Want to hear a Hawaiian Slide Guitar gliding forth with Hindustani raag, generously peppered with Jazz and Blues? The renowned master of Hindustani slide guitar, Pt. Debashish Bhattacharya would lead his four member team of ‘Calcutta Chronicle’ for a concert in the city on Saturday evening with a synthesis of classical pieces and his own contemporary compositions.
The 51-year-old Grammy nominee will cruise through some classical scales, including Charukesi, Keeravani, Khamach, Peelu, Yaman Kalyani and Bhairavi, accompanied by Anandi Bhattacharya (vocals), Subhashish Bhattacharya (tabla), Nishad Pandey (Electric Jazz guitar) and Aman Mahajan (keyboard).
A slide guitar is a Hawaiian Guitar, brought to India in the early 1930s by Hawaiian music bands travelling around the world. “While they were on their South East Asia tour, Kolkata became their base. They played along with several club musicians in the Kolkata music circles. They were confined to India until 1947 due to the Second World War,” explains Mr. Debashish Bhattacharya.
Pandit Brijbhushan Kabra pioneered the Hawaiian Guitar for classical Hindustani in 1959. Debashish learnt from the master from 1984 onwards.
He has an illustrious musical lineage going back to eight generations. He learnt vocals from his parents, who taught him the Gwalior and Patiala Gharana. He would reproduce his lessons on the Hawaiian Slide Guitar lying at home.
Admiration from people was enough for inspiration. At 15, he had made his own slide guitar – Chaturangi – with 24 strings, instead of the usual 6, to suit the ‘Hindustani shyli’.
“The open sound from the base and treble strings brings in the best meend suited to the Gaayaki, or the vocalised format,” explains Debashish who learnt under Pt. Kabra for 10 years in Ahmedabad. Debashish has had 3,000 concerts on the slide guitar in 20 years. He received the BBC Planet Award for World Music in 2007.
His will perform at 7pm at Caleb auditorium, at SAIACS CEO CENTRE, off Hennur Road, Kothanur. Tickets are available on www.bookmyshow.
