Pandit Pran Nath Memorial Tribute
Concert of Pre-recorded Tapes
of
Pandit Pran Nath
performing
Afternoon & Evening Ragas
with live commentary by
La Monte Young & Marian Zazeela
Sunday, June 19, 2005, 3 pm
MELA Foundation Dream House
275 Church Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10013
Between Franklin & White Streets in Tribeca
Admission $16. MELA Members, Seniors, Student ID, $12.
Limited seating. Reservations recommended.
In celebration of Pandit Pran Nath’s extraordinary life and work, MELA Foundation presents a memorial tribute concert of the Master’s pre-recorded tapes of Afternoon and Evening Ragas on Sunday, June 19, 2005 at 3:00 pm in the MELA Dream House, 275 Church Street, 3rd floor, New York. The concert is curated by La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela, who will present commentary on the music during the event. The concert will continue for about four hours.
Admission $16; $12 MELA members; seniors; students with ID. Limited seating.
Reservations recommended: 212-925-8270 or 646-613-8328.
Pandit Pran Nath, who passed away on June 13, 1996, virtually introduced the vocal tradition of North Indian classical music to the West in 1970. His 1971 morning performance at Town Hall, New York City, was the first concert of morning ragas to be presented in the U.S. Subsequently, he introduced and elaborated to Western audiences the concept of performing ragas at the proper time of day by scheduling entire series of concerts at special hours. Many students and professional musicians came to him in America to learn about the vast system of raga and to improve their musicianship. In 1972, Pran Nath established his own school in New York City under the direction of his disciples La Monte Young and Marian Zazeela, the Kirana Center for Indian Classical Music, now a project of MELA Foundation. Over the years he performed hundreds of concerts in the West, scores of them in New York City, and in Fall 1993 he inaugurated the MELA Foundation Dream House with three Raga Cycle concerts. He continued to perform here annually during his remaining years and on May 12 and 17, 1996, his two concerts of Afternoon and Evening Ragas in the Dream House were his last public performances.
Pran Nath's majestic expositions of the slow alap sections of ragas combined with his emphasis on perfect intonation and the clear evocation of mood had a profound impact on Western contemporary composers and performers. In addition to Young and Zazeela, minimalist music composer Terry Riley became one of his first American disciples. Fourth-world trumpeter Jon Hassell, jazz all‑stars Don Cherry and Lee Konitz, composers Jon Gibson, Yoshimasa Wada, Rhys Chatham, Michael Harrison and Allaudin Mathieu, Sufi Pir Shabda Kahn, mathematician and composer Christer Hennix, concept artist and violinist Henry Flynt, dancer Simone Forti, and many others took the opportunity to study with the master.
For further information: mail@melafoundation.org
MELA's programs are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency and generous contributions from individuals and MELA Members.