Mumbai: Tabla Maestro Taufiq Qureshi and Drumming wizard Ranjit Barot come together at Blue Frog on 15 August to celebrate India’s 61st Independence Day through an Indian Classical Music Fusion concert.
Qureshi, an ace percussionist of India, is also an acclaimed composer. Being the son and disciple of the legendary tabla maestro Ustad Allarakha, Taufiq’s performances showcase the traditional flavour and intricacies of Indian rhythm.
Qureshi’s trademark style incorporates body and vocal percussions to create unique rhythmic motifs spanning across cultures. His sense of tone and his command over a wide variety of percussion instruments and styles is commendable.
After a long and arduous journey of over twenty years, Qureshi continues to evolve as a percussionist in the ever- inspiring world of live-audience performances.
By virtue of his amazing versatility as a percussionist and as a composer of sorts he has carved himself a special niche in the field of world music and is fondly referred to as Prince of Percussion.
Barot’s first medium of expression was the western drum set which earned him a reputation as India ‘s best drummer at the age of 17, one he still holds after many years. He played for most of the leading bands of the time and was soon accompanying Jazz ensembles on tours to Europe and the former USSR.
He was fortunate to perform with the late great trumpet player Don Cherry at an impromptu jam session in Warsaw and then later in a more formal setting at the Jazz Yatra in Mumbai. At the age of 20, Barot played at the Berlin Festival on the same stage as Miles Davis, and at the Belgrade Festival which featured Joe Zawinul and the Weather Report.
Together Qureshi and Barot play with a Mumbai-based Indian Classical band Elemental with Vijay Prakash and Aditya Kalyanpur. Elemental is a 4 member band fusing together Indian, classical and western jazz.
The Independence Day Celebrations at Blue Frog begin at 8 PM with an opening act by Mumbai Stamp, a unique percussion band using random objects as instruments followed by Qureshi and Barot with Elemental.
