Masters and Simplicity: The Veena Makers

We were in south India, and in search of a harmonium maker. After asking around, we were assured that the right place had been found, and a few of us hopped into some tuk-tuks and headed out, down bouncy dirt roads, far out of town, until we came to this small workshop, which was NOT…

Dhrupad Festival of Classical Indian Music

Jaipur Rajasthan Wednesday 2:05 p.m. At last night’s Dhrupad Festival of classical Indian music, I was blessed to hear some outstanding pakhawaj drumming by two excellent players: Mohan Sharma (the teacher of my friends Vasant and Tulsi), and Devaki Nandan, a man Shyamdas described as possibly the finest pakhawaj player in all of India (which is…