Broto Roy and Sanjay Mishra with GANGA - Live, Virginia, USA. July 10, '09

Title:
Broto Roy and Sanjay Mishra with GANGA - Live, Virginia, USA. July 10, '09

Description:
Excerpt of Broto's family group GANGA with his father Hitabrata Roy, sister Krishna Roy, guitarist Sanjay Mishra (www.mishra.net), and dancer Jayantee Paine, performing folk music of Bengal, India. Live July 10, 2009 in Virginia, USA. Also visit www.brotoroy.com for more videos, photos, music and information. For three decades, Ganga has brought alive the traditional folk music of the east Indian state of Bengal for audiences around the world in cities like London, Paris, Stockholm, Washington, D.C., and Falls Church, Virginia, their American home. Until 1996, Hitabrata Bachoo Roy, his wife Minati, son Broto, and daughter Krishna, were directly responsible for introducing generations of listeners to the ancient songs of the Roy familys ancestral homeland. Gangas original lineup was significantly altered by the untimely death of Minati Roy in 1996, after which Nupur Lahiri joined the group. This special concert at the library of Congress provides a wonderful opportunity to experience and share the warmth, passion, and wealth of musical knowledge this talented ensemble brings to live performances. Ganga today continues to sing in Bengali, with Bachoo providing translations and commentaries in English. Ensemble members play instruments commonly found both in Bengals villages and other regions in the subcontinent, including the harmonium or small keyboard; dotara, a four-stringed lute; tablas, or hand drums, and the ghungar, or brass cymbals. Their repertoire is rooted in the folk music of Bengal, especially the songs of the bauls (wandering bards and mystics), the bhatiali (river boatmen), and other hereditary communities of the region. Broto Roy, who has a flourishing solo musical career, played with Bengali baul performers for the Smithsonian Institutions Silk Road exhibit in 2002. The Roys continue to expand their musical knowledge and maintain their intimate connections to the folk performers of Bengal. They regularly travel to various villages in Bengal to sing and play with village bards at their annual gatherings, as Bachoo says. Ganga is especially drawn to Bengali folk music, because folk songs have always been the songs of the common people, often songs of protest against oppression. Gangas music is also spiritually influenced. The group usually begins performances with a hymn to Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of learning and patron of music. Iconic representations of Saraswati often depict the deity holding a book, symbolizing knowledge and the stringed musical instrument known as the veena. Given Gangas long-standing goals of imparting cultural and historical knowledge through its musical performances, the symbolism manifested by the goddess is particularly apt. - Guha Sankar, Folklore Specialist, Library of Congress

Author:
zorch999

Tags:
Ganga, Ganges, folkmusic, India, tabla, dotara, Broto, Roy, folk, harmonium, Sanjay, Mishra, Bengal, Bengali,