TRANSCENDENCE 2.0: A Stupendous Success as Dr. Mysore Manjunath-Violin and Grammy Nominee Louiz Banks-Piano Pay Tribute to the Legends

Business Wire India
Transcendence 2.0, the annual Music event held recently at St. Andrews Auditorium, Mumbai, this year paid tribute to Legends of Carnatic & Western Jazz, Violin Maestro T. Chowdiah and Jazz Pianist Oscar Peterson. The concert featuring the music of the 'Vidwan of the Violin', fusing with the artistry of the 'Maharaja of the Piano', was a stupendous success, as the music took the audience to a Transcendental state.
 
The tributes by modern day legends Dr. Mysore Manjunath-Violin and Grammy nominee Louiz Banks-Piano were for their respective idols Mysore T. Chowdiah (1894-1967) a violinist, innovator, teacher, an organizer, a composer and a thespian. He designed the seven-stringed violin and Oscar Peterson (Aug 15, 1925-Dec 23, 2007), winner of 8 Grammy Awards, who is considered one of the greatest jazz pianists ever. In a career lasting more than 60 years, he has played thousands of concerts all over the world and released over 200 recordings. They were accompanied by Vidwan Bangalore Amrit-Khanjira, Gino Banks-Drums, Gianluca Liberatore-Bass Guitar and Pt. Yogesh Samsi- Tabla. 
The first segment of the concert began with the lovely tribute by Louiz Banks to Oscar Peterson with some good old instrumental jazz popularised by the late legend. The second segment of the concert began with tribute by Vidwan Shri. Dr. Mysore Manjunathji to T. Chowdiah with the traditional Tyagaraja Kriti ‘Nyanamu Sakaratha’ in Purvikalyani. He then went on to play an RTM in the raga Kafi/Peelo. The improvisation of this RTM was in Natakurunji, Rasikapriya (72 melakarta raga). 

The finale was specially composed by Louiz Banks called ‘Reunion’ loosely based on Raga Chandrakauns. The finale also had Gino Banks, Pt. Yogesh Samsi and Vidwan Bangalore Amrit, showing their respective class and talent separately and then creatively sparring with each other. The concert ended with a vote of thanks to all the sponsors without whose support this concert would not have been possible and to the living legends who performed spectacularly on stage.

The Ensemble took the audience through various levels of consciousness culminating into the transcendent state through their music. Pradeep Joseph from Raga to Rock said, “The concert was like sitting at the crossroads, where the Music of Chennai and New Orleans met.”

At last year's concert, Carnatic legend G. Harishankar (Khanjira) was honored with a tribute by Vidwan Bangalore Amrit (Khanjira) and Jazz legend Buddy Rich was honored with a tribute, by Ranjit Barot (Drums).

The event was organized by Gigue Entertainment a division of SRH Consilium LLP lead by Rajashekhar Srinivasan and this initiative would not have been possible without the support of Aditya Birla Sunlife Capital Mutual Funds, Indian Oil Corporation, Life Insurance Corporation & Bombay Dyeing.