October 11, 2024
7:30pm (Doors 7pm)
The DiMenna Center for Classical Music
450 W 37th St, New York, NY 10018
$35 advanced ($40 day-of)

Tejas Tope (pakhawaj)
Ted Morano (tanpura)

Dhrupad, the oldest living form of Indian classical music, has been practiced for at least twenty generations in the Dagar tradition (Dagar vani) by members of the Dagar family. In the twentieth century, Zia Mohiuddin Dagar revolutionized dhrupad by introducing its central instrument, the rudra veena—used for most of its history for accompaniment and private study—as a solo instrument for public listening. Zia Mohiuddin modified and redesigned the veena to produce a deep, soft sound created by finger plucking. His son, Ustad Mohi Bahauddin Dagar, is the world's leading performer of the rudra veena today. Born in Mumbai in 1970, he began studying sitar at age seven with his mother, Smt. Pramila Dagar, and later became a student of his father and his father’s brother, Zia Faridudin Dagar. Bahauddin has become acclaimed for his highly responsive playing style; expansive, prayerful sound; and commitment to dhrupad’s evolution and to Dagarvani’s engagement with European and American audiences, musicians, and composers.

​“Once the veena is tuned in keeping with the chosen raga’s features, there is no going back. The microtones start issuing orders. I am neither a religious person, nor an atheist, but I have seen this happening. Veena demands total surrender.”

This performance is part of Bahauddin’s multi-year collaboration with FourOneOne, spanning rehearsals, master classes, publications, live performances, and cross-stylistic encounters with New York’s many audiences and creative communities.

Photo credit: Samraggi Debroy.