Goa‘s contribution to the world of Indian classical music has been extraordinary. Our traditional strengths and focus have been in vocal music. In the instrumental department, we have produced world-class sarangiyas, violinists, and percussionists in the distant past. Tantuvadyas such as the sitar and sarod have historically not generated much enthusiasm in the Goan musical…
Keri is a small village in Goa, around 15 kms east of the capital Panjim. It is sometimes spelled Querim, the trailing ‘m’ denoting the nasal phonetic characteristic of Konkani syllables. Since there are at least 3 other villages in Goa bearing the same name, the ambiguity is removed by calling it Keri-Ponda, after the…
Shubha Mudgal has established herself as one of the leading Hindustani Classical vocalists of the current generation. She is also fluent in other musical genres. Shubha and I share a common guru, the late Ramashreya Jha “Ramrang.” A not-so-well-known fact about Shubha – her father was Skand Gupt, the outstanding cricket commentator of yesteryear, whose…
Earlier this week I called on Tulsidas Borkar, the virtuoso of the harmonium, at his home in Mumbai. He received me warmly. We reminisced about the great Goan musicians of the 20th C and their disproportionate contributions to Indian Classical Music. He then pulled out his harmonium and launched into an impromptu recital. Tulsidas-bab was…
