WOMAD

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia

From India

An internationally- acclaimed flautist of India, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia is a very popular and eminent artist who is known for his outstanding contribution in popularising Indian classical music abroad. His consummate artistry has distinguished him as the greatest living master of the North Indian bamboo flute, acclaimed both at home and abroad.Unlike many other great Indian artists, Pt. Chaurasia does not come from a family of musicians. Rather, music is the path he found for himself. Born in 1938 in Allahabad, he began his musical pursuit at the age of 15, learning classical vocal technique from Pt. Raja Ram. Within a year, however, he had switched to flute-playing, after hearing Pt. Bholanth, a noted flautist from Varanasi. He tutored under Pt. Bholanth for eight years. In 1957, barely out of his teens, he became a regular staff member of the All India Radio in Orissa, where he worked both as a performer and as a music composer.Transferred by All India Radio to Bombay in 1952, he received further guidance from surbahar player Shrimati Annapurna Devi, daughter of late Ustad Allaudin Khan, sister of Ali Akbar Khan. Under her guidance, his music acquired a new depth and he left All India Radio to pursue his performing career.Since that time Pt. Chaurasia has played concerts all over the world, internationally winning acclaim from the varied audiences and from fellow musicians like Yehudi Menuhin and Jean Pierre Rampal, among others. In 1984, in recognition of his outstanding contribution to music, he was given the National Award of the Sangeet Natak Academy.Pt. Chaurasia tours regularly in the US and Europe and was a featured artist in the US festival of India in 1986. He has made numerous recordings of North Indian classical music.As a musician, Pt. Chaurasia is a rare combination of innovator and traditionalist. He has significantly expanded the expressive possibilities of classical North Indian flute-playing through his masterful blowing technique and his unique adaptation of alap and jor to the flute.He is immensely popular in India. According to magazine India Today, Pt. Chaurasia is among a small but growing number of classicists who have made a conscious effort to reach out and expand the audience for classical music.Pt. Chaurasia's horizons also extend beyond North Indian classical music to Indian folk and western music as well. He has composed music for many Indian films. The famous Silsila on which he collaborated on with Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma was a platinum disc in India, as was his experimental album Eternity which incorporated many western elements alongside North Indian classical ones.Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia recorded a compact disc in Oslo alongside western artists John Mclaughlin and Jan Garbarek. This album has gained international popularity and was released by the ECM company.In addition to his performances and compositions, Pt. Chaurasia is a serious teacher with several dedicated classical students who are beginnning to make their mark on the Indian concert stage.