Readings: Rochelle Potkar
We are proud to have Rochelle as one of Caesurae members. As a creative artist, she came over to Gangtok for a Haibun and Haiku workshop and readings in a Caesurae-Rachna collaborative event, at the Rachna Bookstore. Caesurae members met her for the first time at the Hyderabad Literary Festival, 2016, and since then Rochelle has joined our Society and has been working closely with us. Fictionist and poet, Rochelle Potkar’s collection, The Arithmetic of breasts and other stor
Raaga Kedar by Shri Bhabanishankar Dasgupta
Shri Bhabanishankar Dasgupta is the elder son and disciple of the living legendary Sarode Maestro Padma Bhushan (Pt.) Buddhadev Dasgupta.
Raga Kedara, belonging to the Kalyan thaat, is a Night Raga, which is resplendent with the beauty of love. While the raga could be rendered as a sringara rasa, it ultimately transcends into mysticism. Human desire and yearning blends into sublime grandeur. Whether in music, dance or painting, Kedara has the resonance of emotions strung f
Popularising Carnatic Music
My son has entered the world of Carnatic music after what seems a long while. He is a genuine seeker and he wants to understand, what he refers to as the ‘emotive art’, and experience the spiritual satisfaction offered by it. But he is also a restless modern man and he wants to know why troubling questions of hegemony and elitism are levelled against it and how he is to defend it. I am not sure we can defend the caste specific nature of the art. It is a historical given and w
Dhrupad and Musical Instruments
The dhrupad which has sunk into oblivion today, was the predominant form of classical vocal music in medieval India. It was sung to the accompaniment of pakhawaj and not the tabla. The pakhawaj was a cylindrical drum like instrument which was played with the palms. The style of singing the dhrupad was characterized by an elaborate alap, and intricate rhythmic patterns. The application of fast tans (musical phrases) was strictly forbidden in it. Consequently, the stringed inst
Carsten Wicke's Lecture Demonstration on Rudra Veena
Carsten Wicke remains one of the very few international rudra veena players today who shows expertise both in the Khandarbani and the Dagarbani style of dhrupad. Born in Germany, Carsten was trained there as a vocal musician and learnt violin as a child. His foray into Indian classical music began while he was learning India’s popular percussion instrument, tabla, from the renowned tabla maestro Pandit Anindo Chatterjee in Kolkata. Fascinated by the classical dhrupad music, C
Guru Shihsya Parampara: Pt Chetan Joshi
Pt. Chetan Joshi, is a well-known name in the music world. He is a noted flautist in the Hindustani Classical Music tradition. He was born in Jharia and brought up at Noamundi and Bokaro Steel City. He was trained under Late Acharya Jagadish (Bokaro), Late Pandit Bholanath Prasanna (Allahabad), Late Pandit Raghunath Seth (Mumbai) and Pandit Ajoy Chakravorty (Kolkata). He has been awarded with Rajakiya Sanskritik Samman (State honor) by the Government of Jharkhand. He has also
'Wait!' - Ashok Mohapatra
Ashok is a Caesurae member and an academic. Yet the fine artiste in him often times finds expression through music and graphic paintings. These images are like the tip of an ice-berg, and the viewer is left to his/her own free play of fantasy and imagination to construct a story based on the semiotics of Ashok’s presentation. These images on “Wait”, explore the possibilities of the emotive feelings in various ways. He did not come on the Spring Day of Holi I looked for him in
Nature Through Sanket Agarwal's Lens
Sanket Agarwal’s photography, is like holding up mirror to Nature. He catches the spirit of Mother Nature in the mountain landscapes of the Beyul land (Sikkim). “Beyul” or “Shang-rila” – the myth of the land of Paradise weaves its story through the clouds, the blue ridges, snowy peaks and the gushing waterfalls, along with the natural inhabitants who have adapted themselves to Nature. The photographs echo the message of peace and heavenly bliss, which urbanized people in thei
Paper Art and the Artist Haraprasad
Haraprasad is a self-groomed artist. He claims that his artistic sensibilities have been further nourished and compelled through his associations. His struggles, personal visions and his unobtrusive love for art making is an inseparable part of his life and personality. The special medium of the collage allows him to build up on paper the visual dialogues he intends to portray. Like plastic art, it allows the artist to touch and feel the picture. Most of his paintings reveal
Of Paints and Brushes
“For me the process of painting often begins without any definite visual idea. I tend to etch a few bold lines playfully and as the assemblage of lines, dashes, and dots begins to evoke a structure, I slow down and start to explore the depth of those marks. I love building different layers in my paintings by superimposing images. This creates a translucence which is ambiguous and vague. At times this weaves two or three parallel narratives into a painting. The human figures t
