Music of Life: Women in Dhrupad

Welcome to a very special Indian music vocal concert – it is not often that dhrupad music is performed by women!

Dhrupad is an ancient tradition of mostly vocal music with a strong meditative aspect, originating in the Indian subcontinent.  Don’t miss this rare opportunity!

Marianne Svasek, born in the Netherlands, studied Indian classical music, dhrupad vocal, at the Rotterdam Music  Conservatory with Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar and Uday Bhawalkar will be our main singer.  She is accompanied by her student Marloes Milius, who also studied and graduated from the Rotterdam MusicConservatory

Since 1994 Marianne was taught in India by Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar.  After his passing in 2013 she continued her study of Dhrupad with Pt.Nirmalya Dey. She has been awarded with a gold medal at the Dhrupad Mela in Varanasi in 2014.  Marianne Svasek also studied sarangi (a string instrument with 3 main strings and 35 resonant strings) with Joep Bor And Pt. Ram Narayan.

She graduated cum laude in both disciplines at the Rotterdam Conservatory where she has also  taught Indian vocal music. Marianne continues to give workshops and concerts in and outside of Europe.

Dutch pakhawaj player Nathanaël van Zuilen started his Indian drumming career with Manik Munde. Later he developed his technique with Austrian pakhawaj player Helmut Waibl and Pandit Sanjay Agle in Mumbai. But the accompaniment sessions with vocalist Ustad Fariduddin Dagar , Uday Bhawalkar and rudra veena player Bahauddin Dagar were perhaps most revealing in discovering the secrets of balancing tala and raga in the art of dhrupad.