SAXTONS RIVER — The sound of south Indian classical music and the aroma of curry will take over Main Street Arts (MSA) on Thursday, Oct. 11, when Saxtons River residents Gordon and Jeanne Korstange share their love of the subcontinent.
The first of the four Taste of the Arts, Tales from a Community events of the season begins with Gordon Korstange on the bamboo flute, accompanied by Douglas Mackenzie on the mridangam, the south Indian drum.
The concert will be preceded by an Indian dinner prepared under the direction of Jeanne Korstange.
Reservations are required and can be made by contacting MSA at 802-869-2960 or emailing [email protected]. Tickets are $50 for all four events or $15 per single event. Children accompanied by an adult are $5.
The other events and dates feature sculptor Jud Hartmann (Nov. 8), Broadway singer Cass Morgan (Jan. 10) and Love Songs with House Blend (Feb. 14).
The Korstanges met as Peace Corps volunteers in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu during the 1970s. They stayed on in the community of Auroville while Gordon studied flute with a variety of Indian teachers and Jeanne learned to cook the local cuisine.
“I had no background in music,” Gordon said. “I was an English major from the Midwest.” Nevertheless, he persevered through hot Indian afternoons with teachers who might be sleeping when he arrived for lessons. He remembers their generosity in trying to teach an American the complex art of their music.
He explained that, unlike north Indian music, south Indian music uses elaborate compositions as the basis for improvisation in ragas, hundreds of scales each with their own patterns and grace notes.
Jeanne Korstange has been cooking Indian food for 40 years and has studied with a well-known Amherst, Mass., chef, Satya Sastri. South Indian food, which is pure vegetarian, is rice-based, with various curries and vegetable mixtures as toppings and side-dishes. She said that the “karam” or spice will be moderated.