Every story comes to end…the story of this festival started 7 month’s ago and was concluded with an audience that experienced my 3 muses of mindfulness: Anirban, Hemang and Prewien. In this blog I will describe the highlights of the 24th DesiYUP event and mention the people who participated to create fine moments for all of us who were present on June 15th in De Nieuwe Kerk in The Hague.

Pandit Deepak’s daughter, Sanjeevni, did a wonderful job by welcoming all our 200+ guests with a tilak, made of sandalwood paste.

It’s an ancient Indian custom to welcome guests during special occasions with this ritual, by putting a tilak on their forehead. It’s a symbol of respect and with this ritual we wanted our guests to feel ‘at home’.

Prewien Pandohi-Mishre, who recently completed his masters in Indian Classical Music from Codarts, opened the festival with his first act ‘ReFused’. It was an interactive session in which the audience also sang mantra’s and devotional songs.

We were highly honored that deputy mayor Kavita Parbhudayal attended Muses of Mindfulness and presented a program cheque of €1000,- to Prewien, after his act ReFused. With this cheque DesiYUP and performing company Zuiderstrandtheater invited Prewien to participate in the second edition of Muses of Mindfulness that will happen next year 17 May 2020 in the Zuiderstrandtheater. Please save this date, announcements regarding this festival will be made very soon!

Our festival would not be such a great succes without the blessings and support of many people. My DesiYUP Good Will Ambassador Aniel Autar of Kooijman-Autar Notarissen invited 60 guests for Muses of Mindfulness. I lack words to describe how grateful I am to have him as DesiYUP’s GWA. We made sure that his guests were treated with the highest hospitality. Our premium caterer Vedisch Koken arranged delicious snacks for Aniel Autar’s guests.

Anirban Bhattacharyya, who is a disciple of Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty was our second act with ‘Celebrate Life’. He sang beautiful popular compositions which are also featured in Hindi and Bengali films. It was his first performance in The Netherlands. Prior to the concert we released a music video named ‘Mohan Mohey’ featuring Anirban and kathak dancer Indu Panday.

For Anirban’s act we invited sitar player and composer Jasdeep Singh Degun from the UK. This very talented award- winning musician recently received a Sky scholarship to conclude his first music album. We are grateful to Invest Finance Group to sponsor Jasdeep’s trip to The Netherlands.

Hemang Mehta, who belongs to the Mewati Gharana, made famous by Pandit Jasraj, was our third and final act of the evening. His act ‘Inner Calling’ was a plead to look inside yourself and contemplate, giving your mind the freedom and time to undergo emotions induced by the harmonious music.

Yama Sarshar is one of my favorite DesiYUP musicians. He is not only a fantastic tabla player, but also a reliable music professional. Yama was the perfect choice to accompany my 3 muses and I consider him one of the best tabla players from Holland.

Deniz Schelfi is a khayal-student at Codarts. She accompanied all our musicians on the tanpura, a four string drone instrument providing the ground notes of the musical pieces. As I even mentioned during my speech, without female energy no creation is possible. Deniz played her part in the most graceful manner.

Having a wonderful Good Will Ambassador is one important key to build a solid audience and create a wonderful event. But without a good partner nothing can be created. In this case, it was my first collaboration with Joost Heijthuijsen, programmer at Zuiderstrandtheater. He supported all of my ideas and helped me to execute them with great care. He connected me with Melanie Marquenie who did an excellent job and helped me produce this festival with much ease. And we are collaborating again for next year. Save the Date for Yoga Nidra January 11, 2020.

The audience gave all musicians a wel deserving warm applause.

A DesiYUP Concert is never complete without a Meet & Greet Session with the musicians. The audience always gets the opportunity to meet the artists and connect with them.

Meaningful Music cannot survive in Holland without patrons like Aniel Autar. Without his constant support it would be even more challenging to give meaningful Indian music a respected platform in The Netherlands. I’m grateful and blessed to have him by my side. Aniel Autar, thank you for always treating me with utmost kindness and giving me opportunities to gift Holland with more meaningful music.

The music of the 3 muses inspired henna artist Anima Ruissen, Niembooda Arts to draw her feelings and emotions that awakened during the concert in this exquisite illustration.

The “transitory” / cosmic aspect of the drawing (dots) was inspired primarily by Adi Shankaracharya’s composition the Nirvana Ashtakam sung by Hemang. If the dots are removed you see the henna patterns and curly leaves; the shringaar aspect of Indian classical music was especially evident during Celebrate life by Anirban. Since Prewien’s act was so interactive and the audience joined him enthusiastically it created the human aspect in the drawing, the face.

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