2000 Annual Concert

Date: April 30, 2000
Time: 3 to 6 pm
Venue: Memorial United Methodist Church
Location: 250 Bryant Avenue, White Plains, NY 10605
Items: Kathak, Sitar and Vocal
Stalls: Indian snacks and dresses

Please see the pictures of the concert.

Click

here to see about this concert in India Abroad.

It was a very successful concert. On Sunday - April 30th, ASAVARI celebrated its second annual concert with various items. The concert started with the National Anthems of United States followed by that of India. It was followed by Sitar by K. V. Mahabala with Narendra Budhakar in Tabla. Raag Charukeshi in Jhamptaal was presented. The rhythmic touch of the string instrument with the beats of Tabla, touched everybody's heart to a great extent.

There was the vocal presentation by Gargi and her students. They sung devotional songs based on classical ragas. Gargi has taken training in Hindustani ragas from many teachers in Calcutta. She also has a fair knowledge of songs written by the Nobel laureate Ravindra Nath Tagore and the rebel poet of India and Bangladesh, Kazi Nazrul Islam. Later, she also studied under the tutelage of vocal maestro Pandit Ajoy Chakravarty.

Kathak is unique for its Footwork and Circles. Asavari teaches Kathak at in Lucknow style. Gargi has been a student of Asavari, located at Calcutta for ten years. She has taken workshops from the renowned kathak guru Pandit Birju Maharaj. She is the choreographer of all the dances that will be presented this evening.

On a more informative note, Kathak is a wonderful blend of Hindu and Muslim culture. Hindu costume is Lahenga-Choli and Muslim costume is Salwar-Kameez. They also differ in languages and trend of thought. The Hindu theme uses Hindi as its language and is based on Hindu Gods and Goddesses, whereas the Muslim theme uses Urdu Ghazals and Sayerees, commonly based on love, separation, admiration and infatuation.

Kathak has different hand gestures and facial expression to show the difference between these two cultures. Asavari is now going to present both cultures through the medium of Kathak.

They started with the Hindu theme. Muslim theme was presented after intermission.

The Hindu way of greeting the audience by doing Namaste is called Amad. Lahenga-choli with bindi on the forehead reveals one of the traditional outfit of a Hindu women. This theme includes devotional songs: Slokas, Bhajans and songs based on classical ragas.

There was an orchestra of Indian percussion instruments by Shri Tapan Modak and his students. Tapan, the disciple of Pandit Kishen Maharaj, runs a school named under his guru as 'Pandit Kishen Maharaj Taal Taranga Institute.' Following the beat recital was kathak footwork by Gargi Bagchi and her students with tabla by Tapan ji. Gargi explained the beat theory to the audience. They presented the beats according to the Jatis or categories e.g. Tisra, Chatasra, Khanda, Misra and Sankirna. Also there were Jugalbandi (a friendly competition), Parans and Selami ke Tukde with tabla.

Following this was Muslim theme presented by Gargi and her students. They presented dances with Ghazals and Taranas.

In the event of Asavari's annual concert, Asavari did a folk dance in kathak style. The last item, which was a surprise item was a folk dance which has been choreographed by Gargi Bagchi in kathak style. This dance was from Kashmir and was performed by Gargi and her two senior students.

There were no tickets and donations. All expenses were bourne by Gargi and her husband Dr. Sugato Bagchi and by some of the local Indians and Americans who offered help with open arms in every respect e.g. auditorium, sound sysmtem, lights and stalls. The most striking thing is that all the guest artists performed for free just to help Asavari.