Acclaimed Vocalists, Brothers Sajan, Rajan Misra Complete Each Other’s Verses
Pandits Rajan (left) and Sajan Misra performed at the Glade Cultural Center in The Woodlands on Friday, May 25, accompanied by local artistes Shantilal Shah on the tabla and Sumit Mishra on the harmonium.
By Jawahar Malhotra
THE WOODLANDS: As they were getting settled in on the dais, fine tuning the placement of musicians and how they would interface with the audience, the more animated of the two classical vocalist brothers gave a short glimpse of what brought them to this Metroplex by the Gulf of Mexico from their home in Varansai, India.
“We owe a debt of gratitude to Saloni Gandhi who arranged this worldwide tour of fifty cities,” said the bespectacled Pandit Rajan Misra, at 67, five years older than his brother Pandit Sajan Misra, both Padma Bhushan awardees. He was referring to the ambitious Bhairav se Bhairavi Tak (Morning till Evening Ragas) tour that they had started earlier this year that includes concerts in Varanasi, Ahmedabad, Kolkota, Delhi, Bengalure, Beijing, Vientiane, Bangkok, Angkor Wat, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, New York, Washington DC, New Jersey, Atlanta, Houston, Chicago, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Calgary, Vancouver, Seattle, London, Brussels, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Sicily, Lyon,, Paris, Budapest, Berne, Gruyere, Zurich, Lausanne, Madrid, Vienna, Berlin, Australia and New Zealand.
The Misras received their initial musical training from their grandfather’s brother, Bade Ram Das Mishra; their father Hanuman Prasad Mishra and their uncle, sarangi virtuoso, Gopal Prasad Mishra. They started performing the Banaras style of singing in their teens and moved to Ramesh Nagar in New Delhi, in 1977, where they continue to live. The Misras have performed all over India and gave their first concert abroad in Sri Lanka in 1978 and in many countries across the world since then.
Concert organizer Rashmi Gupta (second from left) with the artistes and sponsor Vijay Goradia (to the right of Pt. Sajan Misra) after the concert.
They had already performed at the Ashta Lakshmi Temple and the Chinmaya Mission in Houston on May 5 and were now performing this past Friday, May 25 at the Glade Cultural Center in The Woodlands. “We have to thank Rashmi Gupta for bringing this concert and venue together,” went on Pandit Rajan, “for advancing Indian classical music here like her mother the late Aruna Gupta, who was also a great singer, did in New Delhi.”
Aruna Gupta was a well-known classical music promoter and noted artist in her own right who would often pulled together concerts in Delhi for many of the renowned and up and coming Indian artistes. Raised in such a rarefied atmosphere, Rashmi Gupta (who lives in The Woodlands) also acquired her mother’s appreciation for good Indian classical music. Her mother was a Nritya and Sangeet Visharad (master’s degree in classical dance and singing) but could not perform herself as she was married into a conservative Varanasi business family yet managed to imbibe the passion in her family.
In turn, Rashmi has for the past four years turned her home into a salon to showcase visiting Indian artistes like vocalist Pandit Vinayak Torvi, ghazal singer Jaswinder Singh “Bunty” and Ustad Raza Ali Khan, the grandson of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. For Rashmi, a successful real estate agent, it has become a passion to carry on her mother’s mission of promoting Hindustani Classical music in the northern part of Harris County.
Local painter Gopal Seyn’s paintings are on display at the Glade Center.
Rather than the usual Auburn Lakes Clubhouse, this concert was held at the newly built 6,000 sf Glade Cultural Center off Woodland Parkway which recently opened on April 20. Between the statues and paintings that the gallery offers, including a current exposition of paintings by well-known Houstonian-Indian painter Gopal Seyn (who was on hand at the concert), Glade Arts Foundation Executive Director Elizabeth Stavinoha warmly welcomed the around 200 guests as Glade co-founder and President of Art Promotion and Sales Dragos Tapu looked on.
Accompanied by well-known local artistes Pandit Shantilal Shah on the tabla and Sumit Misra on the harmonium, Pt. Rajan opened up with the first notes to the bhajan Shri Krishan Chander Kripalu, letting the lyrics flow out in long tones that rose and descended, which he mimicked with his left hand and outstretched arm as his right hand strummed the santoor at his lap. Pt. Sajan followed suite periodically, adding his higher pitched voice and drawn out notes. After a short pause they continued on with three other pieces of their repertoire for another hour.
The concert was a community effort, with support from Raj Vishwakarma for his sound system and sponsorship of Vijay Goradia, Mai and Arvind Melligeri, Mukesh Mittal and Jagan Allam and the unwavering support of the Hindu Temple of The Woodlands. Additionally, Gupta recognized Anil Adoni and Vijay Rajamohan for photography; Krishna Chulani, Kokie Patel, Subha Kumar, Radha Adoni, Tripti Bhatnagar, Surbhi Sharma, Dimple Arora and Priyanka Dodani for volunteering their efforts.