VidyA in Oakland Asian Cultural Center

JAZZ PERFORMANCES BY VIDYA AND RINA MEHTA May 29, 8pm
OACCs new artists in residence VidyA and Rina Mehta will be featuring new pieces.

VIDYA shows what happens when the richness of South Indian Carnatic classical music meets the improvisations of jazz. Featuring Prasant Radhakrishnan (saxophone), David Ewell (bass) and Sameer Gupta (drums), VidyA will present original compositions as well as some re-imagined traditional Carnatic music pieces.

The Kathak dance tradition is based on upaj (improvisation), tayari (preparation of technique), layakari (performing and improvising intricate rhythms) and khoobsurti and nazakat (beauty and subtlety of movement and expression). It is a tour-de-force performance of percussive footwork, singing, poetry, and acting. Rina Mehta presents excerpts from a full-length traditional solo including a vandana (invocation), a gat-bhao (full-length) story and Kathak Yoga. Rina is accompanied by Ben Kunin, disciple of Maestro Ali Akbar Khan, on sarod and Salar Nadar, disciple of Ustaad Zakir Hussain, on tabla....

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JAZZ PERFORMANCES BY VIDYA AND RINA MEHTA May 29, 8pm
OACCs new artists in residence VidyA and Rina Mehta will be featuring new pieces.

VIDYA shows what happens when the richness of South Indian Carnatic classical music meets the improvisations of jazz. Featuring Prasant Radhakrishnan (saxophone), David Ewell (bass) and Sameer Gupta (drums), VidyA will present original compositions as well as some re-imagined traditional Carnatic music pieces.

The Kathak dance tradition is based on upaj (improvisation), tayari (preparation of technique), layakari (performing and improvising intricate rhythms) and khoobsurti and nazakat (beauty and subtlety of movement and expression). It is a tour-de-force performance of percussive footwork, singing, poetry, and acting. Rina Mehta presents excerpts from a full-length traditional solo including a vandana (invocation), a gat-bhao (full-length) story and Kathak Yoga. Rina is accompanied by Ben Kunin, disciple of Maestro Ali Akbar Khan, on sarod and Salar Nadar, disciple of Ustaad Zakir Hussain, on tabla.

Tarana: a collaboration featuring OACC 2010 Resident Artists
The evening concludes with a collaborative piece featuring OACC resident artists Rina Mehta (solo Kathak) and Prasant Radhakrishnan (VidyA) with their full ensembles. The artists use a tarana, composed by Pt. Chitresh Das, to create a strikingly original, effortless dialogue between the forms of Kathak, Indian classical music and American jazz.

Admission: $12 Adult, $9 Seniors and Students
Tickets can be purchased at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/106877

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