Ragas on Piano by Utsav Lal, Raga Pianist April 1, 2012

In April 2012, pianist Utsav Lal once again returns to India and brings the magic of ragas on the piano to Mumbai and Delhi in an exclusive tour which is dedicated to support the work of NGO’s DREAMZ Home & Smile Foundation in Mumbai and JOSH in Delhi.
Utsav Lal is still only 19, but for some years now he has been forging a reputation as a pioneer in the field of music and has steadily gathered many fans with his unique rendition of Hindustani classical music on the piano which he expresses with sincerity and depth. Based in Scotland, the young musician has an impressive portfolio having taken to stage at numerous music festivals in Singapore, Italy, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, USA to name a few and is popularly known as the “raga pianist.”

Having been named Young Steinway Artist on the world-famous piano company’s roster in 2010, Lal’s efforts to popularise the sound of Indian Classical Music on the piano has been well appreciated with invitations to perform at leading classical concert venues including The National Concert Hall Dublin, Southbank Centre London, NCPA Mumbai, Konset Huset Sweden, The Bridgewater Hall Manchester & The Kennedy Centre Washington DC.

Unfazed with the challenge of an unconventional instrument , Lal has trained as a pianist in the fields of western classical and jazz at the best music conservatoires and has simultaneously continued his exploration in the realm of Hindustani Classical music under the tutelage of his Guru Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar & the guidance of his childhood mentor Sharat Srivastava. “Ragas have always been my calling” says Utsav, but interestingly his versatility has also seen him carve a reputation as a jazz pianist in the vibrant jazz scene of Scotland & Ireland and has steered him towards collaborative projects with other instruments like the violin, sitar, mridangam, Irish flute, saxophone and also the Japanese Shakuhachi.

Over the past decade, Utsav has undertaken many initiatives that lend his music to a passionate cause. On his last visit, Utsav toured India on a cultural confluence mission collaborating with an Irish Flautist in an attempt to take music beyond borders. Previously many of his concerts in India and Ireland have been associated with causes like National Association for the Blind, Spastics Society, Make-A-Wish Foundation , Rotary Club , World Mercy Fund, Telethon People in Need, World Refugee Day, World Harmony Run and with the Daniel Pearl Music Foundation supporting the Daniel Pearl World Music days since 2008.

DREAMZ “Home for the Homeless project which is Rehabilitation cum Recreational Open Home” was started in 2004 by Social Development Centre .SDC is a registered NGO working since past thirteen years for the upliftment and overall development of slum/street dwelling children & child beggars through a series of educational, recreational & training programmes conducted for them. It was started with a mission to isolate child beggars from families that force them to beg on streets for daily means, to accommodate destitute children in deep crises and care for children of widows who are unable to provide daily meals and education to them. DREAMZ Home has children residing in three different centres in Mumbai who study in English & Marathi medium Schools and recently have also started a Home for Senior Citizens.

JOSH was formed in 2006 and has been part of the national Right to Information campaign, with the idea that this group will work especially with youth on issues of transparency and accountability. Since then, JOSH has worked like a movement, promoting volunteerism amongst youth, motivating them to use RTI Act in the areas which concern them the most. JOSH works with youth at two different levels: Students of colleges and Universities like IIT Delhi, IIM Indore & DU colleges to understand issues and then help them to raise these at their local level. It also works and with the urban poor youth, living in slums and resettlement colonies in Delhi running a Youth Resource Centre, which helps in providing a platform for capacity building of community youth on different rights based issues, engaging them to raise issues of poor delivery of quality education in the government schools, thereby awaring them about the RTE Act and working with them to ensure effective implementation of the provisions of the RTE Act. The youth resource centre forms a platform and space where youth are engaged by providing them non-formal education alongwith regular classes on basic English.
Music is one of the best medium to sensitise the ears to a cause and Utsav hopes that proceeds from the concert will contribute in some way to realise the dreams of many children and help secure a better future for the youth of our country.

Utsav Lal’s concert tour is being presented in Mumbai by Trident Bandra Kurla on April 1 and in Delhi by The Oberoi Gurgaon on April 8, 2012.The fund raising initiative of the 19 yr old musician has garnered support of music house Furtados, Chhandam, the largest Kathak organisation and Showhouse. Utsav will be joined on the tabla in the Mumbai concert by Aditya Kalyanpur, who tutored under late Ustad Allarakha & Ustad Zakir Hussain is considered one of the most promising torch bearers of the Punjab gharana style of tabla performance and in the Delhi concert by the well respected, Shailendra Mishra, disciple of Pandit Sameer Chatterjee.