Collage Arts presents
Raga Rang – Colours of the Bansuri
an exclusive Indian World Music performance on bamboo flute and tabla

Rupak Kulkarni (bansuri or bamboo flute)
The talented maestro of the melodious Indian flute,“Rupak draws us to his art and instrument with innovative improvisations, mesmeric laykari (rhythmic variations), superb breath control and dexterous finger work” AV MAX (Mumbai) 2001

Accompanied by Subhash Dhunoohchand (tabla)
Renowned tabla player and percussionist from Reunion Island, with magical fingers that give life to the traditional Indian drums

World Music: Indian Classical music
The tradition of Indian Classical music has evolved over a period of thousands of years. Characterised by improvisation, each melody (Raga) depicts a different mood (ras) or colour (rang) simply by the flow of notes, texture, timbre and improvisation on a rhythmic cycle (tala).

The bansuri flute has the singular quality of being very close to the human voice, and so makes it an excellent improvisational instrument. In Indian mythology, the flute is associated with Lord Krishna, whose divine music hypnotised his followers into blind devotion .

Rupak Kulkarni
Rupak Kulkarni discovered the warm sound of the bansuri when he was 9 years old. He blossomed under the tutelage of Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia to become an exceptional flute player and outstanding exponent of the Maihar Gharana (style of playing). Not only loved and lauded by music lovers, he also has the esteem of connoisseurs and music maestros, such as Pandit Ravi Shankar and Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. He has several recording collaborations with Trilok Gurtu, Taufiq Qureshi and Hariprasad Chaurasia. He is a regular at festivals in Asia, Australia, America, Russia, Japan, Africa, England and France and he boasts a fine series of live recordings

Subhash Dhunoohchand
Subhash Dhunoohchand belongs to the famous Ajrara Gharana and is the disciple of Pandit Sudhir Kumar Saxena from Baroda (India). His virtuosity, dexterity and layakari characterise his personal style. Like Rupak, he has taken part in several jazz and music festivals in Europe ( Sweden, Denmark, England, France, Holland, Spain and Germany) and Asia (India, Singapore and Bangladesh). He has accompanied many great musicians such as Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia (flute), Pandit Budhaditya Mukherjee (sitar), Lars Gullikson (saxophone), Anatholi Bulkin (guitar), Susheela Raman (vocal) and Trilok Gurtu (percussions & tabla). He is also interested in fusion music and has formed his own group, Cosmic Sound.