Manish Pingle: Indian Classical Music is Everlasting and Unique in the Global Stage

An evening of Indian folk and classical music with Manish Pingle.

March 9, 2023
Manish Pingle: Indian Classical Music is Everlasting and Unique in the Global Stage

Manish Pingle is a virtuoso mohan veena (Indian slide guitar) player and began his tutelage under the late Shri Vishnu Waliwadekar. Manish is one of the senior disciples of Ustad Shahid Paravez, the famous sitar maestro of Itawa gharana.

Manish has introduced a slight variant to his right hand picking technique to his contemporaries Pt Vishwamohan Bhatt and Debashish Bhattacharya by using index finger and thumb on the main melody strings allowing for a tremendous advantage for speed. He also experimented by adding an extra base string, which helps him attain an additional half lower octave. Manish has toured throughout the world and recently returned from sold out shows in Scandinavia and France. Manish will be accompanied by master tabla player Bobby Singh and will be playing traditional Indian ragas and folk compositions.

Manish’s east coast of Australia tour coincides with the release of his latest recording Samarpan.

Indian slide guitar was first introduced to Indian classical music by Pandit Brijbhushan Kabra in the early sixties. He modified a six string guitar by adding sympathetic and drone strings, which made its sound suitable for Indian classical Music. His album, Call of the Valley, with Pt Shivkumar Sharma and Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia became a huge success in 1967.

Pt Vishwamohan Bhatt, with his modified Guitar, which he renamed as Mohan Veena, took it to a greater height of popularity, by winning the most prestigious Grammy Award in 1994. He developed a fascinating right hand picking style, where he uses his index and middle finger for the faster runs (taans), and thumb for the drone strings. Debashish Bhattacharya,from Kolkota plays hollow neck guitars. His guitars have different string arrangements. Indian classical music is unique in global scenario.

These views were expressed by the Indian slide guitar Manish Pingle. He was introduced to Indian classical music by his mother. After a few years of learning basics of classical vocal, he started his initial training in Indian slide guitar from Late Shri Vishnu Waliwadekar. Manish is currently under the tutelage of Ustad Shahid Parvez, the famous sitar maestro of Itawa gharana.

Inspired by Masters like and Pt. Brijbhushan Kabra, Pt. Vishwamohan Bhatt, and Taalim and blessings from his Gurus, Manish developed a unique right hand picking style, blending it with powerful left hand slides. His mastery over the development of a Raga and the intricacies of Taal comes from the years he spent studying with his Guru, the sitar maestro, Ustad Shahid Parvez.

He has collaborated with The Frementle orchestra, Perth, and have performed at the City of Canning Festival 2014. Manish, along with The Blues legend Michael Messer, performed in BLUES TO BOP Festival Lugano, Switzerland. Besides performing in many prestigious music festivals in India, Manish has also performed in various countries like Spain, UK, Germany, Japan, Singapore, Belgium, Switzerland, Australia, Sweden, France, and China.

He was awarded the Title ‘SURMANI’ by Sur Sringar Samsad, Mumbai. Manish is an artist of All India Radio and Television. He has won many accolades performing Solos, Duets and Fusion concerts, collaborating with fellow musicians from India and also international musicians like Blues legend Michael Messer and Saxophone maestro George Brooks. Manish has recorded music albums with International maestros like Hector Zazou (France), and a trio album with Michael Messer (UK) and Gurdain Singh Rayatt.

He also conducted online lessons for close to 35 students across the world. This spread over 24 countries and opened up newer avenues for him and he collaborated with the likes of late Hector Zazou, George Brooks and Michael Messer. He was also invited by the University of Tokyo to deliver a lecture demonstration on Indian music and Indian slide guitar. The sound engineer had to develop his own technique to understand the type of musical pattern that suited him.

He is a highly qualified sound engineer from the prestigious film school of India, FTII, Pune. With his knowledge of sound and music, Manish is frequently invited to film schools to conduct workshops. He has also worked on various feature films (Life of Pi, Eat pray love) and documentary projects as a sound engineer.

Manish Pingle is a virtuoso mohan veena (Indian slide guitar) player and began his tutelage under the late Shri Vishnu Waliwadekar. Manish has introduced a slight variant to his right hand picking technique to his contemporaries  Pt Vishwamohan Bhatt and Debashish Bhattacharya by using index finger and thumb on the main melody strings allowing for a tremendous advantage for speed. He also experimented by adding an extra base string, which helps him attain an additional half lower octave.

Manish will be accompanied by tablas master Bobby Singh.

Bobby Singh

Born and raised in England, Bobby Singh spent a great deal of his childhood in Mumbai studying at Sangeet Mahabharati, an institute of music started by the great tabla maestro Pandit Nikhil Ghosh. Recognised with a great talent at a young age, Bobby became a student of Ghosh’s senior disciple Aneesh Pradhan, now one of the most sought after tabla players in the world.

Bobby ha played alongside cultural icons such as, Grammy award winner Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, John Butler, Slava Grigoryan amongst others. Most recently a documentary on his musical life was recorded and shown on SBS titled Viva, I Belong Everywhere.

Full tour schedule - https://ramblerecords.com/pages/ramble-touring
Byron Bay ticket link - 10 March https://byron.sales.ticketsearch.com/sales/salesevent/94106