Study Information - Academy of Indian Classical Music

Study Information for Jan-Feb 2009

_{^{Travel/Study Pilgrimage to Mishra School of Classical Indian Music & dance in Varanasi, India, February 2009}}

Academy welcome to all music lovers from different part of the world to come and study Indian classical music for four weeks music program.

So the first group will come in First week of January for four weeks

The second Group will come in first week of February for four weeks

Please contact us soon for booking because academy can hold only limited people at the time.

Dear Friends of World Music & Dance,

^{Here are details regarding a 4 week travel/study pilgrimage to the Mishra School of Classical Indian Music and Dance in Varanasi, India.}

^{This group will travel to Varanasi, one of the oldest and most sacred pilgrimage cities in India, on approximately February 6 of 2008, to study and experience the music and dance and spiritual and cultural traditions in this revered city for 4 weeks, in an intimate and traditional “musical family” environment.}

^{Obviously there are many “tours” of India. If covering as much ground & seeing as many parts of India in your time there is a main objective, this would not be a suitable adventure for you. If on the other hand you are interested in a more grounded and personal connection to the musical & cultural life of India, in an extended and traditional Indian family-centered musical environment, please read on.}

^{The core offering is a 4 week program that, including travel, will start on
February 6 (leave Seattle) to March 12 (return to Seattle). However, if you
are already planning to be traveling in India at that time, or need to start
a little earlier or a little later, the program can accommodate these
variables as well. (Please}^{contact me}^{for more specifics).}

4 weeks will be spent in Varanasi at the school, with musical & cultural excursions throughout the city and nearby villages. 2 or 3 days will be spent getting there, and 1 or 2 days spent returning (= 5 days) (+ 4 weeks in Varanasi) = 4 weeks + 5 days

Extended study courses (longer than 4 weeks) are also an option. Some student work/study scholarships and family-package and other discounts can be also be made available. Please inquire.

(If the first group forms soon, we can also consider forming a second group for a February/March timeframe.)

Going Back and Going Forward

The group of 12 last year ranged in age from 16 to 60.

Some of them had been to India many times. Many had never been to India. All of them felt very happy and satisfied with their experience of living and studying at the school. The intimacy and authenticity of their relationship with the very musical Mishra family and the extended musical community, of which they are an integral part, were the heart of that experience.

Enjoying and deepening an understanding of music and cultural life in India were the main aims of this travel study group pilgrimage. And if you have never been to India, it is an excellent way to acclimatize to the culture in a very grounded family setting.

In the Mishra family, according to tradition, you are not a “customer” or a “client.” You are an honoured guest.

And “the guest is God” goes a traditional saying.

The Curriculum:

The curriculum is shaped to meet the specific areas of interest and types of instruments (including voice) performed by the people taking part in the lessons.

Singing is the heart of all studies. When playing your instrument, as Ali Akbar Khan has said, you must be “singing inside.” Students might tell us about their particular areas of interest in musical study beforehand, so that we might engage musical resources in the local music community to meet those areas of interest, such as: voice, tabla, sitar & surbahar (base sitar), sarod, harmonium, flute and many others.

Students might schedule their lessons according to their chosen subjects of study, what means that they might attend any and/or all classes offered, as they wish.

Recording devices are welcome.

If you wish to acquire a specific instrument while you studying at the Academy, please let us know and Deobrat Mishra ( “Debu”) can make sure that an instrument of suitable quality might be available under due consideration.

You can also bring an instrument you already play, if you want to.

Morning raga’s (mostly minor scales) are taught in the morning until noon or so, and afternoon & evening raga’s are taught in the appropriate times later in the day.

Here is what we do and where we do it:

The Days in a Nutshell:

Monday – Thursday:

7-9am

Each day begins with morning yoga and/or meditation class from Grace Russo, or a walk, or whatever you want to do, in the morning.

8-9:30 am

Do-it-Yourself Breakfast:

Your choice of bread, butter, nut butters, fruit, yogurt, buffalo milk and cereal are made available for you.

10 am -1pm

Scheduled Classes:

Morning vocal & dance & instrumental classes (including tabla), as arranged by and for the group.

1pm-3pm

Prepared Lunch, walk, rest.

3pm-6pm

Afternoon & evening vocal & instrumental classes, as arranged by the group.

6pm

Kirtan & Bhajans: devotional singing & dancing

7pm

Dinner

Friday: tutorials & adventures

Friday is an open day to do with as your will, including individual tutorials if you opt to do that, practice, explore, etc.

Saturday & Sunday: Excursions, Events & Adventures in & around Varanasi.

During the week, the group discuss various possible destinations and events, and local excursion options of interest to the various parties involved, and the group decide as a whole, or in parts, which events or excursions seem to be of greatest appeal to all. The excursions are then planned around the stated choices and desired destinations expressed. Again, anyone can also opt to stay “at home” at the school, to practice or study or walk or rest, as they wish.

The Academy

Built specifically to be a school of music for students and pilgrims coming to live there while studying music and dance, the Academy is situated within a five minute walk from the long arc of the Ganga River, along which you can see and explore hundreds of temples, markets and amazing places of reflection and contemplation.

Its construction completed in 2007, the Academy is a place full of light, lots of talking and laughter…and music!

On the ground floor the Academy houses a generous concert, recital and music hall, where you may see and hear numerous amazing performances by some of Varanasi’s most brilliant musical luminaries.

Walking up the stairs, you enter a spacious court-yard/middle room, enclosed but still open to the flow of outside air. A large table and many chairs here make it a perfect space to meet for meals, meetings and socializing. On one side of it is the kitchen. And around it are a suite of various rooms, two of which are dorm style.

Proceeding up to the third floor, the rest of the smaller rooms encircle another common open-air middle space.

All of the floors are made of a very light and bright marble from Rajasthan, lending a very clean and simple and under-stated elegance to the very sparse decorum.

The rooms on the third floor are for individuals, couples, or small and intimate family units, with a small sleeping loft included under the very high ceilings. Most of these rooms also have a Western-style bathroom and shower (hot and cold water), and some rooms have a second door that opens out on a South-facing balcony.

Each room has beautiful iron-work lattices over screened windows that open and close, and each room has locking doors.

Proceeding up one last flight of stairs places you in the open rooftop garden, common to much of the architecture of Benares. Here you can take in beautiful visa’s and enjoy a sense of the community of rooftop realms surrounding you on all sides, where families and groups of people gather and cook meals, children play, and beautiful storms come up with thunder and fury to drench anyone and everything, only to dissolve into the usual brightness of light and stone that is characteristic of Varanasi.

Overall the school is spacious and clean and filled with light.

It is far enough from the busy motorized streets ( it faces out on a non-motorized walk-way) to be relatively quiet at night, during which you will mostly hear the occasional cow mooing and dogs barking.

Water

The preeminence of Ganga River, “mother Ganga,” and the presence of water in and around the farming floodplains that surround the city, are integral to its spiritual and ritual life, and are no small part of why it is aptly named “the eternal city” of Varanasi. These floods reinvigorate the soils around the city every year with their yearly and millennial deposits of nutrients and “fertility,” raining down from heaven and the Himalayan Mountains, or “from the head of Shiva” as some will say.

And every day the fruit of those floods pours into the city, on oxcarts and bicycles and small tractors and trailers filling thousands of streets with a huge assortment of fruit and vegetables, and linking the farming and city communities of greater Benares, an “eternal” connection between the people, the soil, and the river.

That being said, there is always a fly in the waters of paradise, as one might say.

Some people will say that the river is safe to drink for native inhabitants, but others should drink bottled water.

The reality is (if somewhat blasphemous to some) that it is not really good for anyone to drink this water.

With this in mind, the school is equipped with a reverse osmosis water filter, which removes all adverse elements from the water. All meals prepared at the school are made using only this water. Students and visitors are encouraged to fill their personal water bottles from there, eliminating unnecessary plastic waste –a terrible problem in all of India these days.

Food & Meals

All food and meals at the Academy (all vegetarian) are included in the basic cost of this offering.

Lunch and dinner are prepared in a traditional family-style of cooking, not very spicy and not very fancy, but very tasty and very good. The time at which they are served revolves around the Curricula, which you will understand better when you read the further details regarding classes & tutorials offered, below.

Daily meals begin with a do-it-yourself or group-collaborative breakfast (just after morning yoga or meditation or walk ….your choice) and consisting of your choice of bread, nut-butters and butter, milk (fresh but boiled water-buffalo), cereal, fruits, & tea.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, the group usually opts to go out together, or in several small groups, or in pairs as they wish, to go to any number of cultural or musical events or places, and to eat out at some of the more well-known places around town; the cost of meals “eating out” are not included in this offering. Chapatti’s, dhal & rice and a vegetable dish & fruits can always be made available in the kitchen at the school, for anyone or any group of people who may opt to “stay-home” on those nights.

Communications:

The school also has wireless internet, which is not too common yet in India.

There are many “internet stores” in Benares (rows of computers) which charge by hour.

If you have a wireless laptop, you can connect to the school network.

There is also a school computer you can use for that purpose.

Cost: Priceless…

Included in our travel/study group offers:

All scheduled classes at the Academy (4 weeks);

All food at the Academy (4 weeks);

All accommodations at the Academy (4 weeks);

Reverse Osmosis and filtered drinking & bottle water at the school;

^{Wireless/internet connections at the school:}

Cost: Not including travel to and from North America: or Europe --please inquire--

Thanks for your interest and please let me know about your thoughts, questions & concerns.

Sincerely,

And on behalf of Pandit Shivnath & Deobrat Mishra & the Mishra Family,

^{How to get to the Academy:}

^{_{The best way to come to India is flying to Delhi and from Delhi there are two ways of getting to Varanasi.}}

_{^{First, by flight what takes around one hour and a half. There are many companies which offer this flight, such as: Spice Jet, Kingfischer, Jet Air Ways and India Airlines. Please check the official website of any of those companies and, if you want, you can buy your flight ticket online.}}

_{^{Second, if you prefer to come by train, which is a less costly option, though it takes twelve to thirteen hours. The train's name is Shivaganga Express or Kashi Vishwanath Express (this takes around sixteen hours).}}

^{It is important to know that you can reserve your tickets online. If interested, please click:}^{http://www.indianrail.gov.in/}

^{Make sure that you book your ticket in advance.}

^{Irrespective of your choice, we can pick you up either in the airport of Varanasi or in the local train station. Please contact us in advance, so that we can arrange to pick you up in the reffered place.}

^{Deobrat Mishra}

^{mishramusic@hotmail.com}

^{0091-542-2455672}^{www.music-of-benares.com}

^{“Language of the Gods”…}

^{by Marco Zonka}
^{In one of the oldest and most continually inhabited cities in the world, Varanasi, India, very little is new under the sun.
Her days numbered by the fleeting reign of kings and queens, her nights measured by the rise and fall of empires, Varanasi--or Benares, as it is also know-- has been the sacred destination of pilgrimages throughout the millennia. It is also the city of the holy mother of rivers: the Ganga, or “mother river”.
And much like the Nile in Egypt, the Ganga River valley is a cradle of ancient, and modern, Hindustani civilization. Hundreds of temples adorn her shores, a necklace of radiant and crumbling jewels. Songs and prayers emerge in their billions from these temples, floating out over the rippling waters of the Ganga, to be answered…or not.
Though little in Varanasi is ever really new among the millions of living souls who live in or visit her yearly, new forms of some very refreshingly ‘old forms’ are being born and reborn daily.
So when a living musical tradition evolving for more than three thousand years finds a new home along the seething streets of Varanasi, that is either no big news, or very big news indeed.}

^{From the “Temples of the Gods” Into “The Palaces of the Queens & Kings”;}

^{A Brief History}

^{The origin of Hindustani classical music can be traced back to Vedic times, nearly five thousand years ago. Some say its origin is far older, lost in the mists of distant times and places beyond the lives and memories of humankind. Sanskrit writings ascribe its genealogy to a period in remote antiquity. There, it is written, this music was originally “the language of the gods.”
From this obscure point of indeterminate origin, it evolved over thousands of years in temples and spiritual traditions throughout the Indian subcontinent. And many centuries ago, it moved from the temples into the palaces of the kings and queens of India, who were its most fervent and avid patrons. The music of the temples, adapting to it’s new environment in the courts of worldly kings, began also to express the regal and earthly sensibilities of the imperial court.
Later, during the cultural influx and imperial dominion of the Persian and Muslim kings, it underwent yet another metamorphosis: Enriched by the playful, improvisatory, and carnal aires favored by the Persian and Islamic musical masters, the genius of the ecstatic music from Persia began consorting with the traditions of sacred music in India. And it was a fruit-full union indeed, resulting today in the many branches of Hindustani music that bless Northern India –and now even more of the world-- with the vibrancy of musical mysteries and melodies that both echo and live from another time…another world.
Much of the mystery and alluring depth that the listener can experience in this music comes from this dynamic blend; the alchemy of the sacred embracing the senses; Persian imagination and sensuality embracing Hindu precision and discipline; the earthly embracing the otherworldly; the known exploring and experiencing the unknown.
One evening, a few years ago, after explaining a bit of the history of the music in relation to the patronage of the high courts of India in previous centuries, Deobrat Mishra –quite a raconteur in his own right-- said to an audience last year.
“Now it is different, and also the same.
“My grandfathers played for kings and queens of India. But they are gone now.
“Now, it is you who are the kings and queens.
“And we are here to play for you.”}

^{Milestones & Millennia…}

^{So this month marks yet another small and large milestone along the millennial path of classical Hindustani music: the Pramila-Shivnath Mishra family branch of the Benares ‘gharana’ (‘ancestral linage’) finds a new home in the very old city of their origin.
And as the Academy of Classical Indian Music built by the family of Shivnath Mishra in Benares opens its doors for the first time, a uniquely intimate doorway into the world of Classical Indian music is also being opened; a door through which either the novice or accomplished practitioner may enter and be met, at and above, their present level of musical experience and evolution.}

^{Circles and horizons…}

^{The Mishra’s played for the first time on this continent in Nelson B.C. almost ten years ago. Like many avian species that fly in from distant lands to spend their summers among the waters and forests of plenty, the Mishra’s have flown from Asia to North America yearly since then.
Expanding their travel horizons to a widening community of sacred music enthusiasts in over 100 towns and cities, virtuoso sitarist Shivnath Mishra, and sitar-duet musical partner and son Deobrat Mishra, have musically hand-forged hundreds of intimate personal connections through circles of friends far and wide in British and American Columbiana, a favored playground on their yearly migrations around the world.
Those who have experienced the Mishra’s in performance are touched by the tender and loving, and also ferocious and adversarial, musical dialogue that unfolds between this father and son duet, or –as some say—“duel.” Humorous and endearing, mysterious and unpredictable, eliciting often from their listeners bursts of laughter and tears, Shivnath & Deobrat Mishra, as sitarists and singers in duet, are always an adventure full of passion and surprise.
“Each performance is kind of life-time,” Deobrat once said. “And like a lifetime, it must include and express everything.”
Leaning toward the microphone, with limited English but expansive perspectives, Pandit Shivnath added:
“Father and son together…very difficult…sometimes play, sometimes no play…very difficult”… his bemused smile expressing volumes of nuance, implicit to the dynamic emotional interplay in the changing constellations of father and son.}

^{Spectrum of emotion…}

^{Pandit Shivnath Mishra’s playing style, devotional and exuberant, daring and tender, has mesmerized and delighted thousands of people in India and Europe and North American for decades. His energetic and engaging and mischievous mastery of his most deeply ‘native tongue’ –the language of music known as “raga”, often leaves his audiences both thoroughly engaged, and entranced.
“Raga” a Sanskrit word, means variously a color, a feeling, a rainbow, a time of day, a melody, a spectrum of emotion.
After twenty-five years as the head of the Music Department at Sampurnand Sanskrit University in Varanasi, and over twenty years of performing and teaching in Europe and Asia and North America -- ‘Pandit’ (or “maestro”) Shivnath Mishra has been teacher and mentor to thousands of students and disciples, communicating across four decades and three continents his love for and knowledge of this precious music.}

^{Luminaries…}

^{At the age of Shivnath Mishra began studying vocal music with his father Badar Prasad Mishra and with his uncle and guru Pandit (master musician) Mahadev Prasad Mishra.
In a family of fine vocalists dating back more than seven generations in Benares, he is the first to master the sitar, playing it in 'Thumari' style, characterized by a strong emphasis on melody and deep emotion. In 1966 he received a gold medal in the All India Music Conference in Calcutta and has performed in Germany and throughout Europe since 1979. Well known on All India Radio and Television, he has performed with many of India's great musicians including Kishan Maharaj, Samta Prasad, Sharda Sahai, Laccu Maharaj and Ashish Khan. He has also performed with jazz artists such as John Handy, Paul Horn, David Freezen and Ben Conrad.
His son Deobrat Mishra, a promising luminary with his own musical light, was chosen in 1995 by All India Radio to receive the award of “Best Young Sitarist” in India. As a child he studied tabla with his mother Pramila, granddaughter of the well-known tablist Baiju Mishra. Pandit Shivnath began singing musical scales into his ears as a newborn infant, prompting him to sing before he learned to talk. Deobrat performed for the first time at age six, and played sitar on All India Radio at age eleven. He has toured Europe with his father for over 10 years now, and has received the Jewels of Sound award in Mumbai, equivalent to the North American Grammy.

Last year also marked another significant turning point: the end of Pandit Shivnath Mishra’s 30 year career as lecturer and head of the music department, from which he is now retiring.
And the advent of this new phase in his very music-filled life is opening new pathways, new possibilities.}

^{India to Columbiana…}

^{Many years ago Pandit Shivnath Mishra’s wife Pramila Mishra, known by family and friends as “Mataji” began feeling a growing desire to give back some of the blessing that music has given her family so generously over more than three centuries. She especially wanted to help many disadvantaged children in Benares, giving them a link to their native musical traditions that they would not --under normal family or financial circumstances-- be able to access or afford.
So Pramila and her daughters began taking these children into their home not only to teach them music, but also to feed and cloth and educate them in other ways as well. As their dedication to this practice persisted over the years, they began to dream of opening a new school, not just to teach the children in Benares, but also to invite and welcome and accommodate their many friends and musical enthusiasts from Europe, Canada, and the United States.}

^{Columbiana to India…}

^{A few years ago, after several years of touring North America under their belt, the coffers to build that vision were growing but still running lean. Pandit Shivnath and Deobrat happened to play at that time to a small gathering in Port Townsend, Washington, at a place called “The Annapurna,” named after a favored consort of Lord Shiva, the “destroyer of illusions.”
Shiva –it just so happens— is also ‘Shivnath’ Mishra’s namesake.
After the performance and enamored with their playing and presence, a man and woman came up to them and, engaged in conversation, learned of their efforts to create a school. Inquiring about the means needed to fulfill such a plan, they learned that the funds were not yet in place. Inquiring as to the sum required, they astonishingly replied: ‘we will give you that sum.’
Annapurna –it just so happens— also means “goddess of plenty.”}

^{Faith & fear…}

^{And early the following year, on raw land they purchased within ten minutes walking distance from the Ganga River, the Mishra’s broke ground and poured the foundation.
Three years of painstaking work later, and after the many ups and downs of faith and fear that are the building blocks of dreams, the doors of the school are scheduled to open later this month.
With the season of harvest and thanksgiving underway, in Northern climes of fruitful plenty, many years of work and a few turns of good fortune are coming to fruition.
And all give thanks.
And not least of these we might also mention:
The new Academy of Classical Indian Music, dream and love-child of Pramila & Shivnath Mishra, and of their kith and kin in kind, will open its door’s for the first time in Varanasi, India.
And in February of 2007 Deobrat Mishra, in collaboration with Marco Zonka –their North American tabla accompanist and liaison-- facilitated the first group of 12 people from Canada and the U.S. to come to Benares, to live at the school and study --to literally live and breathe-- the music and/or dance of North India for 33 days.
And every January thereafter, the school will be open to new groups from North America coming to study the music and dance traditions in Varanasi, long esteemed as a center of cultural and musical arts.}

^{And then some…}

^{It was by the “grace of God” that the school was created, said Deobrat Mishra (also known as “Debu”) disciple and leading exponent of Pandit Shivnath Mishra’s unique instrumental style.
But knowing the long years of hard work and perseverance that were part of it, it would probably be more accurate to say:
‘It was by the grace of God, and then some.’}

^{Outside and inside…}

^{_{In the nurturing and supportive home-like atmosphere of the new school, people interested in this cultural and musical pilgrimage will experience the focused practice and pleasure of studying and experiencing this music in its native setting, learning to appreciate and/or express more and more of its myriad nuance and subtlety.
A five minute walk away from the Ganga River, in the heart of one of the most ancient cities in the world, participants in this adventure will have an opportunity to explore the unique melding of Persian and Hindustani influences that are at the core of North Indian classical music & culture; listening to and experiencing it in it’s natural “outside” settings (in which it is part of daily life) to the “inside” of it; the heart and soul from which it comes.}}

^{“At home” in India…}

^{The extended home-like atmosphere of the new school (integrated into the rhythms of home- and work-life in Benares) is an essential part of the well-grounded comfort and intimacy of this local neighborhood and family-centered cultural experience.
The importance of ‘giving-back the gifts’, given to the Mishra family, through centuries of living and loving and preserving this music, is a responsibility that the Mishra family feels deeply committed to.
And as part of that, for four weeks, four or five days a week, the group that forms from the yearly “invitation” will begin the day, after tea and a light meal, with yoga and mediation classes/practice. This will be followed by morning vocal classes, tabla lessons, and other offerings that meet the particular interests of a given group.
After lunch, all instrumental classes (sitar, sarod, saranghi, bansuri, and others) and Kathak dance classes will ensue, in accordance with the groups’ unique mix of interests.
This will be followed by the evening meal and time for a stroll through the streets of Benares, taking in first-hand it’s multitude of scents and spells.
Evenings will also include devotional singing, bhajans and kirtan, and devotional dancing, evoking a sacred space together of joy-filled oneness through song and movement.
Weekends will also include local excursions to various temples and sacred sites, and musical concerts or other aural experiences, throughout Benares, with Deobrat Mishra as musical raconteur and cultural guide. The weekends will also include free time for participants to use as they will.}

^{“Ears to hear”…}

^{If you are interested in being part of this group contact Academy management as soon as possible, so that the Mishra’s can prepare for the specific interests, accommodations, and travel needs of respondents.
“Raga” the “language of the gods” knows no boundaries or borders, and all are free to respond to its call.
“And for those who have ears to hear” said one wise-man, “let them hear.”}
^*