Umang Sameer Rao Concert December 18, 2008

Sameer Rao, 26, who is currently training at Hariprasad Chaurasia’s Vrindavan Gurukul, Mumbai, is a Hindustani classical music Vidwat degree holder from the Karnataka secondary educational board. He has performed on All India Radio, Doordarshan and the Karnataka government’s department of Kannada and Culture. He has given concerts abroad and composed music for Kannada, Marathi and Hindi plays. He has cut several music albums and regularly accompanies guru Hari Prasad Chaurasia in his concerts. The recipient of a scholarship for the year 1997-98 from the music and dance academy of Karnataka, he won the first prize in `Kala Pratibhotsav` 2004 and got the `Yuva Pratibha` award from the Directorate of Kannada and Culture. The Nada Brahma Sangeet Sabha of Mysore conferred `Nada Kishore` on him for best performance in classical instrumental music at the Nada Kishorotsava 2006. Ranjani Ramachandran figures among the foremost young Hindustani classical vocalists in the country today. Endowed with a rich voice, she has trained under the late Kashinath Shankar Bodas from Kanpur, Veena Sahasrabuddhe in Pune and Ulhas Kashalkar at the prestigious ITC Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata. From Girija Devi, Ranjani has acquired a rich repertoire of thumri, dadra, chaiti and kajri. She also has mastery of taranas, set to tune by contemporary composers, such as Balwantrai Bhatt, Vasant Thakar and Ramashraya Jha and the bhajans of Meera, Surdas, Kabir and Tulsidas. She was awarded the resident scholarship of the ITC-Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata (2001-06) and a Central Government Scholarship (1998-2000). Among the venues she has performed are the Vishnu Digambar Jayanti Samaroha, New Delhi (2007); the ITC Sangeet Sammelans in various cities and the Arpan Festival, India Habitat Centre. Ranjani is currently pursuing her Ph.D in music at the University of Pune.