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Performances

 
         
 

 

 

 

Asian art and culture comes to life through live performances at the Asian Art Museum. Performances throughout the year encompass dance, music, storytelling, theater and more. To see the schedule of upcoming performances please visit our e-calendar.

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Goviondaraj photograph

South Indian flutist Mohan Rangan Govindaraj.

Image of the Hindu deity Shiva in form of Bhairava

The Hindu deity Shiva in the fierce form of Bhairava, approx. 1300-1500. India; Karnataka state. Gift of the Connoisseurs' Council, 2000.6

 

Robin Sukhadia leading tabla workshop

Robin Sukhadia leading tabla workshop

Storytelling tour at the Asian Art Museum

Indian stories

Gautam Tejas Ganeshan

Classical singing with Gautam Tejas Ganeshan

Musician photos courtesy of Sangati Center

 

Community celebrations

Celebration of India
Saturday, November 21

11:00 am – 4:00 pm

Samsung Hall


Join us for an afternoon of music and art in celebration of the Bay Area's diverse South Asian communities and the San Francisco–Bangalore sister city relationship. This event is a kickoff for
the inaugural San Francisco–Bangalore trade and cultural mission in late November.

At 2:00 pm South Indian flutist Mohan Rangan Govindaraj leads a team of Karnatak musicians performing the traditional music of South India, which has flourished since the sixteenth century and has its origins in ceremonial temple music. The day includes casual music workshops, hands-on activities, a storytelling program for families, and a tour of the South Asian galleries.

Schedule:

TIME

ACTIVITY LOCATION

11:00 am to

4:00 pm

Hands-on Activities North Court

11:15 am to

12:15 pm

Interactive Tabla Workshop with Robin Sukhadia Education Resource Room
12:15 pm  Indian Stories for families (45 minutes) Meet at the glass elevator (ground floor)
1:00 pm Docent led tour of the South Asian galleries (45 minutes) meet at the Information Desk
2:00 pm Musical concert (1 hour) Samsung Hall

3:15 pm

to

4:15 pm

Indian Classical Singing Session with Gautam Tejas Ganeshan Samsung Hall

Program Details

Interactive Tabla Workshop with Robin Sukhadia

11:15 am - 12: 15 pm

Education Resource Room (ground floor)

Come explore culture, creativity, sound, and rhythm through the language and notes of tabla, a traditional pair of drums from North India. Robin Sukhadia, a disciple of Swapan Chaudhuri, leads an open-ended workshop on learning and applying the rhythmic language behind tabla. Learn to make the basic sounds on in-house drums, and gain exposure to some of the basic concepts of classical Indian rhythm, time cycles, and using vocal syllables to represent drum beats. Observers, complete beginners and children are welcome!

Indian Stories for families

12:15 pm - 1:00 pm

Meet at the glass elevator (ground floor) then proceed as a group to the galleries

One of the Asian Art Museum's Storytellers brings the galleries to life with the myths and folktales of India. You will examine selected art objects on display and enjoy a lively retelling of stories relating to the works.

Docent tour of South Asian Galleries (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka)

1:00 pm - 1:45 pm

Meet at the Information Desk

In this tour you will explore Indian stone sculpture, paintings, prints, textiles, armor, bronze images, jades, and wood carvings, reflecting the major trends in all the major religions of India over a 2,000 year period – Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, and Jain.

Musical concert: Venu Kutcheri

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Samsung Hall

Mohan Rangan Govindaraj leads a team of Karnatak musicians presenting the traditional art music of South India. With its origins in ceremonial temple music, Karnatak music has flourished since the 16th century as an independent artistic tradition. This ensemble will primarily present classical compositions in the krithi song form, an elegant and sophisticated structure incorporating a succession of increasingly complex movements, each with nested variations called sangati-s. The classical concert format presents a variety of opportunities for virtuosity and improvisations, which must be performed while maintaining the raga (melody) and tala (rhythm) that give Karnatak music its timeless appeal.

Indian Classical Singing Session with Gautam Tejas Ganeshan

3:15 pm - 4:15 pm

Samsung Hall

The voice is a profound instrument, and is at the heart of Indian classical music. Join Gautam Tejas Ganeshan in a progressive exploration of the structure and aesthetic of one raga (melody) as a
group, with practical guidance in the basics of intonation and voice culture, accompanied by the sound of live tanpura drone lutes. The session also provides an opportunity to explore individual creativity in singing and the curves, patterns, and ornaments that characterize vocal improvisation. No prior experience or language knowledge is necessary.

 

coSponsors:

San Francisco-Bangalore Sister City Initiative

Sangati Center Logo

Artist information:

Mohan Rangan Govindaraj initially learned music from his father, before continuing at the Vijaya College of Music in Bangalore, and ultimately studying with Sangeetha Kalarathna Prof. H. V. Krishnamurthy. This ensemble will primarily present classical compositions in the krithi song form, an elegant and sophisticated structure incorporating a succession of increasingly complex movements, each with nested variations called sangati-s. The classical concert format presents a variety of opportunities for virtuosity and improvisations, which must be performed while maintaining the raga (melody) and tala (rhythm) that give Karnatak music its timeless appeal.

Govindaraj will play the venu (south Indian bamboo flute). He will be accompanied by:

Lakshmi Balasubramanya - violin (18th century import into Karnatak music, now a staple)
Karthik Gopalratnam - mridangam (double-headed barrel drum)
Ganesh Ramanarayanan - kanjira (lizard-skin frame drum)

Recently completing a Master in Fine Arts at the California Institute of the Arts, Robin Sukhadia has been studying tabla (classical south Asian drums) under Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri at the California Institute of the Arts and the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Rafael, California for the past seven years. His special focus on the musical traditions and rhythms of South Asia informs his approach to musical arrangement and composition on a wide range of concert, film, and album productions. For the past six years, Robin has traveled internationally on behalf of Project Ahimsa, an organization committed to empowering impoverished youth through music education. In 2009, he was appointed Director of Communications and Information for the Music National Service Initiative, a federally funded effort to support music education in underserved communities across America.

Gautam Tejas Ganeshan is founder and director of the Sangati Community Center for South Asian Music. He is the vocalist for the New Directions in Indian Classical Music group, which was commissioned in 2009 by the San Francisco Foundation. Gautam has guest-lectured on Karnatak (South Indian classical) music for the Music of India courses at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz, and has conducted seminars on the philosophy and aesthetics of Indian Classical Music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and at the Kearny Street Workshop.


 
 

Necati Celik image

Tumucin Cevikoglu image

Yavuz Akalin

 

 

Performances

The Many Worlds of Turkish Classical Music
A Talk and Musical Demonstration with Three Turkish Masters

Saturday, December 19
1:00 pm

Samsung Hall

Virtuoso musicians Necati Çelik, Tumuçin Cevikoğlu, and Yavuz Akalin, currently on tour from Turkey, will perform and discuss the essential elements and history of the various genres of Turkish music. The secular music of the Ottoman courts was compiled not only by Turkish composers, including the sultans themselves, but also by representatives of the Arabic, Armenian, Balkan, Greek, and Jewish communities, whose cultures the Ottoman Empire included. The music inherited from Ottoman Turkey not only continues to be performed, but is still being developed by modern composers and ensembles. The musicians will demonstrate the various music styles being discussed.

 

 
 

 

 

Tea Ceremony

Visitors can experience the changing seasons, tastes, smells, sounds, and aesthetics of chanoyu—the Japanese way of tea—in special programs held in our Japanese Tearoom. Learn more about our Tea Ceremony Presentations.

 

 
   

Lead funding for the Asian Art Museum's education programs and activities is provided by the Bank of America Foundation.

Major support for education programs and activities is provided by the Freeman Foundation and the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation.

Additional support provided by the William Randolph Hearst Foundation, the Louise Rosenberg & Claude Rosenberg Jr. Family Foundation, HSBC Foundation, Goldman Sachs Foundation, the Mary Tanenbaum Fund, the United States-Japan Foundation, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, Cisco Systems Foundation, Citigroup Foundation, the Joseph R. McMicking Foundation, the Robert and Helen Odell Fund, Dodge & Cox, the Stanley S. Langendorf Foundation, and the Joel E. Ferris Foundation.

Support for AsiaAlive is provided by the Walter & Elise Haas Fund.

Bank of American logo Ho Foundation logoWallace Foundation logo

 
       
 
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