INDE

VARANASI RAS

PREM KISHOR MISHRA

Prem Kishor Mishra learned to sing with his father, Pt Bhola Nath Mishra, who is well known as a singer in Benares. He went on to work with great masters, studying among other instruments the sitar, his aim being to broaden his expressive possibilities. He obtained a doctorate in music from the Banaras Hindu University (B.H.U.) in 2000. He has won several competitions and works regularly for Indian radio and television, as well as having qualifications as an economist that for the moment are left unexploited. For several years now, Prem has accompanied kathak dance both vocally and on the sitar. He has taken part in several international tours, notably with the dancer Madhu Mishra and the instrumental ensemble of Varanasi. He has participated in several artistic encounters with flamenco: in 1995 he took part in a show with the dancer Maria Serrano in Germany, and since 1998 he has appeared at many festivals in Europe and North Africa with ‘From Benares to Jerez’, in which Ravi Shankar Mishra also takes part as a dancer.

Kanhaya Lal Mishr is one of the finest sarangi players in Benares. A ‘multicoloured’ bowed instrument, the sarangi is particularly appreciated for the accompaniment of song and dance because of its rich timbre, which is capable of reproducing the intonations of the human voice quite perfectly. Kanhaya Lal studied the tabla first, with his uncle Pt Panchoo Maharaj, then singing, with the aim of acquiring the basic principles of Indian music. But his affinities soon led him to choose the sarangi, which his father, Pt Bhavani Prasad Mishra, also played. When he was fourteen, the latter sent him to study the instrument with Pt Hanuman Mishra. He remained close to his teacher, constantly enriching his expressive range through contact with him, until his death in 2002. Kanhaya Lal, who now teaches at the University of Benares, has travelled all over the world with artists including Zakir Hussain (tabla), the singers Rajan and Sajan Mishra (sons of Pt Hanuman Mishra), the dancers Birju Maharaj and Sitara Devi and, of course, Prem, Mata and Ravi, for concerts and dance performances.

Mata Prasad and Ravi Shankar Mishra, who are heard here as percussionists, are also kathak dancers who often appear in duet. As children they studied dance together with the late Shrimati Alakhnanda Devi, then with Pt Pandey Maharaj, and the tabla with Pt Panchoo Maharaj. Now famous, they are invited to appear all over India, as well as in Europe and Japan. Each also has a career as a soloist and teacher, and they occasionally take part in courses and intercultural events with Western artists. Both as percussionists and dancers, they are fine representatives of the Benares school (Banaras gharana), to which celebrated percussionists such as Pt Shamta Prasad, Pt Sharda Sahai, Pt Anokhelal Mishra and Mahapurush Mishra also belong. The Benares style is characterised by an extensive repertoire of compositions and by its lively rhythms, largely explained by its frequent association with the dance. It has also been influenced by the pakhavaj (a double-headed drum traditionally associated with the dhrupad and dhammar styles) and the nal, or dholki (a barrel drum that is particularly useful in folk music).

Detail about the disc

Other Discs : Nastaran, Dengo, Zoura, Négra, Hapi Syté, Satsuma-Biwa, Bulenga, Sueno Gitano, Radha Bhava, Raighinas

New release : Sarefi