Last night I was fortunate to attend the 12th Anniversary Tribute Concert in Memoriam of Pandit Pran Nath.
The performance was at the Dream House on Church Street and featured the Just Alap Raga Ensemble of
- La Monte Young - Voice
- Marian Zazeela - Voice
- Jung Hee Choi - Voice
- Da’ud Constant - Voice
- Charles Curtis - Cello
- Jon Catler - Fretless Guitar
- Naren Budhkar - Tabla
- The Tamburas of Pandit Pran Nath (from the Just Dreams CD)
The tickets were a present from my good friend Anne who knew how much I would like to go. Many years go she and I were fortunate to see Pandit Pran Nath perform in San Francisco.
Pandit Pran Nath was the disciple of the legendary Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan. This relationship in itself is quite interesting - Pandit Pran Nath a Hindu and Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan a Muslim Sufi (of the Chisti order I think). It is no surprise that the music that they made (referred to as the Kirana style) is deeply meditative. Also it is no surprise that this music appealed to a perfectionist of tones, La Monte Young.
As you can imagine it was hot last night (June in NYC) and as everyone packed into the Dream House the heat combined with the tambura made me breath deep and slowly. After some time the musicians entered, paid respects to Pandit Pran Nath and then sat and soon after the music began. I don’t know what I was expecting having never heard La Monte Young sing but as he started I was amazed and captivated. His voice reminded me of Pandit Pran Nath. The music slowly unfolded as the other singers joined in. Singing in unison at times and at other times in a call and response fashion. When they all sang in unison it was beautiful.
The composition “Raga Sundara” composed by Young is a slowly unfolding piece. Although I am not a scholar on this music, it sounded as if the majority of the composition (if not the entire thing) is an Alap (what is generally the opening section of a classical piece). Over the period of the performance, I felt myself in a meditative yet attentive state - enjoying the amazingly harmonious pitches. I was surprised by the presence of cello and guitar in ensemble - but they were beautiful additions. In particular, seeing a guitar I first was confused but as soon as I noticed that it was fretless, I knew that it would work and it did. After a quickly passing hour plus, the performance ended. The musicians rose, paid respects and left the room and Anne and I went out into the pouring rain and talked about the performance for another half an hour or more.
There will be a second performance on the 27th of June. If you are interested in Indian Classical music or Just Intonation or anything tangential to these, I encourage you to attend.
Some links of interest:
