Yahoo Tuning Groups Ultimate Backup tuning FW: Concerts Fri 3/5 & Sat 3/6: Debashish Bhattacharya, Hindustani Slide Guitar Master

Here's another one, perhaps a little off-topic, except for the potential for
microtonality implicit in the use of a slide...

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From: Richard Andrews <richard@cnmat.berkeley.edu>
Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2004 15:32:03 -0800
To: Recipient List Suppressed:;
Subject: Concerts Fri 3/5 & Sat 3/6: Debashish Bhattacharya, Hindustani
Slide Guitar Master

The Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT) presents:

Debashish Bhattacharya
Hindustani Slide Guitar Master

Friday, March 5, 8 pm
and
Saturday, March 6, 8 pm

CNMAT (http://www.cnmat.berkeley.edu/)
1750 Arch Street, Berkeley
$15 general, $10 students
------------------------------------
Also, Debashish Bhattacharya presents an all-day Hindustani Slide
Guitar Workshop
Saturday, March 6
9 am - 5 pm
CNMAT
1750 Arch Street, Berkeley
Contact Adrian Freed for info: adrian@cnmat.berkeley.edu
-------------------------------------

Debashish Bhattacharya (http://www.debashishguitar.com/ ) is the
world's foremost interpreter of indian classical music on steel
guitar. He will use each of his newly introduced Trinity of Guitars
in these concerts. His designs combine numerous features of western
steel guitar technology in innovative ways to provide the expressive
range and timbral qualities necessary for traditional indian music.

"Debashish Bhattacharya's masterly performance of Raga Bhimpalasi.is
showing Viswa Mohan Bhatt's crown is about to be stolen by young
prince - Bhattacharya - One of the truly most lyrical musicians
playing in any style."
---Dirty Linen, USA, September 1999

In February 2004 a master Classical musician, Debashish Bhattacharya,
travelled to the other side of the earth from his native Kolkatta to
pay homage to the renowned Hawaiian guitarist Tau Moe. Why would two
obviously very different cultures share a musical history?

The idea of stopping strings with a slide as opposed to frets (as in
the Sitar) or fingers (as in the Sarod) is very old. 5th century AD
Ajanti cave paintings give glimpses of a one string instrument that
was played with a bamboo slide. By the 20th century this kind of
instrument was no longer in widespread use although the vichitra vina
and gottuvadyam represent relatively recent (19th century) revivals
of the slide technique.

Although there is some argument about who really started slide guitar
in Hawaii, there are several important accounts of one Gabriel
Davion, a kidnapped Indian brought to Honolulu by a sea-captain. He
is reported to have played slide guitar in the 1880's. Like India,
Hawaii has a long history of assimilation and adaption of a variety
of musical instruments from foreign sources including many kinds of
guitars from Spain, Mexico and Portugal. These have evolved into
unique Hawaiian forms such as the ukulele, slack-key guitar and
(incorporating the slide) the acoustic lap steel and the electric
steel guitar.

In 1929, Tao Moe, master of this newly developing slide guitar
performed extensively in India and settled in Kolkatta for many
years. The popularity of his music and teachings resulted in a small
but fast growing school of performers of classical Indian guitar
music. At the forefront of these developments is Debashish
Bhattacharya.

Unlike his peers, Debashish from the beginning strongly believed his
guitar should have six strings, not three or four. By doing so he was
able to include the bass strings and exploit the complete range of
the instrument. In 1980 he emerged with a complete design of the
instrument and importantly mastery of the requisite technique.
Complete with the innovative additions of side Tarab (resonating
string), front Chikari with six main strings and three supporting
strings his instrument was ready to accept the challenges presented
by Raga music. He evolved and pioneered the required finger style and
technique to enable the guitar players to explore the heights of
articulation to the standards of Indian classical Instrumental
recital.

Although pioneering the development of new instruments and adapting a
rich traditional music to them is a formidable and sometimes lonely
task, Debashish has been heartily supported in important quarters
notably by Ali Akbar Khan. After all the Sarod is only 150-200 years
old.

Debashish Bhattacharya will be introducing his latest Trinity of
Guitars to students and music lovers in workshops and concerts in
Berkeley, California. These are:

>> The Chaturangui, a 24-string, hollow-neck Indian classical guitar
>>that blends the tonal resonance of several Indian instruments
>>(including the sitar) while also keeping the original sound of the
>>guitar.

>> The Gandharvi, a 12-string that combines the sound of the guitar
with Indian classical instruments.

>> The Anandi, a four-string Debashish describes as being similar to
a Western slide ukulele, or small lute.

"The instruments are derived from the Hawaiian steel guitar, but the
structure and the tone has been developed in a way that it is the
steel guitar plus something ... because if you play a foreign
instrument in a foreign culture ... you will always be treated as a
guest. That is what I didn't like being a guitarist -- that is why I
have tried always to get a form of the slide guitar, which can have
the access to the find the tradition of the style and technique of
the instrumental technique of my country. That has been the entire
focus of my life for the last 30 years."

---Debashsih Bhattacharya

This event is part of CNMAT's 2004 Guitar Innovators Series -- other
events can be found here:
http://cnmat.cnmat.berkeley.edu/GIG/

CNMAT is located at 1750 Arch Street, Berkeley, CA and is wheelchair
accessible
Map and directions: http://www.cnmat.berkeley.edu/Home/WhereisCNMAT.html
CNMAT Calendar: http://www.cnmat.Berkeley.EDU/Calendar

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FW: Concerts Fri 3/5 & Sat 3/6: Debashish Bhattacharya, Hindustani Slide Guitar Master

🔗Kurt Bigler <kkb@breathsense.com>

🔗David Beardsley <db@biink.com>