AHYMSIN NEWSLETTER, ISSUE - April 2014 | ||||||||
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Shri Anoop Misra, Indian Classical Vocalistby Joanne Sullivan (Divya)Indian classical music is more than an art. It is an ancient spiritual tradition that involves guru-disciple relationship and rigorous training in many areas including control of the breath. Swami Rama and Swami Veda Bharati have the deepest reverence for high art and the prayer form that is music. As early as the 1970’s, whenever Swami Rama brought a group of students to India—and also to the Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science & Philosophy in the United States —he brought before us the crème de la crème in all the arts, especially in music and dance. The world class singers Rajan and Sajan Misra performed for his students. In like manner, Swami Veda invited them here in the early days of SRSG. They were enchanting. Pandit Anoop Misra studied under the father of Rajan and Sajan Misra and is now an internationally known Indian Classical Vocalist and recently gave a concert for us at Swami Rama Sadhaka Grama. As Pandit Misra introduced what he would sing that evening, from the moment he began to speak, his voice covered us like the softest of blankets, drawing us close. His reach and his range when he sang were indescribable. His fingers moved harp-like over the surmandal, also called a swarmandal, which he held close like it was a part of him. This instrument is also called an Indian harp or Indian zither. As he sang he touched notes that tucked away secret realms in a crease of sound - secret to us, familiar to him - like a true master. He let us in. The words secret and sacred are linked, as Swami Veda has explained. The first song called out Om Narayana, Om Narayana, to the Spirit-who-floats-on-the-waters. There was a lovely attunement, more at-one-ment among the musicians. They were: Anoop Misra (vocal and surmandal) of Varanasi, Ashish Kukreti (2nd vocal) of Rishikesh, and Shivananda (tabla), also of Rishikesh. The audience, including the children, was spellbound. Anoop Misra moved beautifully between passages of gentle beseechment to earnest entreaty, at times singing with sustained full force, not holding back. His singing was unfettered prayer. If only my prayers could be filled with such utter abandon. It reminded me of what an ancient Zen master once said: Meditate as though your hair were on fire! The music created chambers of light. In one sequence, the tabla player dropped a beat. The lead singer, in rapt surrender, stepped off that precipice (off the dropped note) and kept walking through all the shining enclosures. In all its intricacy, there was not one superfluous note, chord or gesture. If I were to sum up the entire concert, I would say Anoop Misra flies free and takes you with him. I observed with interest a child who normally cannot sit still. He stretched out before the music as he pulled his mother’s shawl over himself along with the music. He was fully contented. The energy in the hall was so high the guru could have flown down from the rafters and carried us up in his sleeve. Swami Veda was present and Krishna filled the hall. Bhola Shankar Dabral sat nearby and kindly translated for me. My notebook went back and forth several times and I am grateful that Bhola always obliged. Here are some of Bhola’s English translation notes: “Oh, Shining One, the One with the sign of divine light…. Hey, Beautiful One…. We have searched for you everywhere, in every forest, asked about you in every tree, every leaf….Without you I am restless…. Show me your divine light. We are eagerly waiting to see your face of light, your beautiful face…. Hey, Beloved One…Come and grant me that peace. I am restless without you….Beautiful form of little Krishna… please come! We are all your Gopis…your friends… and are eager to see you. Even the cows, the boys, the gardens, the flowers are crying without you….Mother Yashoda is counting the days. When are you coming? …Beautiful form of my beloved. Please visit me, please let me see you.” The concert is nearly over. Anoop Misra has to catch a train. Don’t stop, I think. Someone asks him to sing a maand. (a song form, once again calling out to the Beloved. Oh, Lord, please visit me. Please let me see you.) Walking back to our cottages after the concert, it was Dr. Stephen Parker (Stoma) who commented on Shri Anoop Misra's mastery of arpeggio. I asked him to elucidate arpeggio. He said that it was a quick succession of ascending or descending notes. “Rather than just shaking his vocal apparatus,” Stoma said, “I could hear individual notes which he would often raise and lower, like the calling of some exotic bird.” I thought back to when Anoop Misra’s voice seemed a quivering, it was like so many ripples of water, each drop, each note, taking distinct form despite the deft rapidity with which the sounds issued forth. Such agility! It was as if he could turn solid ground to water and water to solid ground as he claimed the terrain of many distinct notes, each note reaching higher, touching the skirt of the Blue God, who was fully present. About Anoop Misra: Pandit Anoop Misra began his musical training under his maternal grandfather Sangeetacharya, the late Pt. Hari Shankar Misra at the age of 6. After his grandfather’s death, he continued his musical studies under the guidance of Sarangi maestro the late Pandit Hanuman Prasad Misra, father of the world class vocalists Padma Bhushan, Pandits Rajan and Sajan Misra. He has received many awards and has performed at numerous festivals and concerts in India and abroad. He is currently Assistant Professor at Sampurnanand Sanskrit University in Varanasi. Editor’s Note:To listen to Pandit Anoop Misra, here are some YouTube videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YrMKlCwca0
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