Qatar- Grammy winning Indian musician enthralls Katara audience

Hundreds of Indian classical music lovers had the privilege to watch Grammy winning musician Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt and Grammy nominee Shashank Subramanyam creating beautiful music yesterday at Katara Drama Theatre.

Dubbed 'Unison of Strings and Wind, the concert was a Jugalbandhi performance, which in Indian classical music means duet of two musicians, with Bhatt showcasing his great skill playing the Mohan Veena, a slide guitar he himself created, while Shashank revealing why he is arguably the best bamboo flutist in the world.

They were accompanied by two equally talented musicians who demonstrated their expertise in playing Indian percussion instruments —Himanshu Mahant on tabla and Patri Satish Kumar on mirdangam.

'One feature of the Indian classical music is that it is based on improvisation which means no pre-written or pre-composed music. It is created there and then spontaneously and will not be repeated in another programme; that's the beauty of Indian classical music, Bhatt told the audience.

The legendary 1994 Grammy Award winner stressed that while the two streams of Indian classical music — Carnatic and Hindustani music — are slightly different in approach, they can become one which they aimed to show at yesterday's concert on the occasion of World Music Day.

Bhatt said it was his privilege and pleasure to perform in front of an august audience in Doha which he described as ‘a wonderful city.

The well applauded performance was preceded by sitar recital by Amita Dalal with Himanshu on tabla, who both impressed the audience with their exceptional talent in a 20-minute scintillating show.

The concert served as the launch event by Beats and Tunes Events (BTE) organised in line with the ongoing Qatar India 2019 Year of Culture in cooperation with the Indian Embassy and Katara Cultural Village.

 'This happens to be the 21st event on the India Qatar Year of Culture. We are really happy for what we have achieved having events that had witnessed such good interest in Qatar and we have more coming before the Year of Culture comes to an end, said Indian Ambassador to Qatar, P Kumaran.

The ambassador congratulated BTE for a successful launch and thanked Katara for its constant support and ceaseless help in presenting many events by the Embassy during the Year of Culture. 'It is a great honour and privilege for us to launch Beats and Tunes Events today as it also happens to be the World Music Day. We are honoured to host this programme at this prestigious Drama Theatre in Katara Cultural Village with artistes of great international recognition to perform for us, said BTE Director Varshini Gopal

Bhatt praised BTE 'because they are working selflessly so that they can provide music to people who are interested in it.

In 1994, Bhatt along with American musician Ry Cooder won the Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for 'A Meeting by the River.

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