After the event:
Later, after the event, I read a newspaper article about Pandit Chaurasia and Gwyneth and was surprised to see it mention about Panditji’s school in Juhu. Now I live in the Juhu area and so I immediately Googled for Pandit Chaurasia’s school. I was surprised to learn from his website that his school Vrindaban Gurukul was actually within walking distance of my place (http://www.hariprasadchaurasia.com/vrindaban.htm). In fact, I had walked past it and even remember that building. You never know, one of these days I may just drop in there to go and listen to Panditji and get lost in his music again.
Here’s that article from Mumbai Times section of The Times of India newspaper –
Harping around!
REAGAN GAVIN RASQUINHA (reagan.gavin@timesgroup.com), TNN 27 August 2009, 12:00am IST
Okay, so she’s got no King David to serenade, but the elfin-like Dutch harp player Gwyneth Wentink has rolled with her share of royalty. At an age when most kids are still struggling with spellings, she played a show for Queen Beatrix of Netherlands at ten!
Gwyneth Wentink and Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia
Apart from that, she can command the attention of a royally large audience if she so wants to. And she has. At Carnegie Hall, the Royal Albert Hall, the Royal Academy of Music… and just a few days ago, at the NCPA as part of the Kala Viraasat (“Vihh-ur-ahsut,” as she struggles to pronounce it), with our very own flautist, Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia. But this is not a first-time collaboration.
“I’ve been playing off and on with Pt Hariprasad since 2005. In May of 2005, we performed in New York for a concert I remember as being quite special,” she reminisces.
No Bollywood confections for this chick. She loves rock ’n roll that tilts towards “Led Zeppelin, Guns ‘n Roses and classic rock…” Food is another thing she’s passionate about, and Indian food is top on her list. Move over Chicken tikka masala, she prefers the real thing. “I have eaten some authentic Indian food and I love it,” she says.
For her, spice definitely is nice. At Chaurasia’s ashram in Juhu, the Panditji is winding up an afternoon lesson with a bunch of students.
The buzzing, droning sound of almost two dozen flutes struggling (some, a bit unsuccessfully) to emulate the one dominant flute adds to the heavy-lidded afternoon heat. Then, things are put away and he shuffles over to a large harp, one of the only two in India. “I believe this one’s been brought in from Delhi by road. I’ve always felt that the sound of a harp and flute go together really well,” he says.
On suggestion, they swap instruments and are motioned to ease up a bit closer. It’s one of those happy accidents. She picks up his flute with sinewy arms peaked with graceful fingers surprisingly uncalloused given the fact that she has been plucking copper-wound and gut strings since age five. “Everyone knows I play the flute, but now, I’m going to serenade her with the harp!” chuckles Pt Chaurasia.