Mishra Lalji was one of Shyamdas’s best friends and Pushti kirtan teachers in India over the last decade or so of his life. Often Shyamdas visited Mishraji at his home in Nathdvara, Rajasthan, just behind the Shri Nathji temple that has employed Mishraji’s family for generations as kirtan musicians. Shyamdas also invited Mishraji to come to his home, travel together, or come visit him in Braj. A sweet man with a marvelous and unique sense of humor, Mishraji could astound with his rich voice and innovative vocal ornamentations as well as delightfully mock one and all with his hilarious and memorable imitations.
In the first recording, Shyamdas and a group of friends join Mishra Lalji in singing a Holi poem, “Phalguna masa suhayo rasiya Holi khelana ayo.” Pandit Mohan Shyam Sharma, Shyamdas’s friend and pakhavaj teacher, a true master of the art, accompanies on the drum.
In the second, a studio recording Shyamdas helped arrange for the purpose of a CD-ROM on the Pushti Marg, Mishraji is accompanied by his nephew Hemant on pakhavaj as he sings a beautiful rainy season poem, “Kaise aoun? Bundana bhije meri sari,” in which a Gopi lists all the difficulties of going out to meet Krishna in midst of the monsoon rains.
In the third, Mishraji sings a few lines of a Holi poem for two singing students in February 2012.
Category: Audio Recordings, Other Artists Created by: NikunjaEvent Name:
Location: Braj
Languages: Brajbhasha
Featuring: Mishra Lalji (vocal), Shyamdas (harmonium), Mohan Shyam Sharma (pakhavaj), et al.
Producer:
Refers to: Holi, Phalgun, Shravan
Date: file 1: 02/26/2012 file 2: ca. 2003
