Lounge Podcast | Revisiting old maestros

Franz Schubert once said, “I am in the world only for the purpose of composing”.

Indeed, composing is the soul of music. And in India we have been privileged to have had great composers like Krishna Ratanjankar, Vilayat Hussain Khan, Barkat Ali Khan, Mirza Ghalib among others, whose compositions are still fresh and as eternal as ever.

To present the works of these great composers, Bandish, an annual program by the National Centre for the Performing Arts, has brought together artistes like Talat Aziz, Malini Rajurkar, Ulhas Kashalkar, Kaushiki Chakrabarty and Birju Maharaj.

Thus, Malini Rajurkar will perform the compositions of the celebrated vocalist Shrikrishna Ratanjankar, while Ulhas Kashalkar will present some celebrated khayal compositions of two composers: Vilayat Hussain Khan and Gajananbuwa Joshi.

The festival will also see the legendary Birju Maharaj singing thumris and compositions of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Bindadin Maharaj.

Our guest for today is singer and composer Talat Aziz, who will be performing ghazals penned by two eminent Urdu poets Mirza Ghalib and Faiz Ahmed Faiz.

Talat talks to us about his love for ghazals and Urdu poetry, his upcoming project with Sonu Nigam, and also gives us a glimpse of his performance at the festival.

Bandish 2013- A tribute to legendary composers will be held from 12 to 14 July at the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai. For more information, you can check out their website www.ncpamumbai.com