If you ever thought Indian classical music was just a little too controlled, a little too buttoned down, have a listen to powerful vocalist Anurag Harsh’s Guruji.
NEW YORK: If you ever thought Indian classical music was just a little too controlled, a little too buttoned down, have a listen to powerful vocalist Anurag Harsh’s Guruji. It has been remixed by DJs in the US and Europe and is one of the rare Hindustanti classical songs to be played at dance clubs in New York.
Deloitte consulting manager Harsh plans to keep it traditional but exciting when he performs an evening of Indian music based on ragas and “dervish rhythms” at Carnegie Hall on March 18. “I mostly see the older generation in classical music concerts, young people tend to think of them as “stuffy” and “boring.” I want them to come discover the excitement of traditional music,” said 34-year-old Harsh who even lives a stone’s throw from New York’s Carnegie Hall.
“I am experimenting with rendering traditional music to my audiences — without computers, without electronics — but with styles, instruments and melodies that are passionate, genuine and just kick-ass,” he added.
The promising Hindustani vocalist was born in India and migrated to the US to study. He has an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Masters degree in management from Wharton. Before leaving India, Harsh trained intensively under Pandit Chandrakant Apte and has a Masters in music from Mumbai’s Gandharva University.
Harsh is expecting a diverse turn-out at Carnegie and is planning to dip into his repertoire of Hindustani classical songs, ghazals, thumris and rhythmic fast-paced taranas. A live album will be released of the show.
“There is a cross section of audience and listeners in America. You have the serious classical listeners. Then you have those who like light classical music, the sort of thumris; and the more literary Urdu types who prefer shayri. Then there is the younger generation. It is hard to please everyone. I am going to incorporate whatever I know and give it my twist. There will be a lot of classical-based songs. I grew up in Kashmir where there are a lot of Urdu poets that people haven’t even heard of so I am going to sing their songs,” said Harsh.
Harsh inherited his love for classical music from his mother Asha Kaul, who was a well-known playback singer in Kashmiri films in the late 1960s. His mother and father are travelling from Jamshedpur to see him perform at the magnificent Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie.
Harsh has been dubbed “a musician’s musician,” a compliment that implies his technique is unfaultable and he has equal ability to compose and perform with sensitivity. The Acoustic Society of America described him as one of the “rare musicians” who have “absolute pitch” — also known as prefect pitch which is the ability to sing a musical note on cue without a prior reference note. He has performed in India and the Royal Festival Hall and Nehru Centre in London.
He will be accompanied at Carnegie by Nitin Mitta on the tabla and Kedar Naphade on the harmonium.
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