Video biographies of Allaudin Khan & Nikhil Banerjee

[Kirya]

1963 documentary on Baba Allauddin Khan

Interesting documentary from 1963, with lots of must-see footage, on Baba Allauddin Khan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1alFUQfe ... r_embedded



THAT WHICH COLORS THE MIND
A Documentary on the Classical Indian Sitarist Pandit Nikhil Banerjee

"My approach to music is very deep. I do not compromise. Indian music is based on spiritualism and was practiced and learned to know the Supreme Truth. A musician must lift up the souls of the listeners and take them towards Space. This is the history of Indian music. "
-Nikhil Banerjee

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... OKpQrNDpaw

It takes a few minutes before the sound starts so be patient

[Kirya]

I also highly recommend this 4 hour detailed view of ICM which used to be on Youtube in full but has now been removed.

About Raga Unveiled

India, unlike any other country in the world, boasts of cradling an art music that has been sifted and refined over 4000 years. With the even flow of evolution and an unshakeable support of theory, raga music is at once vibrant, mesmeric and sublime to this day. At its core is an ambition to profoundly change the performer and the listener at the deepest level. Nothing more nothing less!

Raga Unveiled is a most inspiring and sweeping look at the entire “ architectural brilliance” of a musical system that gave birth to this most wonderful and profound musical art form. For the first time on film, eloquent commentaries by musicians, Vedic scholars, and musicologists join hands with spectacular cinematography, intoxicating spectrums of sound, and rare archival footage resulting in a grand synthesis to honor this music in its entirety.

Raga Unveiled inspires, moves and transports one to a place that you never imagined existed. It is a spiritual engagement second to none!

http://www.ragaunveiled.com/raga_unveiled_trailer.htm

[chrisitar]

Wonderful! I was halfway through Raga Unveiled when it got removed. I was loving it! Thanks for the links.

[Kirya]

This is a video with Ravi Shankar introducing sitar and Raga basics including Rupak Alap, Aochar Alap and traditional Beenkar gharana alap

You can also see Sanjay Sharma at Rikhi Ram cutting a gourd to start making an instrument

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3ST1sgB ... re=related

An All India Radio Films Division presentation on Pt Ravi Shankar. Featuring portions of live performances as well as him speaking about his music as well as his approach to both tradition and innovation - that is also quite interesting with very interesting musical segueways

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtq1xqTp ... re=related (Part 1) This has a lot of material in Hindi in first 4 minutes. He later also addresses the accusations that he was selling out to the west.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSGif1k3 ... re=related (Part 2) He makes an attempt to describe "sadhana" which is a key concept in terms of inner attitude regarding this music in the second one.



RS: The Man & His Music
From an excellent French production. It shows the Pandit's school he was building in Varanasi only to have to sell it later & move to Delhi. It was called Himangana after his beloved mother, Himangani.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t64w7b6Z ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0JMge8u ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsbxYQkE ... re=related



South Bank Excerpts on Ravi Shankar -- More recent with details about Anoushka and intimate family stuff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suKfM2po ... re=related (Has shots from Piloo with Menuhin)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-ZZYFWR ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYs_2JSj ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOrnVA8a ... re=related

[Lars]

This is a video with Ravi Shankar introducing sitar and Raga basics including Rupak Alap, Aochar Alap and traditional Beenkar gharana alap

You can also see Sanjay Sharma at Rikhi Ram cutting a gourd to start making an instrument

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3ST1sgB ... re=related

That's actually Ajay in the video, not Sanjay. Pretty good theatre

Lars

[Kirya]

I wandered since the last time I saw him he did not have a moustache - thanks for making the correction

[Kirya]

Many of you perhaps already know of this but here is a series of Master Class videos By

Ustad Imrat Khan with both western and Indian instruments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QXb0YaL ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wuKIjjr ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU_qJLPm ... re=related

He talks about how many western instruments can also play Indian music even those that cannot slur (meend) so easily

[Kirya]

This is the fourth segment of the Imrat Khan Master class

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjjoF2Yf ... re=related

[Kirya]

This is getting off the original topic but I thought I would continue to share good video content that might be useful to people learning to play the sitar or interested in the instrument in general.

Arvindh Parikh teaches how to structure an alap and how to develop it using Raga Yaman as his showcase. I found it useful and it is helpful to tune to C# and play along as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Jo4OZ_Q ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yC9wkNb ... re=related

[pfintucson]

You know.... I watched (again) That Which Colors the Mind. It is a cryin' shame that a documentary on one of the most amazing musical minds (not to mention players...) is struggling to raise funds. Maybe some well-to-do lover of his music should put it in his/her will

As for the portion that is done, I think it could use a little less "interviews" and more playing- a better balance anyway- I realize it's a not a concert.. At least spread out the interviews and commentary so that more of the performances can be heard. However, what's there is still very moving. It's amazing (and cliche at this point on this forum) but it only takes about 10 seconds of hearing any of those video clips to realize the genius he was. Some time back, I was extremely fortunate to be sent a DVD of an old performance of NB with a young Zakkir on tabla- I cherish it, despite the slightly fuzzy video. A true documentary, produced with a real budget, could reach many, many more than just us players. I work in a very pro music store and I'm the only ICM enthusiast among many good musicians and guitar players. However, when I let some see an excerpt of NB doing a drut gat, the whole store stopped. They didn't quite understand, but they knew this was a special musician. Excuse me for ranting a bit....

[Kirya]

It is really sad that this project (That Which Colors the Mind) is stuck for funding

I will certainly try to make potential benefactors aware of this and hopefully it does get done and available to the world with lots of concert footage and comments by all kinds of listeners who feel the sheer power and energy of the music.

[Kirya]

It would be a shame and simply wrong not to mention Vilayat Khan in any discussion on amazing seminal sitar and sarod players. There is less material available but hopefully more starts coming out. Both of these videos were released after his death to the best of my knowledge.

The following are a few videos where there is good sound quality (so you can really hear intricate meend) and also good camera angles on the hands of Vilayat Khan as he plays Darbari in particular. He comments frequently in Urdu through his playing explaining exposition and technique.


Remembering the legend UVK

Part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c86DLKSq ... re=related (Detailed Footage on Darbari alap)
Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ACS-_I_ ... MuetrAKOlI
Part 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIZyGnWM ... re=related (detailed footage on Bhairavi)
He says at the end of this that whatever faults you may have seen in me, those are mine alone and I ask for your forgiveness for them.

And this is a long conversation / interview but is mostly in Urdu (you will need at least a bit of Hindi to understand)
In conversation with sitar legend Ustad Vilayat Khan at his home in Princeton, N.J. – If somebody is interested www.dotsub.com will allow volunteers to subtitle any video for free.

• Wonderful description of how he and Kanai Lal modified the design of the sitar and he also asks/pleads that don’t mess the classical music up when you search for new stuff
• Talks about the old music culture and community about how they forgot to eat and fed on music
• Also he is not very big on fusion music and says clearly that fusion = confusion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z8wncWmM ... re=related

[Kirya]

I found this Shaid Parvez iterview also pretty wonderful (In Hindi)

He really stresses the importance of listening to music as much as possible and spends a lot of time describing what listening is all about.

He also talks at some length on what gayaki ang means and the importance of singing in addition to playing to really understand this music.

http://www.youtube.com/user/sitarjeet#p/f/2/RNN6lQZ4Ju4

I have seen some comments on the forum about how it is not necessary to use terms like Murchanna and I wonder how you can really learn this music without at least learning some basic Hindi terms if nothing more.

[Kirya]

A wonderful interview with Vilayat Khan in English on BBC

You can see that he is not comfortable in English and it is a stark contrast to his eloquent and easy Urdu/Hindi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9twgLWlMEV8

[Kirya]

Here are a bunch of video links related to UVK including the BBC interview

http://technologeet.tumblr.com/post/168 ... -interview