The Confluence of Hindustani and Carnatic Music

The highlight of a year-long extravaganza to celebrate its 25th anniversary, Sruti presented two concerts in September 2011 that explored the confluence of Hindustani (North Indian) and Carnatic (South Indian) classical music. The first concert featured Amjad Ali Khan, a master of the sarod (a fretless lute-like instrument), accompanied by his two sons, Amaan Ali Khan and Ayaan Ali Khan, playing both North and South Indian ragas. In the second concert, the Malladi Brothers, a Carnatic vocal duo, presented a Jugalbandi (duet of masters) concert with the Gundecha Brothers, exemplars of the Dhrupad style of Hindustani music—an ancient vocal tradition rarely performed in Philadelphia. This blend of Northern and Southern traditions made the Jugalbandi concert a special event for local Indian music audiences of all kinds. Workshops and lectures leading up to the concerts were led by musician and sitarist/scholar Allyn Miner, anthropologist Amanda Weidman, and vocalist Kiranavali Vidyasankar.