Ganabharathi has organised a Sarod recital by Pandit Rajeev Taranath on Feb.23 at 6 pm at Veene Seshanna Bhavan in Kuvempunagar. He will be accompanied on tabla by Pandit Udaya Raj Karpoor.

Profile: Internationally acclaimed performer, Pt. Rajeev Taranath is today one of the world’s leading exponents of the Sarod. A distinguished disciple of Maestro Ali Akbar Khan, his performances masterfully combine the depth and rigour of the tradition of Hindustani classical music with an inspired imagination and emotional intensity.

Hailed a prodigy in Hindustani vocal music, he had been earlier trained by his father Pandit Taranath and other eminent musicians. He was a concert and radio artiste before he was twenty.

Pt. Rajeev has toured extensively as a performer in India, Australia, Europe, Yemen and throughout the US. He has also composed music for several nationally and internationally honoured Indian films. He is the recipient of the Sangeet Natak Academi Award for 1999-2000, given in recognition of outstanding achievement in the field of Hindustani Instrumental Music.

In 1998, he received the prestigious National Award ‘Chowdiah Award for Music’ from the Government of Karnataka for excellence in the field of instrumental music. He has also received awards from the Government of Karnataka for his contribution to music — the Sangeet Nritya Akademi Award in 1993 and the Karnataka Rajya Prashasti in 1996. In 1980 he was the subject of a documentary made for the television in Eden, Yemen, entitled Finnan Min-Al-Hind (Artist from India).

He was a Ford Foundation scholar (1989 to 1992) and researched during this period on the ‘Teaching Techniques of The Maihar-Allauddin Gharana.’ Rajeev has also received guidance from Pandit Ravi Shankar and Srimati Annapurna Devi. From 1995-2005, he was a member of the Music Department faculty at the prestigious California Institute of Arts in Los Angeles, California.