Vidya Sahai Mishra and family

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Teaching his grandsons Vinayak, (2000 sarangi) and Krishna,(1998 tabla) in his ancestral home in Kabir Chaura, Varanasi  2009

Vidya Sahai Mishra is an 'old-school' sarangi player whom I have known since 1972, a fellow-student of the illustrious Pandit Hanuman Prasad Mishra. In 2009 and 2010 I worked with him and his grandsons Krishna and Vinayak. Their father Prabhu, my guru-brother, was a sweet and devoted sarangi player who served his guru Hanuman Prasad Mishra selflessly for many years. In 2009 it happened that he was running to catch a train, slipped and fell on the tracks, and is no more. After this tragedy Vidya Sahai and the boys moved to Panjab where he is employed as a music teacher by the Namdhari Sikh Sath-guru who is a great patron of music.

Vidya Sahai began learning sarangi when he was 3 from Sita Ram Mishra and carried on with Bapulal Mishra, the brother of Siya Ram Mishra, one of the big names in Banaras musical history. 

Vinayak and Krishna perform at Gurukul, Kabit Chaura , Varanasi, December 2009

Shelling peas, Kabir Chaura, Varanasi Deceember 2009


© Lucy Durán, Nicolas Magriel, Geoff Baker 2011