Silk Road Journey: An Evening of IndoPersian Music

A world-inspired performance takes center stage this Friday, November 30th as sitarist and composer Hans Utter brings an evening of IndoPersian music to the Lincoln Theatre. The concert will begin with the classical music of India, featuring Dr. Hans Utter on the sitar, and the vocals of Utpola Borah, followed by works on the Persian tar and setar, performed by Behzad Nemazi. The Persian setar is an intimate, stringed instrument associated with the musical meditations, laments and expressions of devotions of Sufis. The second act will culminate an onstage union of these traditions in an original arrangement, written for the concert by Hans Utter; a celebration of the human heart and a holiday wish for peace on earth.

Sitarist and composer Hans Utter is deeply rooted in Indian classical music, having studied extensively in India under the tutelage of the world renown sitar maestro Ustad Shujaat Khan. He performs in the Imdad Khan gharana style, known as the gayaki ang, and has achived recognition in India, the United States and Europe. As a composer he explores the crossover between Indian music, jazz, rock and Western classical music, and is also an accomplished guitar player.

He holds a degree in sitar from the Benares Hindu University School of Music, where he studied with Dr. Rajman Singh.

The style taught by his guru, the gyaki ang, is based on the subtle nuances of vocal music, and brings out the beauty inherent in the raga. He plays in a wide variety of styles:

• from the traditional khyal based exposition of the raga
• to the romantic sounds of thumri and gazal, and
• folk melodies known as dhuns

Silk Road Journey: An Evening of IndoPersian Music
November 30, 2012, 8 p.m.
Lincoln Theatre
Tickets: http://citymusiccolumbus.org/silk-road-journey/
http://hansutter.com/