Sandeep and Sangeet Mishra are the sons of Santosh Mishra and grandsons of Bhagwan Das Mishra. I first met them in 1994 when they were 7 and 9 and learning at an elementary level from their father. They were working on "Sumiran kar man ram nam ko", a famous bandish by Bare Ram Das of Banaras which is often taught to beginners. I filmed them then and again two years later when they had shot up in height and were beginning to excel at jhalla, accompanied by their cousin Aman, the son of their uncle Kishor Mishra, on tabla. In their twenties they moved to Mumbai where I hear they are making a living accompanying and playing for films. Their early talim features in my book Sarangi Style in Hindustani Music.
From that period, here we have them learning from their father, aged 7 and 9, rag Puriya Dhanashri:
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Then two years later, here they are plating Puriya Kalyan on their own, accompanied by their cousin Amit Mishra on tabla:
March 2024: Now I am including some films culled from the internet 25 years later. They remained fond of jhala. It is interesting to see how their performance styles have evolved from the sort of teaching and practice that they had as children. We begin with them playing together, again rag Puriya Dhanashri:
This is followed by another repeat: rag Puriya Kalyan. Could these two have evolved to be their favourite rags? Puriya Kalyan is followed by a Chaiti.
Sandeep Mishra accompanied by Vivek Mishra on tabla, playing thumri in rag Mishra Tilang:
Then Sangeet Mishra at the Sangeet Mela 2019—rag Vasant followed by a Chaiti:
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Here Sangeet Mishra plays rag Kirwani:
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Then Sandeep Mishra plays Rageshri:
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And another:
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Now we shall make an excursion into the brothers' flirtations with fusion music: We start with Sangeet "Solo Samved Fusion":
and then Sangeet with "OM chanting by Leo Dale. Meditation Music - Vile Parle station, From Now OM" (they meant Villa Parle!):
Now Sangeet in "Endless- Sangeet Mishra, Yama Sarshar & Chris Fields- Sash Studio"
Then Sangeet "with Famous Tibbetan Singer Tenzing chogyal and Sri Shen flindel #Australia#Sarangi#"
Next Sangeet's 2018 fusion concert in New Zealand:
Now we move on to Sandeep's fusion efforts. Firstly "Gadar 2 the most popular movie on Sarangi by Sandeep Mishra on original instrument":
Now with Manish Pingle "Ele Guitar" and Indore Mazumdar tabla:
Finaly, the icing on the cake, "Sandeep Mishra and the Vultures", a (possibly invuluntary) exercise in nihilism:
