Ashwin Batish to start teaching at University of California, Santa Cruz

Starting winter quarter 2016, Ashwin Batish joins the University of California music department to teach an ensemble class on North Indian percussion with emphasis on learning the tabla, dholak and pakhavaj drums.

It was Ashwin's father, Pandit Shiv Dayal Batish, that first came to the USA upon the invitation of the university to teach Indian music at Merrill College. That was in the late 60s. Today, Ashwin continues where his father left off and it is quite possible that he will be requested to add other areas of his expertise to the teaching mix. Some other possible ensemble and lecture courses being discussed are classes in sitar, harmonium, and world beat fusion with western pop, jazz and funk - a specialty of Ashwin's that has shown great success by his Sitar Power releases.

The university's music department is poised to be a great contender in the field of multiculturalism. Indian music in particular has had some very generous benefactors that have weighed in with grants to boost its presence. This has created an endowed chair, currently also the U.C. Music Department Chair, Mr. Dard Neumann. In bringing Ashwin on board at UCSC, Dard has opened a very large door for expansion into a vast resource that is available to the UCSC music student. This resource consists of written and recorded works, by Pandit Shiv Dayal Batish and his son Ashwin Batish, that span both the North Indian and the South Indian ragas. There are also music songs written to specifically teach the North Indian raga called Lakshan Geet. This colossal work has been created and recorded over the period 1978 to 2006, when the senior Batish passed away at age 91.

It is the Batish Family's sincere wish that this research and the ensuing works find a use at the university level where further research and learning will create an army of learners and performers that can take this project further into the musical world. It is a wish come true to see it's possible application to be where Pandit Shiv Dayal had first started to teach and later settled down in, That place being the town of Santa Cruz and at the University of California. If this was not enough, the Batish family today has yet another connection wherein, Ashwin's son, Keshav, is presently an undergraduate at the same university studying for a PhD in the music field.

Please share this news with all that might want to know more about this or are interested in taking the Tabla class with Ashwin.

Here are some clips of Ashwin playing tabla. Visit YouTube and the Ragmala channel to see all the Batish family uploads.

Tabla Giant 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4yn5aoijsY

Tabla Giant Part 11
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Es0cyH7XYSQ

Tabla Giant Part 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgjAz2CL6-s

Sitar Trek by Ashwin Batish - Indo Jazz, Raga Rock, Sitar Fusion Music, ...

S.D. Batish Condolances Log

Dear Batish Family,

Please accept my heartfelt condolences on the demise of Shri Shiv Dayal Batish, may his soul rest in peace. May Lord also give strength to the family members to bear the loss.

In sympathy

Naresh Gajjar
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Jul 29
Ashwin-ji:

My heart-felt condolences to you and your family
regarding the loss of your father. I am sure you
will keep his musical legacy alive with your music.

Prof. Ramavarapu S. Sreenivas
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
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Batish Family Web Sites

The Batish Institute has different web sites that specialize in different topics. www.ragmala.com: Our broadcasting arm. Media files are usually available at this server. www.batish.com: this is our home site that feeds all the others. It is probably the most extensive and includes a catalog of our releases. www.raganet.com: This is the educational magazine. It contains lots of lessons on Indian music and history and theory of Indian music etc. Great educational tool. www.sdbatish.com: Dedicated site that covers in dept information of our founder Pandit Shiv Dayal Batish www.sitarpower.com: This is a dedicated site for Shri Ashwin Batish our Co founder and son of Pandit Shiv Dayal Batish. www.gurushishya.com: This is our free resource for the student of Indian music. It spans the globe and lists all the teachers of Indian music. The idea is to find some one in your area so that you can continue to study the Indian music tradition without flying all around the globe seeking a guru. www.midipandit.com: Want to learn more about a raga? Well this is soon going to do just that. Dial in a raga and you can access all its details and learn it via the net!

S. D. Batish - Founder, The Batish Institute of Indian Music and FIne Arts

This blog is dedicated to our founder Pandit Shiv Dayal Batish (1914-2006).

S. D. Batish has been a stalwart on the Indian music scene since 1936. His songs have been broadcast from All India Radio nationwide. His old movies are regularly shown on Indian TV. He is a true master of the various vocal and instrumental styles of North Indian music, including Bhajans, Geet, Thumri, Ghazals, Film Sangeet, etc. Some of his outstanding films are Betab, Bahu Beti, Toofan, Harjeet, Tipu Sultan, Ham Bhi Kuch Kam Nahin, and Amar Keertan. His songs have been sung by such top artists as Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhonsle, Talat Mahmood, Mohamad Rafi, Sudha Malhotra, Manna Dey, and Geeta Dutt. Some of his all time hit songs are, Pagadi Sambhal Jatta, Khamosh Nigahen, and Aakhen Kehe Gayi Dil Ki Baat.

"In England he was a frequent artist at the BBC world music program and worked on the sound track in the Beatles film Help. George Harrison would frequently call him at his home and play songs. I know because I answered the phone," says Ashwin Batish. "He would send his limo to pick him up as we looked out the window in awe. He also taught George's then wife Patti Harrison how to play the Indian stringed instrument the dilruba. He instructed Mr. Michael York of Logan's Run fame how to play the sitar for his role in the movie Guru."

In 1970 Pandit Shiv Dayal Batish moved to California, USA to teach music at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He loved this area and decided to make it his home. He wrote some of his greatest works here. Books to teach North Indian music, compositions on over 2200 Carnatic ragas and over 700 North Indian ragas, Instructional videos to teach the harmonium, vichitra veena, dilruba are just a few of the releases. He and his son Shri Ashwin Batish, also formed the Batish Institute of Indian music and Fine Arts - an educational Institute to teach Panditji's music and to further the cause of Indian music and culture in the World.
You care welcome to visit his personal web site at www.sdbatish.com to learn more of this legendary music maestro.