Soirees in the ’burbs

Head to the suburbs this weekend if you have music on your mind — there’s Nishad Bakre’s vocal recital at Bandra’s MIG Cricket Club and flautist Paras Nath’s rendition at Bhavan’s College Campus in Andheri. Amarendra Dhaneshwar writes.

Head to the suburbs this weekend if you have music on your mind — there’s Nishad Bakre’s vocal recital at Bandra’s MIG Cricket Club and flautist Paras Nath’s rendition at Bhavan’s College Campus in Andheri.

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Bakre will give a solo performance on Sunday at the MIG Cricket Club in Bandra (East) after many years of giving competent vocal support to leading singers like Ulhas Kashalkar and Ram Deshpande. While it is difficult to pigeonhole the 36-year-old Thane resident into any particular gharana, his music can be described as a mixture of elements from the Gwalior, Jaipur and Agra gharanas. Bakre, who trained under Deshpande “in the gurukul tradition”, also benefited from the guidance he received from the late Dinkar Kaikini, one of the most creative musicians of our time.

Bakre’s talent was evident from the time he would lend vocal support to other singers on stage. He would be alert enough to pick up a phrase thrown by the lead singer during a recital and develop it in his own way. This helped him develop a flexible voice which can reel off fast tonal patterns. He inherited his talent in music from his father Sadashiv Bakre, a respected critic. He is also a recipient of the prestigious scholarship instituted by the NCPA to commemorate legendary singer Kesarbai Kerkar.

Nath, who belongs to the Benaras gharana, trained under his grandfather Shivnath Prasad and father Amar Nath, who was a staff composer and conductor at the All India Radio in New Delhi.

The young flautist led and conducted an orchestra of 1,200 sitarists at a spiritual event in Noida two years ago. That feat has even found a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records.