The legends in landscape

8220;I8217;ve been painting since 30 years now, but I really cannot understand why Pune, despite having good artists has not been able to set up an art centre,8221; he says, when asked about Pune8217;s lack of artistic endeavour. 8220;About five years ago we had a studio at my house in Tulshibaug, where about 25 artists would gather and work together. But it sort of fizzled out,8221; he recalls.

Kelkar8217;s is an artistic family, with father, wife and daughter both being artists. He8217;s held innumerable exhibitions, some of them very memorable ones, like the Raagdari series, which was based on musical raagas. 8220;I loved doing the live demonstrations with renowned musicians like Pandit Jasraj, Veena Sahasrabuddhe, painting while they sang 8211; they were wonderful, it was a heady feeling. Of course, one requires speed, but making a complete painting in two hours is not impossible. I have given such exhibitions too many times, and even painted on ghazal singing,8221; he says.

In synth WITH the strong wave of westernisation engulfing today8217;s youth, where does that leave traditional Indian culture? Amol Dongre is a promising young musician from Pune, who tries to take classicism ahead. He started learning classical music at a tender age from his mother, Madhuri Dongre, who runs the Madhuri Sangeet Vidyalaya. He took his first lessons in vocal classical music from her. Dongre is also a trained tabla player, but he wanted to do something different. After acquiring his BE civil degree, he got hooked onto the synthesiser his sister had gifted him. 8220;A synthesiser is generally considered an accompanying instrument, but I was determined to portray it as a full-fledged one which could play Indian classical music, despite its shortcomings,8221; says the 25-year-old.

Enoch Daniels, the well-known piano-accordion player has been his guide and for the various nuances of the raagas, it was Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar who taught him the intricacies of melody. Dongre went on to learn the tantra and mantra of string instruments from Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma. With the blessings of such eminent gurus, it is no wonder that Dongre was awarded the Pune Gaurav Puruskar last year. Dongre gave his first solo performance on August 29 at the Bharat Natya Mandir, where he displayed his talent and his proficiency in portraying the raag and the bandish. Indeed Amol has widened the scope of classical music, using a western instrument.

Just sing along Karaoke, a Japanese word which means sing along, is another way of having fun with music. And a way for bathroom singers to indulge in a bit of delusion, by singing along with the recorded songs of famous singers.

Pune singer, Charusheela Belsare and the MOM company have come up with a karaoke cassette on the golden hits of Lata Mangeshkar, sung by Belsare. Hits of Lata has musical tracks sung by Belsare, each track followed by instrumental music for voice-overs. And along with the cassette comes a tiny voice guide booklet, which has the lyrics written in Hindi and English. 8220;This is a facility for people who love Hindi film songs, but do not know Hindi. They respond to the rhythm. The Japanese, Africans, people in the Emirates like Indian music and this cassette has proved very popular overseas. Palm Music Company in United Kingdom has already released this cassette there,8221; says Belsare.

Belsare has been singing since a young age. Her father was a tabla-player. He encouraged her to take up music and she has won plenty of awards for her talent. 8220;We approached Lataji, whose birthday falls in September, to release the cassette, and she has graciously promised to do so,8221; she says with pride.