Peter, this Bhairavi really touched my heart. When a man can answer his destiny and trials with a song like this..
I do hear echoes of Fariduddin and the Dagar Bani in the beautiful phrases, but beyond that, and hidden deep below the occasional faltering and weakness of the voice, I hear its strength, the strength of the spirit, the strenght of an insight not made cheap throught denial of sorrow and suffering, but sensitive and aware of the human condition. Only such a song truly expresses the dignity of a man and his music, and there is no way you could ever learn or immitate something like this.
To stand on earth, and to fill your lungs and sing us a Bhairavi like this... Thank you Peter!
Raga Rappakalyan is very interesting, Peter! I almost mistook it for the Kumbalgarh Rageshwari which it resembles in some ways. And the instrument sounds great!
Dear Peter Hennix ji, Hello/Namaskar, Thank you so much for your add me in your friends list in myspace. With best wishes ,and much regards.Happy to see your info. Keep in touch. Pt Hindraj Divekar.
Home: Pt Hindraj Divekar. 82,Budhwar peth, Ramsukh Tulsi build, 3rd Floor,Flat no 301-302. Ganapati chowk, Tulsibag Ganapati, Pune 411002.M.S.India. www.hindrajdivekar.org for audio and video recording. Rudra Veena Khayal style & Dhrupad style & Sitar Sadhak of Pune India. Tel:+91-20-24458026. M: +91-0-9371556801. M:+91-0-9923551095. Email: info@hindrajdivekar.org hindraj_divekar@hotmail.com hindraj.divekar@gmail.com pthindraj_rveena@yahoo.com
Me and Peter go back a long time, we probably met as early as 1970-71. Knowing Peter, listening to his music, has influenced me a lot. Approaching Indian Music, it won't do just to hurriedly learn some compositions, some da-dirri-da-ra, you have to be there, enter it from within. He taught me to stay with it, hold that note, bend that komal nishaad, touch it, listen to it, be it, to stay there. He puts tremendous importance on the sound quality of every single note that he produces on the veena. This puts high demands on the quality of the instrument and above all, the "Javaarii", as well, and Peter has taken this work to the level of an Art. You will never forget the experience of entering his Music Room, often hidden like a secret garden. He will actually live in it or next to it, but always letting the music take the central space. It has been hidden in penthouses in central Stockholm, in abandoned schools, in warehouses by the railroad, or like now, in the country side. Wherever it is, it is the same magic. There will be a workshop, a studio, and some modest living arrangements, but the Space for Music is the central thing. As you enter you will be surrounded, embraced, by the deep drone of well tuned taanpuras and then, eventually, if you are patient, be adressed by the deep Voice of the Vina. It will speak of Todi, Yaman or Darbari, calling your attention to the actual sound and the minute movements in the unfoldment of every note. It could go on for ever, one never remembers how those sessions ends. There is a sense of continous presence.
(cont.) Often, the finer moments are casual, while testing a new javaarii, demonstrating something. We rarely get to hear Peter on stage, and his recorded material is mostly unreleased. His Music Room has over the years staged some fine house concerts with visiting musicians, some of these have been recorded. A fine concert in 1981 with Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar was later released as a LP by Origo (ORIGO1002-B 1984). Other guests have included Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar and Ustad Salamat Ali Khan. Peter has thus represented the deeper current of classical Indian Music in Sweden and he is known to those who are interested in the field, My best wishes to you, Peter, hoping to see you soon again! Mats
I allways remember Peters ups and downs. Sometimes he just would not play for a while, saying he dont have the talent or skill. Then I always felt that it does not matter what you know or so, because just playing the Rudravina is a medecin in itself, and an act of prayer if you will. So I allways adviced him to drop those concerns and play anyway, since the point with palying is prayer more then skill, in my view.
I met Peter Hennix on a journey to India in 1979 when he was on his way to study Sitar. His passion for the indian classical music was heartful. He made it his path. Later he studied Rudra Vina with Master of the Rudra Vina USTAD ZIA MOHIUDDIN DAGAR (1929-1990). He was the world's most renowned exponent of India's ancient rudra vina, the instrumental ancestor of the sitar. He was also one of the few masters of dhrupad, the slow, austere, meditative traditional music still performed as it was centuries ago by Dagar's forefathers in the Mughal courts. But Dagar was no mere historical curiosity. He had several promising students in India, and in the United States, where he performed and taught regularly since his American debut in 1968. His less known student Peter Hennix is living in Sweden and I am proud to be his friend.
