Prasad Bhandarkar: Bansuri Raga Shivranjani

Here are 10 minutes of magic on the Bansuri (Indian Bamboo Flute) from Prasad Bhandarkar, one of the leading disciples of Hari Prasad Chaurasia, accompanied by some friends on the Mood India series.

Before I ordained I used to play Western classical guitar (up to about intermediate level), and always had a real love for Indian classical music also, and would occasionally be able to attend concerts when I was living in India.

Classical music and art is still flourishing in India in a way that it really is not in most Theravada countries, which have let their traditions be overthrown by Western trends: the resilience of India never ceases to amaze me in this regard.

In the Medieval period it is clear that the arts were flourishing all over the Indianised states of S E Asia, and we see musicians and dancers portrayed in abundance at Angkor and at Borobudur, and of course their plastic arts have survived the ages.

Prasad has the bansuriflute channel at youtube, with many charming and impressionistic recitals on it. It is well worth your time checking out if you have any love for the arts.

From Prasad’s website:

Prasad Bhandarkar started learning Hindustani music when he was 8 years old. He was initiated into classical music by his mother. Prasad got his initial training on Harmonium and Hindustani vocal music.

During his engineering college years, Prasad wanted to learn a solo performing instrument and happened to attend a concert by the renowned maestro Padma Vibhushan Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia in Gunidaas Sammelan in Mumbai. The simplicity of the Bansuri flute and Hariji’s playing style really appealed to him.

Soon he started learning bansuri flute from Shri Anantrao Patwardhan of Mumbai. In 1990, he was fortunate to become student of Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia. Prasad derives strong influence from Pandit Chaurasia’s emotional and soulful style of playing Bansuri.

Prasad also gratefully acknowledges the contribution to his musical development by Shri Deepak Ram, who is senior disciple of Pt Chaurasia and Prasad’s friends from his music group in the Bay Area.

Engineer by profession with post graduation in Management, Prasad is now based in the San Francisco, California where he has been performing both in solo Bansuri classical concerts and in light music concerts as accompanist.