LEXINGTON, MA—Shadaj, a non-profit organizations that promotes Indian classical music, is organizing “East meets West” music concert on Friday, September 27, at the Scottish Rite Masonic Museum in Lexington, MA.
East Meets West concert is a unique blend of traditional Indian and Western classical Instruments performing Indian classical music. The concert features celebrated artists Saskia De Haas (Cello), Shubhendra Rao (Sitar) and Aditya Kalyanpur (Tabla).
This event is arranged by Shadaj and is co-sponsored by Lexington Community Education and Community Endowment of Lexington in association with several local organizations such as Lexington Symphony, Cary Memorial Library, Lexington Arts Council, IAL and NESOM. The concert is free for students, seniors and Shadaj members.
Pandit Rao, a well-known composer and performer, a prime disciple of the legendary Pandit Ravi Shankar, will perform a duet with Saskia Rao-De Haas, who is a cellist and composer from the Netherlands. Saskia is an accomplished Western classical cellist from the prestigious CODARTS and University of Amsterdam, who also has studied with Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia.
Kalyanpur, a child prodigy and a prime disciple of the legendary Ustad Allarakha and Ustad Zakir Hussain will accompany them on Tabla.
Days preceding to the concert, from September 23 to 26, Shadaj has organized a series of free lecture demonstrations and music appreciation sessions at the Cary Memorial library in Lexington.
Several local artists will participate in this series of lecture demonstrations. Phil Scarff will talk about similarities and differences between Indian Classical Music and Jazz. Music teacher Tara Anand will explain the Carnatic vocal/violin nexus. Amit Kavthekar and Fabio Pirozzolo will demonstrate different rhythmic patterns in western and Indian drumming.
“Shadaj’s mission is to nurture Indian Classical Music in its most authentic form and to bring about cultural integration through music,” Shadaj said in a statement. “The annual outreach event is a step towards this goal resulting in involvement of several prominent organizations not limited to the Indian diaspora.”
The music being performed on Sept. 27 will be a confluence of eastern and western classical traditions. The artist performing the music come from the east (India) and west (Nederlands, USA); and the organizations collaborating for the event reflect strong eastern and western representation.
Details about the concert and lecture demonstrations is available at www.shadaj.org
