City Springs, the new performing arts center in Sandy Springs, is hosting a world music concert called Sangam on Nov. 17 at 6 p.m. The word sangam means convergence, which is an apt description for the collection of Indian and Western musicians collaborating on this special concert.
Jayanta Pathak, the producer of the concert and also playing the guitar, says most of the songs have melodies that come from Indian semi-classical music, but that there are other influences from the Western traditions of blues and jazz. At age 14, Pathak was the youngest musician on All India Radio. He moved to Mumbai, home of Bollywood, and progressed from writing commercial jingles to film scores and being the musical director of a number of acclaimed films.
After a few years in London, he moved to Atlanta in 2008 where he continues to write and produce music for films. The concert features songs he is recording for a new album, and will get their first public performance at City Springs.
Joining Pathak is Preeti Uttam, one of India’s most beloved singers. Uttam’s grandfather, a sitar player, noticed that she could sing in tune when she was just 2 years old. She was singing for films by the time she was 4 and was one of the singers on the classic hit children’s song “Lakdi Ki Kaathi,” which was first featured in the film “Masoom.”
Uttam’s father, a classical violinist, was determined that she not be just a playback singer, a performer who records the songs that Bollywood actors lip-sync to in films. Her album “Sur” was produced by her father and established her as one of India’s leading singers. Uttam lives in Atlanta now with her family and teaches music. Her performance in Sangam will be a chance for Atlantans to hear this remarkably gifted singer, who has recorded in more than 20 languages.
Souryadeep Bhattacharyya is also in the Sangam ensemble. Bhattarachayya is originally from Kolkata, India and has been playing his instrument, the sarod, since childhood. The sarod is plucked like the sitar, but has a long steel neck that allows it to be played like a slide guitar. Bhattarachayya, a recent Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Georgia Tech, plays both classical Indian music and fusion music with his band Gypsy at Heart. He is excited about the concert which he says is “a true reflection of the diversity of music.”
Other musicians that are part of the ensemble include Wilgens Pierre on bass, Court Tatum on drums, Priyal Shah on piano, Eamon Dutta on guitar, Antonio Bennett on saxophone, Amol Khanapurkar on tabla, Saras Jain on vocals and Ashwin Seshadri on piano.
For tickets, visit this link.
