Paul Livingstone

Last updated

Paul Livingstone
Genres Hindustani classical music, Raga, Jazz, World music
Occupation(s)Composer, Musician
Instrument(s) Sitar, fretless guitar and requinto jarocho
Years active1970–present
Website Tanpura.com

Paul Livingstone is an American sitarist, composer and multi-instrumentalist. He is one of the few American disciples of Pandit Ravi Shankar, also trained under Rajeev Taranath and Amiya Dasgupta all of the Senia Maihar Gharana. [1]

Contents

Career

Paul began his study of sitar and tabla at age 15 living in India. He has performed classical raga music with several of the leading tabla players of India and Nepal including Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, Abhijit Banerjee, Pandit Shashanka Shekhar Bakshi and Hom Nath Upadhaya. Paul also performs on fretless guitar and Requinto jarocho of his own design. As a composer and director he leads his own Arohi Ensemble [2] plays 'raga jazz chamber music' as well as composing for film, TV, theater and dance [3] [4] He has recorded and or toured with a number of popular artists such as Ozomatli, Alanis Morissette, Beck, HopPo! (Rubén Albarrán of Café Tacvba), and Build an Ark. [5]

Paul has also performed in several music festivals around the world such as the World Festival of Sacred Music [6] and Cumbe Tajin in Mexico. Paul was on the music faculty for 5 years at the California Institute of the Arts, founded the Sangeet School of World music in Los Angeles and has taught creative world music workshops in the US, Mexico [7] Spain & India. Paul also published 'Sitar Talim' a workbook for learning sitar. Paul has taught Indian and creative music for 3 years inner city teenage youth through the Music LA program with support from the Disney corporation, the City of Los Angeles, Cultural Affairs Department and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office.

Discography

Albums

Films

Composer

  • Kavi (short) 2009
  • Swaroop: Boving Bliss (TV movie) 2001
  • Turbans (short) 2000

Awards and recognitions

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sitar</span> Plucked stringed instrument used in Hindustani classical music

The sitar is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau Khan, an 18th-century figure of Mughal Empire has been identified by modern scholarship as the originator of Sitar. According to most historians, he developed the sitar from the setar, an Iranian instrument of Abbasid or Safavid origin. Another view supported by a minority of scholars is that Khusrau Khan developed it from Veena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ravi Shankar</span> Indian musician and sitar player (1920–2012)

Ravi Shankar, was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known export of North Indian classical music in the second half of the 20th century, and influenced many musicians in India and throughout the world. Shankar was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allauddin Khan</span> Indian musician

Allauddin Khan, also known as Baba Allauddin Khan was an Indian sarod player and multi-instrumentalist, composer and one of the most notable music teachers of the 20th century in Indian classical music. For a generation many of his students, across different instruments like sitar and violin, dominated Hindustani classical and became some of the most famous exponents of the form ever, including Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikhil Banerjee</span> Musical artist

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The Maihar Gharana or Maihar-Senia Gharana is a gharana or school of Hindustani classical music, a style of Indian classical music originating in the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent. The school was formed by Allaudin Khan in the princely state of Maihar, now in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, and hence the name. Allauddin Khan learnt music from Vina player Wazir Khan, an exponent of the Senia gharana. The Maihar gharana is therefore sometimes referred to as the Maihar-Senia gharana.

<i>Raga</i> (film) 1971 American film

Raga is a 1971 documentary film about the life and music of Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar, produced and directed by Howard Worth. It includes scenes featuring Western musicians Yehudi Menuhin and George Harrison, as well as footage of Shankar returning to Maihar in central India, where as a young man he trained under the mentorship of Allauddin Khan. The film also features a portion of Shankar and tabla player Alla Rakha's acclaimed performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kumar Bose</span> Musical artist

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manju Mehta</span> Indian sitar player

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gopal Krishan</span> Musical artist

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ravi Shankar's Music Festival from India</span>

Ravi Shankar's Music Festival from India was an Indian classical music revue led by sitarist and composer Ravi Shankar intended for Western concert audiences and performed in 1974. Its presentation was the first project undertaken by the Material World Charitable Foundation, set up the previous year by ex-Beatle George Harrison. Long a champion of Indian music, Harrison also produced an eponymous studio album by the Music Festival orchestra, which was released in 1976 on his Dark Horse record label. Both the CD format of the Ravi Shankar's Music Festival from India album and a DVD of their performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London were issued for the first time on the 2010 Shankar–Harrison box set Collaborations.

<i>In Concert 1972</i> 1973 live album by Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan

In Concert 1972 is a double live album by sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar and sarodiya Ali Akbar Khan, released in 1973 on Apple Records. It was recorded at the Philharmonic Hall, New York City, in October 1972, and is a noted example of the two Hindustani classical musicians' celebrated jugalbandi (duet) style of playing. With accompaniment from tabla player Alla Rakha, the performance reflects the two artists' sorrow at the recent death of their revered guru, and Khan's father, Allauddin Khan. The latter was responsible for many innovations in Indian music during the twentieth century, including the call-and-response dialogue that musicians such as Shankar, Khan and Rakha popularised among Western audiences in the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debu Chaudhuri</span> Indian musician (1935–2021)

Pandit Devabrata (Debu) Chaudhuri was an Indian sitarist and teacher. He was conferred the Padmabhushan and Padma Shri awards. He was the writer of six books, composer of eight new ragas and numerous musical compositions. From 1963 he has appeared in numerous radio broadcasts, and he was a disciple of Mushtaq Ali Khan. He is considered a leading sitarist of Post War era. He is regarded as one of the leading proponents of Senia Style. He was the former Dean and Head, Faculty of Music, University of Delhi. His music is noted for its sweet singing ringing tone. He lived with his son, daughter-in law and niece at Chittaranjan Park, New Delhi.

<i>Swara Samrat festival</i>

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Shamim Ahmed Khan was a sitarist and composer, and notably, a student of Pandit Ravi Shankar. His solo recording debut was at the age of 29. Shamim had performed in Carnegie Hall, at the Lincoln Center, at the Griffith Center, among other concert halls. Although an exponent of Indian classical music, he was also associated with western musicians such as Buddy Rich, and Paul Horn among others.

<i>Ravi Shankars Festival from India</i> 1968 studio album by Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar's Festival from India is a double album by Indian musician and composer Ravi Shankar, released on World Pacific Records in December 1968. It contains studio recordings made by a large ensemble of performers, many of whom Shankar had brought to the United States from India. Among the musicians were Shivkumar Sharma, Jitendra Abhisheki, Palghat Raghu, Lakshmi Shankar, Aashish Khan and Alla Rakha. The project presented Indian classical music in an orchestral setting, so recalling Shankar's work as musical director of All India Radio in the years before he achieved international fame as a soloist during the 1960s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aayush Mohan</span> Indian Sarod player

Aayush Mohan is an Indian Classical Musician who plays the Sarod. He performs in the style of Maihar Gharana of Hindustani Classical Music. He is a four-time TEDx speaker and has worked towards creating cultural awareness in India. He frequently performs Jugalbandi(duet) with his brother Lakshay Mohan who is a Sitar player and the two are known as Mohan Brothers. Aayush Mohan and Lakshay Mohan are the first Indians to be invited to perform at the Grammy Museum, Los Angeles for the opening of the exhibition 'Ravi Shankar : A Life in Music'.

References

  1. "Senia Maihar Gharana" . Retrieved November 28, 2010.
  2. "Arohi Ensemble" . Retrieved November 28, 2010.
  3. Jung, Pam. "Music that dives deep". October 16, 2008. Swift Communications, Inc. Retrieved November 30, 2010.
  4. Morris, Nomi (April 19, 2010). "L.A.-based musician sows religious unity with the sitar". April 19, 2010. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 4, 2010.
  5. Akhtar, Shahnawaz. "US touch to sitar magic". February 22, 2008. The Telegraph. Archived from the original on September 13, 2012. Retrieved November 30, 2010.
  6. "Jugalbandi Ensemble of Indian Music". Archived from the original on September 11, 2008. Retrieved November 28, 2010.
  7. Sandoval, David. "Paul Livingstone impartió taller de ragajazz en la UV". Julio 16, 2010. Veracruzanos Info. Archived from the original on July 22, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
  8. "Arohi CD (2003)" . Retrieved December 29, 2010.
  9. "Salaam Suite CD". Archived from the original on May 31, 2008. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
  10. "Vinaya CD" . Retrieved December 29, 2010.
  11. "Tilak Shyam (2010)" . Retrieved December 29, 2010.