"Every summer, Stern Grove Festival brings world-class performing arts to you, admission-free, in one of the country's most beautiful and unique natural settings.
Year after year, summer after summer ..."
- http://www.sterngrove.org/2009season.html
Today we were at Stern Grove to listen to Joan Baez. It was, by all accounts, a superb performance. More important that the performance itself, it brought back memories - memories of old social issues, and memories of when words in songs mattered.
In this summer-long series, two Indian groups will be performing later in the season - on Sunday, August 2 (Kailash Kher's Kailasa, and Delhi 2 Dublin).
I know of Kailash Kher's - he sang Chak De Phattay in the movie Khosla Ka Ghonsla. Until today I had not heard of Delhi 2 Dublin. I checked them out on YouTube - they both sound awesome.
More important than how good the groups are, however, is the fact that Indian music is being played to "mainstream" audience. Today's attendance was mostly middle-aged people - not the kind that usually experiment with music. Commendations to the organizers for believing that Indian Music would go well this group.
This is not the first time Indian musicians have played there. Previous perfomers include Anoushka Shankar, and "Non-stop Bhangra Collective." And, in the distant past, Ali Akbar Khan, Swapan Chaudhary and Chitresh Das.
Are more things Indian going mainstream? At least in San Francisco.
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