Kerala - Thrissur   

Jugalbandi of mellifluous notes

By Our Staff Reporter

The Thrissur Archbishop, Mar Jacob Thoomkuzhy, and the Collector, K.S. Premachandra Kurup, arrive for the inauguration of the Christmas celebrations of the Thrissur Archdiocese on Sunday.

THRISSUR, DEC. 19. A veena-harmonium jugalbandi will be presented here on December 21 by A. Ananthapadmanabhan and Prakash Chitnis, under the auspices of the Navaneetham Cultural Trust.

The duo told mediapersons here on Sunday that such a jugalbandi, with Carnatic and Hindustani music played on the veena and harmonium respectively, was being conducted for the first time.

The ragas to be performed are Hamsadhwani, Hindolam/Malkauns, Madhuvanti, Desh and Pahadi. The concert will begin with the Muthuswamy Deekshitar composition, `Vathapi Ganapathim.' Ananthapadmanabhan will introduce Hindolam, playing snatches of the composition, `Samajavaragamana,' while Chitnis will take off from the asthayi.

Asked if instruments based on the chromatic scale could do justice to the gamaka-oriented Indian classical music, Chitnis said that it was indeed possible.

"But you shouldn't expect to hear on the harmonium what you hear on a sitar or sarod. Citing the issue of gamaka, All India Radio (AIR) had banned harmonium long ago. The ban was later lifted after AIR was convinced that Indian classical music could be played effectively on the harmonium. My guru, Pandit Govindrao Patwardhan, had played a major role in getting the ban lifted," said Chitnis.

He has accompanied greats such as Pandit Yashwantbua Joshi, Prabha Atre, Shobha Gurtu and Pandit Ajay Pohankar. Ananthapadmabhan works at the Thrissur station of AIR. They will be accompanied in the concert here by Alapuzha G. Chandrasekharan Nair (mridangom) and Philip Francis (tabla).

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