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Sample Track 1:
"Raah Nihaaroon" from Monologues
Sample Track 2:
"Mai Kya Hoon" from Monologues
Layer 2
Interview

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The Asian Connections Newspaper, Interview >>

World Premiere of Mississauga, ON based south Asian World Music artist Vandana Vishwas’ sophomore music album ‘Monologues’ took place in a glittering ceremony at Sampradaya Dance creations auditorium in Mississauga, ON, on 20 January 2013. Dipika Damerla, the MPP for Cooksville East, ON was the guest of honour for the evening and inaugurated the CD, following which, maiden screening of the music video of one of it’s tracks, ‘Raah Nihaaroon’ also took place.

As of today, the album is available for purchase online at CDBaby.com, iTunes, Amazon, HMV, Chapters and many other outlets throughout Canada. An Indian launch of the CD is scheduled to take place in Mumbai, India on 9 February 2013. It is beaing distributed in India by Worldwide Records.

In Toronto, ‘Monologues’ is available at Musideum @ 401 Richmond Street, Soundscapes @ 572 College Street and L’Atelier Grigorian @ 70 Yorkville Avenue. Apart from this, it is available at all HMV, Chapters, Indigo branches and most speciality music stores all over Canada. Someone close to Mississauga can order it directly from me! Just e-mail me at info@vandanavishwas.com and we can arrange a pick up.

More details can be found at Vandana’s website :www.vandanavishwas.com.

“I don’t have any professional promoter working for me and everything is word of mouth,” Vandana Vishwas in an exclusive interview with Rakhee Prabhakar. Excerpts of the interview:

Q. When did you start learning and where?

A. I used to sing some complex songs with ease as early as four years old. This prompted my parents to enrol me in Akhil Bharatiya Gandharva Mahavidyalaya Mandal when I was about five and half years old and I started learning from Pandit Parashuram Sharma and then Mrs. Vimal Soni. As I grew up, I was mentored by Mr. D.K. Gandhe who also composed songs for me when I was an All India Radio artist. In due course I was fortunate to learn intricacies of ghazal singing from Ustaad Ahmed Hussain & Mohammed Hussain who heard me during one of my AIR recording sessions and offered to take me under their tutelage.

Q. Who is your greatest inspiration?

I am inspired by different people for different reasons. My greatest inspirations are :

Late Jagjit Singh inspires me because in spite of having no one to support him in the highly competitive Indian music industry, he carved a place for himself on his own. Lata Mangeshkar ji, not only because she is such a flawless singer, but also because she is such an intelligent artist and such a simple person. The way she uses all aspects of vocal artistry such as volume control, intonations, expressions and never shows even a trace of effort on her face or through her body language is simply unbelievable. Carlos Santana, because of his sheer magical guitar playing, composition skills, and the way he made his apparent ‘World Music’ a part of the mainstream Pop music.

Q. What is your favorite raga?

A. Raag Puriya-Dhanashree. It belongs to Poorvi Thhaat and is sung mostly at dusk time. ‘Komal Re’ (minor second) and ‘Komal Dha’ (minor sixth) combined with ‘Teevra Ma’ (augmented fourth) give it a unique feel. On another note, I would like to clarify that people mistakenly pronounce it ‘Raga’, which rhymes with ‘Saga’, but the actual pronunciation is ‘Raag’, much like the ‘a’ in ‘Far’.

Q. How are you planning to promote this CD (Monologues)?

A. I don’t have any professional promoter working for me and everything is word of mouth. I am travelling to India for my Indian launch which is scheduled for 9th February 2013 in Mumbai, then I have some performances lined up in Mumbai, Pune and Delhi. Here in GTA and nearby places, I am being invited for a lot of concerts so that should be a good promotion. On 23 March 2013, I have a concert organised by Divya arts, then on 14 April, I will be performing at Musideum – 401 Richmond street.

Q. Do you think Hindustani Classical is slowly dying out?

A. Answer to this question is rather complex. In essence, genuine Hindustani Classical music started dying when ‘Dhrupad’ and ‘Dhamar’ style of singing was slowly taken over by ‘Khayal’ singing. Those styles are now almost extinct and I doubt that most of people of Indian origin would even know what these terms mean. However, at least few Raags and Taals survived through all these years. I don’t think it is dying out, but rather I think it is being killed by those who have the knowledge and power to keep it alive, but do not want to do so because the generally prevalent notion is that Hindustani classical music is ‘heavy’ and audience would not like it. People of Indian origin must realise that Hindustani classical music is the backbone of all music. Here in west, every child knows the basics of western classical music, but in India and anywhere else among people of Indian origin, only a handful can tell even what ‘Raag’ means. This is leading to the slow downfall of Hindustani classical music. However, it is still not too late and we can preserve it by learning more about it and teaching our children about it.

Q. If not, what do you think the future holds in India and out here in the West?

A. I think Hindustani classical music is in for a revival very soon and with a little effort at our end, we can accelerate it. I can myself very easily do easy listening and Pop music, as I have demonstrated in a song in ‘Monologues’, but I consciously choose to base majority of my songs on Hindustani classical music because I am proud of my roots. You can see that all other ethnic communities proudly embrace their culture and music, and try to make it acceptable universally than changing themselves. Look at the Latin Americans, the Italians, the Portuguese, the Spanish, the Middle Eastern communities – all of them have stuck to their roots and succeeded in making their music a part of mainstream culture. There is no reason why people of Indian origin cannot do the same. Once we start respecting ourselves and our rich cultural roots, the world will respect our roots back!

Q. In Canada, given the size of the South Asian population, there must be demand for Indian music classes, but how much focus is there on pure classical?

A. Yes, people want to learn music and teach their children music, but emphasis is on ‘Bollywood’ music, although I do not like that term. It doesn’t mean anything, we should call it Hindi Film Industry. Anyway, those who want to learn music, do it with the ultimate aim of singing movie songs in competitions such as Indian Idol, SaReGaMa etc. This fascination with music competitions seen on TV has led to a flurry of Karaoke stars who cannot sing in key once track music is removed. These children grow up singing covers and believing they are musicians, whereas they cannot compose even a single original melody. If they get the foundation of Hindustani Classical music, they can emerge as true artists with full understanding of what they are doing.

Q. Who, in your opinion, can even come close to stalwarts such as Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Jasraj, Kishori Amonkar or Sobha Gurtu?

A. I think we have extraordinary talents in Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar, Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, Pandit Sanjeev Abhyankar, Aarti Ankalikar-Tikekar and many more. All of these artists are still young and have the capability of touching new heights.

Q. Why does it seem that even in India, especially in the north, classical music seems to have taken the back seat?

A. Not just north, it is equally so in south, east and west provinces as well. I think the main culprits are Karaoke singing and public voting based music competitions. Another culprit is the newly emerging trend of beat based dance music and item songs. There is no difference between a regular party and a ‘Dance party’ any more. All parties must have ear deafening dance music in the end and item songs have become norm. Not that there is anything wrong with it, but when commercial success is equated with excellence, true art suffers. As long as there are good people such as you who actually think of asking these questions, Hindustani classical music will prevail.

 01/25/13 >> go there
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