The thirteenth Baithak on 2 December 2017 in Alt-Treptow was the first to feature Persian as well as Indian classical music, with santur player Manouchehr Fouladvand and Mahmood Ramzani on setar and tar, and Raimund Engelhardt on tabla.
The artists were introduced by Matyas Wolter, who performed an Alap of Yaman on surbahar.
The twelfth Baithak on 25 October 2017 in Alt-Treptow featured tabla player Saibal Chatterjee for a solo performance of many compositions and with insightful commentary and sitar player Sebastian Dreyer, who played Hemant with compositions in tintal and Kafi in rupak tal with support on tabla by Raimund Engelhardt.
The eleventh Baithak took place on 26 September 2017 in Alt-Treptow and featured sitar player K. G. Westman with support from tabla player Rahul Pophali, preceded by sitar player Alexander Konanchuk and Yatziv Caspi on tabla. Westman played Jog and a film tune. Konanchuk played a dadra in Bhairavi.
The tenth Baithak took place on 24 June 2017 in Alt-Treptow and had five featured musicians: singer Samarth Nagarkar, sitar player Steven Landsberg, and singer Madhumita Ray, as well as percussion accompanists Sanjib Pal and Raimund Engelhardt. Nagarkar started the evening with Tilak Kamod, followed by Yaman, with a composition by a teacher of his, and a folk song from Rajasthan. Landsberg played Bageshri and Khamaj. Ray sang Kedar, Jog, and closed the night by singing Bhairavi without accompaniment.
On June 25, Landsberg lead a workshop on the subject "Traditional compositions of Senia gharana", where he considered Jaunpuri, Bhimpalasi, and Yaman.
The ninth Baithak on 1 June 2017 in Alt-Treptow showcased the return of sarod player Apratim Majumdar and tabla player Amit Chatterjee. They dedicated their performance to the memory of Subroto Roy Chowdhury (d. 2017) and played Kaunsi Kanhra, Manj Khamaj, and Mishra Kambhoji (?) with a playful nod to the anthem of Europe.
Sitar player Subroto Roy Chowdhury died on 21 May 2017 in Gesundbrunnen. Aside from performing for BRT, he had taught and influenced many BRT associates.
For more information please see this article in The Telegraph.
The eighth Baithak on 3 May 2017 in Alt-Treptow was sheduled to feature three acts: Matyas Wolter on sitar with Sanjib Pal on tabla, Bharatanatyam dancer Sohini Roychowdhury Dasgupta, and sarod player David Trasoff with Pal on tabla. Unfortunately, Sohini had to reshedule her flight and we missed her performance. Wolter and Pal began the evening with a performance of Multani, Trasoff continued with Shyam Kalyan and finished the evening with Sindhu Bhairavi. Trasoff had previously carried out a workshop on May 2 and 3.
The seventh Baithak on 10 January 2017 in Alt-Treptow featured the Damla Project, consisting of bansuri player Ron 'Shpatz' Cohen and guitarist Gilaad Weiss, who performed fusion music with support on percussion by Yatziv Caspi. The evening also showcased traditional Hawaiian slide guitar, also called lap steel guitar, played in Indian classical style by Neel Ranjan Mukherjee, who performed Rageshri, again supported by Caspi.
The sixth Baithak was held on 21 December 2016 in Schöneberg at the art studio of Murshida Arzu Alpana. She had found and bought an old sitar that was of an originally high quality make but required extensive maintenance. BRT members with expertise offered assistance and restored the instrument to playability. This Baithak served as the showcase of the instrument. Matyas Wolter performed alap and madhya laya and drut tintal in Sarasvati, accompanied on tabla by Yatziv Caspi. In addition, Alpana performed Nazrul Sangeet, songs of Bengali poet Nazrul, and played harmonium, also supported by Caspi.
A special event took place on 20 December 2016 in Alt-Treptow, a guided listening session prepared by Matyas Wolter from a selection of his favored old records. Together with tea and sweets we listened to and discussed artists of Indian classical music in many styles, from khyal to thumri, vocal and instrumental music, with influences ranging from dhrupad to folk music, spanning the decades from singers of courtly tradition such as Zohrabai (d. 1913) to representatives of modern developments like Kumar Gandharva (d. 1992). The presentation closed with recordings of Ravi Shankar (d. 2012), maybe the most commonly known Indian classical musician in the Western world. A link to relevant records can be found here.
The fifth Baithak on 24 October 2016 in Alt-Treptow featured sitar player K. G. Westman and tabla player Rahul Pophali on a stop of their European tour. Multani was performed in alap-jor-jhala followed by vilambit laya tintal and drut laya tintal. The performance closed with a dhun in Dhani.
The fourth Baithak on 18 October 2016 in Alt-Treptow featured new musicians not before featured in the format and the return on another. Tabla player Hindole Majumdar served as accompanist and began with a solo performance in tintal. Singer Sangeeta Bandyopadhyay performed Jogkauns and Shahana with a bandish by Amir Khan, with additional support from Shabbir Haider on harmonium. Madhuri Chattopadhyay followed with a performance on violin.
On 10 October 2016 Matyas Wolter and Sanjib Pal gave a concert at the Kirche Damsdorf for the record release of Five Ragas & Four Talas. Wolter played Bhimpalasi on surbahar, Charukeshi and a dhun on sitar accompanied by Sanjib Pal on tabla and pakhawaj.
On 7 October 2016 Matyas Wolter and Sanjib Pal held a record release party in Neukölln for the release of their record Five Ragas & Four Talas. They performed some of the "ragas and talas" featured on the album, followed by special guest, music project Yatra, made up of Raimund Engelhardt, Lorenz Masé, and Doron Furman, with additional support from tabla player Cornelius Hogeweg.
The following two videos are promotional videos for the record, a performance of Bhairavi with short alap and fast rhythmic cycle in tintal and a performance of Bhupali in sultal:
The third Baithak on 18 September 2016 in Alt-Treptow showcased British sitar player Jonathan Mayer, who, with tabla accompaniment by Sanjib Pal, performed Puriya Dhanashri, the rare Ahiri, influenced by folk music, and a song in Desh. Please note the introductory speech by Subroto Roy Chowdhury in the video for historical background.
Not a Baithak, but a church concert, was given on 11 September 2016 in the Samariterkirche in Friedrichshain. It was named Guru-Shisya-Parampara-Concert and accordingly featured teacher and student. Access to the venue was provided by the Galiläa-Samariter-Kirchengemeinde.
Matyas Wolter played Puriya Kalyan on surbahar. This was followed by Subroto Roy Chowdhury, who played Nandkauns, first alap-jor-jhala and then vilambit laya tintal and drut laya ektal. Sanjib Pal served as accompanist. Another student of Subroto Roy Chowdhury sounded the tanpura.
The second Baithak on 6 June 2016 in Alt-Treptow again featured a variety of musical styles of Indian music.
The first section was devoted to Nazrul Sangeet, the songs of Nazrul,
national poet of Bangladesh, performed by Bangladesh native Murshida Arzu Alpana, who also played harmonium and was accompanied by Yatziv Caspi.
An ensemble of Berlin tabla players, named after Berlin-based tabla tarang and sarod player Kamalesh Maitra and led by Laura Patchen, continued with works by Maitra, whose music sometimes aspired to describe cosmic themes.
Finally, sarod player Apratim Majumdar and tabla player Amit Chatterjee performed Jaijaivanti, first a solo alap-jor-jhala on sarod, followed by joining of the tabla for a vilambit laya rhythmic cycle of tintal. They decided to follow this up with the ever-popular Bhairavi in tala dadra together with a presentation of the raga mala ("garland of raga") form which gives glimpses of several ragas during one performance.
The very first Berlin Raga Tribe event fell on 24 April 2016 in Alt-Treptow and featured a plethora of Hindustani musicians. First instrumentalist Matyas Wolter performed an alap in Yaman on surbahar, followed by a composition in rhythmic cycle sultal in Bhupali., accompanied by Kolkata-based tabla player Sanjib Pal (who would accompany all musicians except for one, see below). Next, singer Mitali Banerjee Bhawmik performed Shyam Kalyan in khyal, the predominant genre of Hindustani classical music, followed by a light classical thumri in Mishra Kafi. Mrs. Bhawmik was followed by sitar player Subroto Roy Chowdhury (1943–2017), who played Bageshree and Manj Khamaj. It was now time for a performance of Jog and a bhajan by violinist Madhuri Chattopadhyay, a student of violinist V. G. Jog, accompanied by Berlin-based tabla player Yatziv Caspi. The final performance of the night, already closing in on the late night hours, was given by American sarod player David Trasoff, who played Chandranandan, a compound raga by Ali Akbar Khan, and Gorakh Kalyan, accompanied by Sanjib Pal.
Below a gallery of photos to give an impression of the venue:
This is the Facebook group description: "Berlin Raga Tribe (BRT) is a loose and open group of musicians and students of classical Indian Raga Music based in and around Berlin. BRT is interested in exchanging and spreading that beautiful artform and is activly arranging intimate house concerts and the like."
The purpose of this blog is to describe past and future events connected to this association.
Please feel free to join our Facebook group and check out the BRT-YouTube-Channel. Or contact berlinragatribe@gmail.com for information.
