And so, we were seated at the
Bishop’s College auditorium to experience the smooth and vibrant sounds of the
Sitar as Maestro Shri Niladri Kumar and his troupe was to Perform in
celebration of the 66th Republic Day of India. Usually when they say FUSION MUSIC, the
expected would be a Tabla playing alongside with an Electric Guitar maybe and playing
both modern and traditional music. But here, they didn't play a Sitar with a
Guitar, BUT, they played a Guitar on the Sitar !! This is what I LOVE about
Indian Musicians! They even gave it a new name the Zitar, as Shri Niladri Kumar
played his self made new instrument with such ease, I personally felt quite
silly as if he’s teasing us with child play and we found it absolutely amusing,
our jaws dropping on the floor!! So as the smooth Indian music night turned
into a full on rock concert, after the intro session was over Shri Niladri
Kumar welcomed everyone and announced that ‘ it was just their “sound check”
& now the show begins’ . That was exactly what happened. For a whole hour
the fascinating troupe played their hearts out and blew our minds.!
The troupe comprised of Aggi Agnelo Fernandes on
the keyboard who is well-known in the Bollywood music industry, Gino
Rahul Banks, son of Indian Jazz legend Louiz Banks on the drums – gave the best
Drum solo I have ever seen, Locally or Internationally. On Tabla was Ramdas
Gajanan Palsule who’s Tabla playing was absolutely supernatural. Believe me
when I say, that during his solo I was so worried that his fingers would be
tangled up any moment now. I have never seen anyone “handle” a Tabla the way he did. Last not
least was Deepak Jagdish Bhatt on the Dhol, a very iconic and 'completely Indian'drum which the mere sound of it anywhere in the world speaks INDIA. When he
played the Dhol everyone was transformed to a celebration in India.!
Although I am
supposed to be putting the whole concert into words, I have absolutely NO words
to express how fabulous it was and how truly honoured I am for having the
opportunity to witness such an amazing performance. So SALUTE to Maestro Shri Niladri Kumar and his
Troupe for an absolutely awesome show and Thank you, The Indian Cultural Centre - Colombo,
The Indian High Commission of Colombo for organizing such a wonderful event and
giving us Sri Lankans that rare opportunity to experience different tastes that
ONLY India has to offer.
Actually this is not the only
event The Indian Cultural Centre of Colombo organizes nor it is the only
activity they do here in Colombo.
The Indian Cultural Centre in
Colombo is situated on Greogory’s Road, Colombo 07 right Opposite the
Australian Embassy, and host a variety of classes of various Indian Cultural
Subjects, such as Hindi Language, Bharatha Natyam Dancing, Kathak Dancing, Yoga
Sessions, Carnatic Vocal Music, Hindustani Vocal Music, Sitar Classes, Tabla
Classes and Violin Classes.
They do these classes for a
very low price and it is actually day time robbery comparing to how much
classes of those subjects cost. Many students not only local but also foreign
who is residing in Sri Lanka attend these classes.
They also organize various
cultural activities like the one I have mentioned above through out the year
and most of the time they are FREE of charge and OPEN to all [local &
foreign].
You can find all information on their monthly newsletter “Sanskarika”
which can be collected at the Cultural Centre itself or you can even log into
their Facebook Page and get updates on the latest happenings.
https://www.facebook.com/indianculturalcentre
Photographs taken from the Indian Cultural Centre - Colombo Facebook page. This blog was written with consent of the Indian Cultural Centre - Colombo , Sri Lanka
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