Audio Raga Mohankauns

Shankaragamala

 

Raga Mohankauns

Aochar Alap and Gat in Sade Gyarah (11 ½ beats). Gat compositon Kartik Seshadri

 

Raga Manomanjari

Aochar Alap and Gat(s) in Teentala (16 beats) and Ektala (6 beats)

 

 

 

Audio Teentala

Arup Chatterjee The Art of the Tabla Solo

 

Teentala

16 beat cycle

 

Jhaptala

10 beat cycle

 

Chartal-Ki-Sawari

11 beat cycle

 

Producer: Kartik Seshadri

 

 

 

 

Musical Evening Collaboration with Wu Mann

June 16, 2012: had a lovely musical dialogue with wonderful Pipa player Wu Mann at the Museum of Making Music in Oceanside, California. We shared several ideas about our respective traditions (India and China), two ancient cultures that have shaped their musical language with great care. What excites me about these exchanges are not only the meeting points of these great musical worlds but the contrasts in ways musical ideas are treated making each of them distinctly unique. Such interactions always prod questions in me about the very ideas centered around “fusion” (the new going term for collaboration): a further affirmation that there is a greater need to be even more responsible in ways traditions are nurtured and the end result is not one that suffers from dilution.

Top of the World Album

Songlines Magazine, March 2012 ~ I am deeply touched that Songlines Magazine has nominated my latest album Sublime Raga(s) as Top of the World 10 albums! It is particularly heart-warming for me that an Indian Classical Music album has been given its dues in its own “classical” right. I feel there needs to be more and more recognition for musical cultures such as India that emanate from the rigors of training, discipline and a gigantic tradition and history!

Sangeeth Research Academy ~ SRA/ITC Award

June 2011 – ITC/SRA  ~ I have been selected as the Artist of the Month by the prestigious ITC/SRA (Sangeeth Research Academy), Kolkata, for June 2011. I am deeply honored with this recognition by one of the most important institutions for Indian Classical Music that blends the traditional Gurukul system with the Institutional setting and has produced some incredible talents in the field of Hindustani Music!

The Orion Project Philip Glass

Am happy to revisit the Orion project Philip Glass a reprise 2010-11 beginning October 2010. The first set of performances are a part of the prestigious bicentennial celebrations of the Cervantino Festival in Guajuanato/Leon, Mexico and two performances at the Bellas Artes in Mexico City.

 

Following our hugely successful 2004 – 2005 tour, the excellent KPBS American Masters documentary has just released a wonderful documentary on the composer: “A Portrait of Philip in 12 Parts.” I am featured in both a performance and interview. Hicks (who also directed  “Shine” and “Snow Falling on Cedars”) shot much of the video himself in between our tours and greenrooms. The imagery is superb, and the eclectic interviews include Woody Allen, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Chuck Close and Martin Scorsese.

Archive 2010 – 2011

2010 -2011 BEAT CYCLE . . .

– Seshadri’s much anticpated Concerto #1 for Sitar and Orchestra was premiered at UCSD’s Conrad Prebys auditorium to a full auditorium and resounding appreciation. The Concerto in 3 movements ended with an extended standing ovation for this ground breaking work which has elicited much interest from other orchestras and chamber groups – dates and performances of the concerto TBA.

– Orion Project reprise: Philip Glass and Kartik Seshadri performed and collaborated this work with performances at Mexico’s Cervantino Festival and the Bellas Artes in Mexico City.

– Seshadri’s solo performance highlights include: SAPTAK, Peabody Essex Museum, RASA Festival with Bickram Ghosh (at the Satyaji Ray Auditorium, Kolkata, India . This exquisite concert was televised live on TARA TV.

– Seshadri was honored as “The Artist of the Month” by the prestigious and revered ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata, India

– Seshadri has been involved in varying educational and outreach activities. Besides his ongoing role as the Director of the Indian Music program at the University of California San Diego, he has been invited as a distinguished educator to hold master classes at SAPTAK and SRA Academies in India to the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada. His most recent outreach activities with the local community included a Benefit Concert for a local school to raise money for the school’s band program.

 

Kartik Seshadri and Philip Glass reprise 2010-11

the sitar virtuoso and noted composer re-visit the Orion Project in October 2010. The first set of performances are a part of the prestigious bicentennial celebrations of the Cervantino Festival in Guajuanato/Leon, Mexico and two performances at the Bellas Artes in Mexico City.

Following the hugely successful 2004 – 2005 tour, Seshadri was featured in the excellent KPBS American Masters documentary about Glass.“A Portrait of Philip in 12 Parts” film by director Scott Hicks. Seshadri is prominently featured in both a performance and interview. Hicks (who also directed “Shine” and “Snow Falling on Cedars”) shot much of the video himself, following Glass for 18 months. The imagery is superb, and the interviews eclectic: besides Kartik Seshadri, interviewees include Woody Allen, Ravi Shankar, Chuck Close and Martin Scorsese.

Upcoming Tour links:
Philip Glass
Philip Glass Calendar

 

Kartik Seshadri

– Rave reviews from Songlines Magazine for Kartik Seshadri’s performance at the Brighton Festival of World Sacred Music. Click here to read review.

– Extemp launch event on November 21st, 2009: organization for Indian Classical Music and other Improvised musics.

– Kartik Seshadri’s composition Concerto for #1 for Sitar and Chamber Orchestra receives its world premier with the Hutchins Consort on October 3rd and 4th in San Diego and Los Angeles.

– New CD “In Concert” with Kartik Seshadri and Anindo Chatterjee to be released. This recording will be available by mid-September 2008 and features Raga(s) Kaushi Kanada and Mishra Gara recorded live..

– after sold out performances in the UK (Brighton Festival) and Italy in April 2008, Kartik Seshadri (with Arup Chattopadhyay on tabla) now heads to Australia for the prestigious Melbourne International Arts Festival in October 2008. Following the festival, Mr. Seshadri will continue with his USA tour. Check tour schedule for full information.

– DVD “Love In” to be released soon. A festival recapitulating some of the great artists of the 60’s, Seshadri’s performance highlights Indian classical music along with a brief interview.

– returns to Lincoln Center on August 10th, 2007. This marks his third return to the venue. He will be accompanied by Abhijit Bannerjee on tabla.

– CD Illuminations was re-released worldwide and was noted as “sitar at its lyrical best” by the prestigiousSonglines Magazine in October 2006. The CD featuring Ragas Anandi Kalyan and Basant Mukhari was produced by the audiophile label Traditional Crossroads. Click here to read the Songlines review.

 

Philip Glass and Kartik Seshadri

Noted composer Philip Glass and sitar virtuoso Kartik Seshadri collaborated on the “Orion” project. The Orion premiered at the prestigious Ravinia Festival in Highland Park, Illinois and continued with performances for The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM, NY), University of Texas, Austin, and the Orange County Performing Arts Center. The world tour included performances for the Cervantino Festival in Mexico and the Melbourne International Arts festival, Australia. Orion was received with tremendous enthusiasm (click here to read reviews). The composition included Kartik Seshadri in performance with The Philip Glass Ensemble and also an improvisatory interlude with the Brazilian group UAKTI.

 

Kartik Seshadri’s recording tops the charts

Sitar virtuoso Kartik Seshadri’s latest recording Raga: Rasa – That which Colors the Mind has been named one of the Top Ten World Music albums by Songlines, the prestigious London-based music magazine. This two-disc recording was released in July 2004 by the audiophile label, Traditional Crossroads, New York, with Bikram Ghosh on the accompanying tabla. The recording features Ragas Jog, Mishra Piloo, Bilaskhani Todi and Bahar. Click here to read the review.

 

Kartik Seshadri

to perform for the prestigious Dover Lane Music Festival, Kolkata, January 23, 2004