Vasant Rai's Profile |
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Vasant Rai |
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| Location: | New York, New York |
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| Last Login: | Jul 8, 2008 (549 days back) |
About Me |
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| Vasant Rai (1942-1985) was one of world's most acclaimed performers of Indian music, and the finest Sarod player. He was born in Paris, France and studied music in India. Rai was the last student of Allauddin Khan, who is best known as the teacher of Ravi Shankar. At the young age of 16 years, Vasant first went to Maihar which was the home of the great musican Allauddin Khan. Allauddin Khan invited Vasant to his residence and asked him to play. After about thirty minutes, Baba Allauddin said "OK!" Vasant thought Allauddin did not like his playing and proceeded to pack his Sarod and leave, to which Baba Alauddin shouted out to Vasant.."Where are you going? your room is upstairs," and pointed to the direction. Vasant ended up living with Allauddin Khan for the next eight years. After three years Vasant was teaching at Allaudin khans music college. As the late Pandit Shamta Prasad quoted in a Times of India article after playing with Vasant " Baba loved Vasant like his own son and taught him in a special and different way". Baba Allauddin gave Vasant a sarod which Allauddin Khans own younger brother Ustad Ayet Ali Khan had made back in the 1930s. Vasant Rai played this Sarod which was made by Ustad Ayet Ali Khan throughout his life. This instrument has a special tone which cannot be recreated by replicas. Vasant Rai made his debut concert with Ustad Ahmedjaan Tirakhwa in Ahmedabad All India Radio. Before coming to Allauddin Khan, Vasant Rai learned music from his Father Govindji Barot who was a very accomplished musician and good friend and collegue of Pandit Omkarnath thakur. Govindji who was busy with the family business of fabric trade was unable to teach Vasant extensively. Govindji advised Vasant to either learn from Pandit Omkarnath (who had asked Govindji to take Vasant many times) or go to Maihar. Vasant chose to go to Allauddin Khan. Rai came to New York City in 1969 and lived mainly in the Greenwich Village area when he was not touring. From 1969 to 1985 he conducted the Alam School of Music. Alla Rakha, Mahapurush Misra, and Shamta Prasad usually accompanied him on the tabla. During the early 1980s, Rai and the jazz flutist Herbie Mann jammed together at clubs such as the Bottom Line and Village Gate. Vasant Rai taught many Western musicians such as George Harrison, John Coltrane, Colin Walcot and other rock and jazz personalities of that time. Vasant Rai also trained a number of Indian classical musicians such as sarod players Pradeep Barot, Ashok Roy and Stephen James, and sitar players Amya Das Gupta and Shamim Ahmed. Pradeep Barot is a leading sarod player of the present generation. Rai's sons Satyam (b 1982) and Anniruddha (b 1978) are also upcoming sarodists. Satyam and Anniruddha continue to maintain the family school in New York City.***This is the official myspace page of the late Pandit Vasant Rai, run by students You should create your own MySpace Layouts like me by using nUCLEArcENTURy .COM's MySpace Profile Editor ! |
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My Interests |
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Music:Member Since: 7/15/2007Band Website: vasantrai.com Band Members: Vasant Rai & Ravi Shankar Alla Rakha Zakir Hussein Ananda Gopal Bandopadhyay etc. Sounds Like: Record Label: Vanguard Records, HMV, Oriental, and Raga Records Type of Label: Major |
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My Background and Lifestyle |
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| Occupation: | Music Artist (Classical / Other) |
My Pictures |
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My Friends |
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Baba Allaudin Khan, Feathered Spirit of Mother, ~Kathak~, Bob Dylan, george, Ingrid, zia mohiuddin dagar, Nikhil Banerjee, John McLaughlin Official Myspace, ustad sultan khan, Beethoven, PANDIT JASRAJ SCHOOL OF MUSIC, mozart, Nini Baseema, melissa reiner, PLAIN WHITE T'S, Tremors Underground Productions, la reveuse, Aldoush & The Human Exchange, norbi, TAP-Records, Rahul Dev Burman, TalismanStone, Yosuke Miyake, Bucky's Blue Mt. Cat Rescue, sitar beat, Sula Bassana, Juanchu, ragia magna, Miki, Sacred Mother Arts, Massimo Gangalanti, Karjam Saeji, ViBeJays, Fernando Garcin, Chiara, John Kremer, Mark Robbins - Music Producer in Texas, Mobile Recording Services - GRAMMY Winner 2008, and the falling mountain tops...me hope in space, Desert Next Door, Arti, Ganapati, AACM Store, susaan from DEBU, adé, Susan Botich, Govinda Sky™ MUSIC transcendental hip hop, Flavasia, Poppi the Toucan Pirate, Victor, EPIMATEO, Harmony and The Wizard, Bassam Saba, Kim Skovbye, SAMARQAND, DONNA AUSTIN, Finest Quality Papers (FQP), Om Shanti, Lalit Rasa, John Lomas, Dr Detroit, Tuenda
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Vasant Rai's profile has been tagged with the following keywords. Click a tag to search for profiles with the same tags. pandit omkarnath thakur, all india radio, vasant rai, debut concert, ravi shankar, times of india, india article, ali khan, greenwich village, music college, alauddin, barot, ayet, village ar, musican, indian music, paris france, music artist, rai music, music rai |
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