Kaushiki / Photo by Daniel Zafir (click on photo to enlarge)
Best news I’ve heard this week: Kaushiki Chakrabarty will sing on June 24th in Brussels :)) in the Palais des Beaux-Arts/Paleis voor de Schone Kunsten. Ahum… anyone in Holland picking this up?
In the first minutes of January 1st, in the new year 2011 – right after the fireworks – I watched a programme on tv-channel ARTE – titled ‘Christmas in Vienna’ – and stumbled upon a beautiful singer with a most wonderful voice, a mezzo soprano from Austria that got me hooked. Her name: Elisabeth Kulman. From now on I’m her fan. On YouTube there’s quite a number of videos dedicated to her, check them out. And here’s from the Christmas in Vienna-programme her honest and touching rendition of Caccini’s ‘Ave Maria’.
Amal Maher, the young diva from Cairo in Amsterdam on the 1st of June 2010. For me it was the concert of the year in The Netherlands. What a priceless present she gave to Holland with her marvellous singing ! I’m glad I filmed this in the Oosterpark ! 🙂
On tuesday 23 November 2010 at 23.05 PM German public radiostation WDR3 portrays phenomenal 30-year old (and my favourite) ragasinger Kaushiki Desikan Chakrabarty from Calcutta.
Kaushiki in 2010
Earlier, on 10 November 2010 WDR3 devoted a radio evening on Kaushiki, with a live broadcast of her concert in Bielefeld, a very beautiful performance that was described by renowned ragaspecialist Jan Reichow as “Das außergewöhnlichste, ergreifendste, intelligenteste, fröhlichste, innovativste Konzert Europas”. He’s not exaggerating. Kaushiki has it all and when you hear her live on stage her voice is able to touch your heart and soul deeper than you ever could have imagined… I’m saying this with great conviction as I’m speaking from my own wonderful experiences with hearing Kaushiki live in concert (at the Darbar Festival in 2008 in Leicester, and in 2007 in the Tropentheater in Amsterdam).
Kaushik performing in London in 2005, after she received the BBC3 World Music Award
WDR3 radio provides the following information for the radiobroadcast on 23 November 2010: Kaushiki Desikan Chakraborty gehört zu den großen Talenten der jungen Generation. Im Gegensatz zu früher dürfen Nachwuchskünstler heute schon viel früher ihr Können öffentlich zeigen. Kaushiki ist erst 30 Jahre alt und schon eine anerkannte Sängerin auf den großen Bühnen Indiens. Sie hat eine betörende Stimme und ein für ihr Alter ungewöhnliches technisches Vermögen. Die Pflege der alten Tradition ist ihr erklärtes Ziel. In diesem Sinne ist sie, obwohl jung, eine wertkonservative Künstlerin – mehr noch: sie trägt mit ihrer Haltung zum Überleben des klassischen indischen Geangs bei. Anlässlich ihres Bielefelder WDR-3-Konzerts vor knapp zwei Wochen erzählte Kaushiki unserer Autorin Clair Lüdenbach von ihrer Kunst und aus ihrem Leben.
If you like ragamusic you really should listen on tuesday 23 November at 23.05 PM to this WDR3-radio broadcast devoted to Kaushiki.
The intoxicating afrobeat-sound of Ghana’s legendary highlife veteran Ebo Taylor…
Danica Krstic sings ‘Preletese ptice lastavice’
Extraordinary mature singing by tremendous fourteen yr old Serbian singer Danica Krstic (born 25-11-95), who toured in The Netherlands only a month ago. ‘Preletese ptice lastavice’ is a wonderful song – drenched in melancholia – about the flight of swallow birds and sensitive matters.
In the press she’s been called (Gillian) ‘Welch’s lost young daughter’ 🙂 Bluegrass-country-folk songwriter Sarah Jarosz – a Texan teen, born in 1991 – is still very young and a huge talent. Her breakthrough album ‘Song Up In Her Head’, released in the summer of 2009, was now given a five star ‘top of the world’-review in Songlines (September 2010) by reviewer Rose Skelton who uses superlatives like ‘supertalent’, ‘fabulous moments’ and ‘exceptional piece of work’. On YouTube I found this track from Sarah Jarosz’s celebrated album, titled Shankill Butchers, a song she covered from The Decemberists. All the other tracks she wrote herself. Great to hear this new young talent.
Natacha Atlas is a great singer. I remember her solo debut album ‘Diaspora’ was one of my favourites in 1994. Through the years she made a lot of other great albums and now there’s a new one on its way, to be released in September.
I look forward to the release of Mounqaliba, where – as is explained in the video below – she explores links between Western classical music and Arabic classical music, ‘blending Middle Eastern, African and European sounds. Mounqaliba features new songs written in classical Arabic by Atlas and collaborator Samy Bishai, who learned violin from Russians and Armenians in Egypt. Atlas’ multicultural background – half Moroccan/Egyptian/Palestinian and half British and largely raised in Belgium – plays out in her genre-bending music, with its appreciation of Western electronic music and pop alongside a thorough grounding in Arabic musical traditions. For the new record, Altas had ambitious intentions: “What I hope I have achieved is to match the lyricism of classical music with the inherent poetry of Arabic… To create a melange of ideas and examined opposites.” Mounqaliba will release 21 September via Six Degrees Records.’ (quoted text from: http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/30/2992535/riff-report-new-music-this-week.html#ixzz0yE48cYHU )
Natacha Atlas explains about the upcoming release of Mounqaliba
One of Natacha Atlas’ lovely dance hits, Mon Amie La Rose
On Friday 31 July 2009, from 21.00 to 22.30 PM (dutch time), Gharana – my Concertzender programme on raga musicians and their performing tradition – features singer T.M. Krishna (b.1976) from Chennai (formerly Madras), one of the young top performers in carnatic -or South Indian- raga music. He’s known for his glowing voice and Continue reading
Aruna Sairam
Last saturday, 30 May 2009, BBC Radio 3’s World Routes focused once more on the Darbar South Asian Music Festival 2009 at London’s Southbank Centre, this time highlighting the concert of carnatic star singer Aruna Sairam. I was there too in the Purcell Room in London, it was a fantastic concert! The programme offers large segments of the concert and an interview with Aruna Sairam who explains some of carnatic music’s intricacies. This edition of World Routes is available for ‘on demand’ listening until 6 June 2009. Read more at BBC Radio 3. A must for evryone with an interest in Indian classical music.