Times Raasrang World Flute Festival at Bahai House of Worship auditorium in Delhi

The Times of India in partnership with Krishna Prerna Charitable Trust organized the fifth Times Raasrang World Flute Festival at the auditorium of the Bahai House of Worship, Lotus Temple, in the capital recently.
The festival featured renowned flautists from seven countries and symbolized the “language of pea ce“, a reference to the soulful tunes by the musicians.Vetsop Namgyel, the ambassador of Bhutan to India, Satish Mehta, director general, ICCR and Lee Joon-gyu, Korean ambassador to India, were present on the first day of the festival.
A VARIETY OF FLUTES
The festival started off with a per formance by Indian flutist Samir Chandra Seth, who played the Indian bamboo flute. This was fol lowed by perform ances by flautists from South Korea and Bhutan, who were dressed in their traditional attire.
Sungpil Yang played the South Korean Daegeum, a large bamboo transverse flute, with Seounghwi Park on the Piri ­ a Korean double reed instrument made of bamboo ­ and Jae seung Sin on percussions. The performance by the Bhutanese artistes saw even more variations of the wind instrument with Jigme Drukpa on the Bhutanese Dong Lim-bamboo whistle, Zur Lim on the transverse flute, Thang Lim on the sle eping flute and Yeshi on the two-stringed fiddle.
The second day saw renowned Indian, Korean and Bhutanese flautists perform as music from different lands merged and reached its destination ­ the hearts of the listeners. The festi val also saw performances by Rasika Shekar, guitarist Neil Mukherjee, percussionist Tarit Pal, as well as Zalai on the flute from Afganishthan and Mohd Nazir Nabizada on the tabla. Artistes from Bangladesh also performed at the do with vocalist Sohrab Uddin, flautist Mohd Moniruz zaman and Mrityunjoy Kumar Das, and Mohd Nasir Uddin on the Dotara and Iftekhar Alam Prodhan on the tabla.
BANSURI WORKSHOPS ARE POPULAR IN BELGIUM
Belgian jazz artiste Manuel Hermia, who plays jazz, rock and even indulges in the flute's Indian form ­ the bansuri ­ told us, “I came here as a tourist and I was a student when I started learning how to play the bansuri. Even though I was a professional jazz player then, I was quite attracted to the sound of the bansuri, and wanted to learn to be patient and disciplined.“ He added, “The bansuri is becoming popular worldwide and the credit for that goes to Hariprasad Chaurasia. He has done a great job. Back in Belgium, around 15 years ago when I started playing the flute, there were just the two or three others who played the flute. Now, there are bansuri workshops held there, which are always packed with people. Yes, always packed with people. people do want to learn the electric guitar and synthesizer, but these wind in struments, which are part of India's cultural heritage, are also finding favour among the youth because eventually , we have to go back to our roots. Even Indian music, which has a history of thousands of years, has never stopped changing. Musicians of all generations are changing the music of their forefathers.“
MAKE FLUTE MAINSTREAM
And how do we make flute mainstream? Suhail Yusuf Khan, a sarangi player, and member of Delhi band Advaita, who played at the festival, said, “In Bollywood songs, they use a lot of flute, but as an accompaniment. I think the flautists need to come out more, and not work as accompanists, because that's an easy way to earn money . Instead, they should take risks and do some experimental work and make set-ups where the flute is leading rather than just staying as fillers."