Roop Verma byl hráč na sitár, nádajogín, neúnavný propagátor sitárové hudby a člověk s velkým srdcem. Své fyzické tělo opustil 11. března 2017…
(foto převzato z www.roopverma.com)
Na české sitárové scéně byla jeho přítomnost nepřehlédnutelná díky jeho častým návštěvám tohoto koutu světa, kdy koncertoval, dělal přednášky, vedl sitárové i nádajógové semináře, poskytoval soukromé lekce řadě adeptů sitárové hudby a nahrával. K tomu svým žákům pomáhal seřizovat jejich nástroje, inspiroval je a obohacoval je jemným humorem i příkladnou vytrvalostí a disciplínou.
Výčet všeho, čím tento žák Raviho Shankara a Ali Akbar Khana obohatil tento svět by byl velmi dlouhý. Z řady věcí bych vybral dvě, které na první pohled nejsou patrny.
Roop za sebou nechal řadu nahrávek – včetně notoricky známých rág jako například Yaman Kalyan, což je snad pro většinu sitáristů první rága, kterou se učí. Co znají všichni, si ale málokdo troufne nahrát. Roop se nebál a tak jeho nahrávky mohou sloužit i začátečníkům a mírně pokročilým.
Druhá z věcí, která ve mně zůstává jako vzpomínka na něj – sice jsem se s ním strávil jen omezené množství času oproti jeho žákům, ale nikdy jsem jej neslyšel mluvit špatně o někom jiném…
Anglicky hovořící mohou nahlédnou na jeho webstránku www.roopverma.com , kterou se jeho blízcí rozhodli udržovat. Pokud by se někdo z vás chtěl o nějakou vzpomínku na něj podělit s ostatními, rádi ji zveřejníme na sitarmusic.eu.
Závěrem připojuji email od Arjuna Vermy – Roopova syna:
In the wake of Roop ji’s passing, I feel that it is important to reach out to all of you.
Nobody can replace Roop ji, and his departure leaves a gap that we will not be able to fill, neither for each of us nor for the world at large. However, I believe that the process of carrying on his legacy and continuing to study his teachings and those of his gurus will provide us with some measure of fulfilment, meaning, and continuity on our paths of creative self-development.
One important aspect of continuing Roop ji’s legacy is to archive and safeguard his hundreds of recordings and thousands of written compositions. We will need a lot of help in order to succeed in this massive endeavor, once we carefully make a plan for the archiving process. Another aspect is to perform what we have learned from him, to share it with others.
We can also help to carry on Roop ji’s legacy by continuing to study his teachings and the overall system of North Indian classical music, not only for our own inner joy, but also to ensure that this art form thrives for future generations to enjoy. Many of us who seriously study this music feel or will feel at some time the duty to help pass it on to the next generation as best we can. I myself have felt this responsibility grow in proportion to my understanding of the music.
Over the course of the last few years, Roop ji has been encouraging me to be involved more and more in helping teach his students, and he made it clear that he wanted me to offer courses not only for his American-based students, but also in several areas of Europe, and to eventually take over his teaching when the time came. Though this time has now come much more quickly than I expected, I feel that I must accept this sacred duty, even though I will never be able to fill his shoes.
I am grateful for and humbled by this responsibility, and will do my best to continue his vision of awakening students to deeper creativity, joy, emotional expression, and inner peace through the practice of North Indian Classical music. To this end, I am stepping up my involvement with the music school Roop ji founded 39 years ago under the guidance of his guru Shri Brahmananda Saraswati: the East-West School of Music at Ananda Ashram (NY, USA). I will be teaching several courses and workshops there throughout the year. In addition, I hope to make a trip to Europe to teach and perform within this next year.
For those of you who are interested, there are a few courses and workshops already on the calendar that I’d like to share with you.
- May 28th
Morning and Afternoon Workshop
I will be offering a one-day music workshop on the day after Roop ji’s memorial, also at the Ananda Ashram (In the East-West School of Music center) - June 27- July 2
Indian Music Learning and Discovery Course
East-West School of Music center, Ananda Ashram - Early September (most likely 6-10)
Music Intensive Course
Please contact Katarina Dahlbeck at katarina.dahlbeck@gmail.com for more information about attending any of these workshops.
If you’d like to know about future performances and workshops I will be offering, let me know and I will add you to my (occasional) global email list. If you’d prefer, I can instead put you on a local email list for programs only in your specific geographic area.
I also want to share with you the memoriam page our family has put up on Roop ji’s website: http://roopverma.com/InMemoriam.php
Finally, though I have not met some of you, and many of you have not met one other, know that we are all united by our love for Roop ji and for this great tradition of music. I hope that this sense of connection, even across different continents, will give us comfort and inspire us through this difficult transition and beyond.
I wish each of you the best on your own creative journeys, and I look forward to connecting or re-connecting with each of you when the time is right.
Please forward this email to others of Roop ji’s students who are not on this list (I do not have all students’ emails)
Sincerely,
Arjun Verma