Entertainment, acts & performances

Classical music is an integral part of our lives - yet we perceive it to be esoteric and inaccessible. HumRaag demystifies classical music by revealing its integral role in popular music from Bhajans, Bollywood numbers, Ghazals and Poetry.

Outline

From Ajnabee to Zanjeer, movies in Hindi, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu are filled with songs and music that are strongly rooted in classical music. The performance features audio and video snippets of the songs themselves seamlessly leading to live performance of the ragas or melody they are based on and a short background on these ragas and their forms in both Carnatic and Hindustani traditions. Poetry and narration by the sutradar strings the pearls of music into a whole multi-layered story that has the audience, not just nodding heads and tapping toes but guessing what comes next.

Bhajans, Bollywood numbers, Carnatic songs, Ghazals, Poetry and Hindustani music all feature in a variety of languages from Bengali to Telugu – for a multi-lingual, multi-media experience. The accompanying percussion and strings further enrich the performance.

Requirements

A slide projector, screen, four microphones (1 podium and 3 on-stage) and ability to broadcast sound from computer.
Participants must bring an open mind, and willingness to sing along in public.

Speaker bio

The Performer
Chitra Srikrishna, carnatic musician and writer, is a graded artist of All India Radio and has been a Carnatic vocalist for over two decades. She has performed in numerous sabhas and on radio and television in India and overseas. She has released several classical albums of devotional poetry such as Tamil alwars and Dasa kritis, and thematic compositions on Rama and Hanuman. She writes a music column for Citizen Matters and is a regular contributor to the Hindu and Deccan Herald newspapers.

The Sutradar
Shoba Narayan, author, columnist and music lover. She writes about food, travel, fashion, art and culture for many publications, such as Conde Nast Traveller, Gourmet, Time, Silk Road and others. She writes a weekly column for the Mint Lounge, in India and The National in Dubai. She’s the author of two books, Monsoon Diary and Return to India. She’s a graduate of the Columbia Journalism School and is an alumnus of Mount Holyoke College and Women’s Christian College.

Links

• http://facebook.com/HumRaag