Nityanand Haldipur

Student life

Nityanand was born in Mumbai into a musical family and showed indications of prodigious abilities at a very young age. His father, Niranjan Haldipur, a senior disciple of Pannalal Ghosh, initiated him into the art of flute-playing.^[2] Over the next two decades, Nityanand's training continued under the late Chidanand Nagarkar, and Devendra Murdeshwar. Since 1986, Nityanand has been learning from Padma Bhushan Srimati Annapurna Devi, doyenne of the Maihar gharana.^[3]

Teacher

As a Guru, Nityanand adheres to the strict discipline of the traditional Indian Guru-shishya tradition. Nityanand imparts his musical insights to students through many instruments like the flute, saxophone, violin, guitar and vocals.

He has been visiting faculty at prestigious institutions like Bhatkhande Music Institute Deemed University, Lucknow, UP, India. He has toured all over India, giving numerous lecture demonstrations on music, for eminent organizations like SPIC MACAY. He conducts a series of listening sessions, on Baba Allauddin Khan Saheb, all over India.

Playing Style

Pt.Nityanand adheres to the Pannalal Ghosh style of playing the bansuri. This style was developed by the great flute maestro and inventor Pt. Pannalal Ghosh. The style primarily has 2 technical characteristics -

1. The playing holes are closed by the finger tips (as opposed to the ' Shehnai Style' where the holes are closed akin to a Shehnai using the central portion of the fingers). This technicality helps the bansuri player to achieve a smoother 'Meend' ( glissando) and also aids in Drut ( Presto,Prestissimo and faster).

2. The bansuri is designed with an extra hole below the Pancham ( perfect 5th) hole, called as the 7th hole or the Teevra Madhyam( Tritone) hole. This hole is played using the pinky / little finger. Active use of this hole greatly augments the smoother transition in the Ga-Ma-Pa and Dha-Pa-Ma cluster. This quality is accentuated in the raagas like Yaman, Bihag etc. where this cluster is greatly exploited.

Secondly, this hole renders the player to play as low a note as Komal Gandhar in the mandra saptak ( lower octave).

Over the years Pt.Nityanand has developed his unique style of playing music on the flute. It is an amalgamation of Ustad Wazir Khan (Rampur) and Pt. Pannalal Ghosh. Guruma Smt. Annapurna Devi has imparted him the Ustad Wazir Khan's style.

Performer

Nityanand's performances are a perfect blend of style and substance. There is a beautiful balance between his Alap, Jor, Jhala and Gats (compositions), creating the right atmosphere of the Raag he is rendering. He has performed at various musical events worldwide:

• Austria - Vienna
• Bahrain
• Bangladesh - Dhaka
• Croatia - Zagreb
• France - Paris - Cita Della Music Festival
• Iran - Tehran - World Ney Festival, Niavaran Music Festival
• India - New Delhi - South Asian Association For Regional Cooperation(SAARC) summit, Ahmedabad, Ajmer, Allahabad, Alwar, Amravati, Aurangabad, Bangalore,^[4] Belgaum, Bharuch, Bhilwara, Bhopal, Calicut, Chandigarh, Chennai, Dehra Dun, Dharamsala, Dharwar, Dhule, Goa, Gorakhpur, Gwalior, Honavar, Hubli, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Jalandhar, Jalgaon, Jodhpur, Kolhapur, Kolkata, Kota, Kumta, Lucknow,Maihar, Mangalore, Meerut, Miraj, Mumbai, Muzaffar Nagar, Mysore, Nagpur, Paradip, Pune, Saharanpur, Sangli, Solapur, Sultanpur, Kanpur, Ujjain, Vadodara, Varanasi and Wardha
• Japan - Tokyo - Asian Music Fantasy, with Yosuke Yamashita
• Montenegro
• The Netherlands - Amsterdam, Hague
• United Arab Emirates - Dubai - Swara Hindola Foundation, Abu Dhabi - Gandhar Foundation, Sharjah

Nityanand is a regular broadcaster of the All India Radio and Doordarshan. He retired from All India Radio in 2008, after 22 years of service.

Producer

Nityanand has produced and hosted several shows on All India Radio. These include a weekly music serial on music appreciation and biographical programs of past masters like Allauddin Khan Saheb, Pannalal Ghosh, Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, Omkarnath Thakur, Dinkar Rao Amembal-D'Amel, Amir Khan and Alla Rakha Khan.

Composer

Haldipur has composed music for several radio shows and for wellness programs like spiritual healing therapy, stress management and art of relaxation. He has collaborated with musicians of different genres like Robert Giannetti^[5](also known as D. Wood), of the jazz band Moksha and Yosuke Yamashita, a jazz pianist from Tokyo, Japan.

Discography