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Indian sitarist to perform at the Olympics |
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Wednesday, May 26, 2004 |
 New Delhi, May 25: One Indian musician is set to bring melody to the Olympic games this year. The sitar of Delhi's Gaurav Mazumdar will ring out as the flags unfurl at the world's biggest sporting event on June 3 as it returns to its birthplace at the Greek capital of Athens this year.
Mazumdar, 39, is a disciple of sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar. He is the only Indian musician participating in the Olympic opening ceremony this year.
"Music from India has a basic divine nature. It is spiritual in its very approach," Mazumdar said "Our country is the only one which can boast of preserving its culture and practicing it for centuries in all its purity," said Mazumdar, looking serene and sophisticated in a gray sherwani.
He leaves for Athens on May 26 to join artistes from the US, Brazil, Canada and Australia in a huge concert called "Orion" being organized by renowned composer Phillip Glass for the Olympic opening.
Mazumdar will play the raga Nat Bhairavi, composed by Ravi Shankar, at the concert spread over two consecutive days.
He is one of the youngest representatives from India to perform at the ceremony, which, in the past, has seen recitals by the likes of Ravi Shankar and tabla guru Zakir Hussain.
In fact, this year the original choice was Shankar's gifted sitarist daughter, Anoushka. Mazumdar got the opportunity when she could not participate due to personal problems.
Mazumdar has earlier played at prestigious venues like the Vatican, London's Royal Albert Hall and Queen Elizabeth Hall, and the Chicago Symphony Hall and Detroit Symphony Orchestra Hall in the US.
Thrilled about the opportunity, Mazumdar is practicing day and night playing the raga, a beautiful nine-note juxtaposition.
"When I heard that I was selected, I was ecstatic. My prayer now is that I'm able to make my country proud," said Mazumdar.
Source: MSN INDIA |
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