Norwich Ragas: Piano & Slide Guitar Unbound

KalaSudha presents Indian classical music in Norwich and lists each concert on its Norwich page, with a link to book. For the next Norwich date, read how to hear about new Norwich concerts.

KalaSudha has presented concerts at St Andrew's Hall on St Andrew's Plain and at The Assembly House, a Grade I listed building on Theatre Street.

Pandit Debasis Chakroborty plays Indian slide guitar in Hindustani classical music and has over 25 years of professional experience. He plays in the Senia-Maihar gharana. He has been part of the Department of Performing Arts at Mangalayatan University since its inception. He is also a regular visitor, conductor-performer and Artist-in-Residence at universities in Australia and the USA. He helped carry out a joint music research project between Mangalayatan University and Monash University, and has published 10 research papers.

Deepak Shah is a pianist, arranger and music director from a musical family. His grandfather, Shantilal Shah, and Mohan Junior taught him classical music, and that training opened the door to arrangement and direction. Over about 25 years he has worked with leading artists from India and performed in India and abroad. He has composed music and background scores for over 30 films in Bangla, Gujarati, Punjabi and Bhojpuri, and recorded albums with T-Series, Tips and Venus.

The Indian slide guitar is a guitar laid flat across the lap and stopped with a steel bar instead of fingers on frets. It is an instrument of Hindustani classical music, the classical music of North India. Sympathetic strings ring underneath the melody unstruck, and the player plucks extra drone (chikari) strings.

The bar never leaves the string, so one note travels into the next without a break. For its history and players, see the Indian slide guitar page. You can learn it with KalaSudha in the online academy.

The Ajrara gharana, also spelt Ajrada, is a school of tabla that arose in the late 18th or early 19th century in the village of Ajrara, in Meerut district. Most accounts trace it to two brothers, Kallu Khan and Miru Khan, who learnt in Delhi, making it an offshoot of the Delhi gharana. Its players add the ring finger to the Delhi technique. It is best known for qaidas, themes with set variations, in aad laya, three strokes to every two beats. Ustad Akram Khan plays in the gharana today.