in Kathmandu Nepal who he had already known from the US. Homnathji passed away in 2016, but Daniel continued to study with Homnathji’s first student in, Kathmandu, Achyutram Bhandari and was blessed with being able to play music at Achyut’s School in Kathmandu several times. Now, having just recently arrived back in the USA with his Nepali wife, he is hoping to better serve the nature of this spirit to others through music.