Youngsters steal the show
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The 10-day Swar-Vistaar musical event in Patna threw up some fine performances. C.L. DAS gives an update.
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Reeta Das... fine performance.
LISTENING TO young musicians may give one the feel of the way classical melodies, their interpretations and renditions have remained intact over the ages, though innovations and additions have got expressions in the creation of new gharanas and styles time and again. The basic format and spirit of the art has remained the same.
Thanks to the lot of young artistes who have devoted themselves to this traditional art, they have helped it combine some contemporary elements too to impart it an ever fresh and youthful look.
All this was even more evident when one heard a host of young artistes at the musical event - Swar Vistaar in Patna recently. The interpretations of mood and melodies by both instrumentalists and vocalists turned out to be an endorsement of this critic's early observations. Swar Vistaar was a 10-day event, with each day presenting two young artistes. While it is difficult here to review performances of all the artistes one can sum up some of the remarkable raga recitals which need special mention. A duet of sarod and sitar by Reeta Das and Ashish Chatterjee deserves to be mentioned here.
Reeta is a young exponent of Maihar Senia gharana who has learnt sarod from Ustad Ashish Khan and late Ustad Bahadur Khan.
She has also received training from her father and from Pandit Sunil Mukherjee. One has heard Reeta's solo recital several times in the past.
This time she played a duet with the sitar player, Ashish Chatterjee, son and disciple of the late Arun Kumar Chatterjee, who himself was a disciple of Mushtaq Ali Khan of the Senia-Jaipur gharana and had a good collection of compositions of the style.
Extensive alap
Priyanka Manohar ... all grace.
The melody they chose for the evening was Kirwani, originally a Carnatic raga. The alap was extensive, with each performer elaborating every swar of this sampoorna jati raga with the requisite pause and poise. Reeta must have really imbibed interpretations of the maestros well, for her playing explicitly displayed glimpses of their swar-lagaao and composition of phrases.
She deserves appreciation for maintaining her individuality despite imbibing deeply the phrases and spirit of the pioneers of the Maihar gharana. During the gradual progression of notes in Alap, the two artistes beautifully combined swaras, indicating good understanding of a duet presentation.
The two compositions that followed in Madhya laya (medium tempo) and druta laya (fast tempo) of Teen Tal, a rhythmic cycle of 16 beats, displayed the styles of Maihar gharana and also of the Senia-Jaipur gharana. They were extended rhythmic support on tabla by the young Ravi Shankar Singh, a disciple of Malhar Ghosh of Kolkata.
Priyanka's Kathak
Another presentation of the evening was a Kathak dance recital by Priyanka Manohar of Lucknow gharana. She has received training from Shringar Mani Rama of the Lucknow gharana. While performing on the stage Priyanka looked like a fine combination of grace and virility. Starting with the Durga Stuti and the traditional repertoire of the dance form like Aamad and Thaat, the young dancer went on executing beautiful Tukras and Parans of the gharana in great speed. She also displayed good understanding of the intricacies of laya. In the Nritya segment the presentation of Ganga Awataran was specially appreciated by the viewers. Abhinaya seems to be the forte of the artiste, as she executed various moods of Radha with subtle facial expressions and soft, dignified movements on a composition, `Kanha teri johat reh gai baat'. She concluded her item with a rhythmic and speedy foot work. But the highlight of this rhythmic segment was the impressive mudras of Radha, Krishna and other mythological characters that she displayed. This aspect has been pioneered by her guru, Shringar Mani Rama.
The rendition of bols during Priyanka's recital was by Shringar Mani Rama.
On the tabla with her was Subodh Ranjan, a disciple of Pandit Kishan Maharaj of the Banaras Gharana. Sudhir Kumar extended the vocal support and on the harmonium was Neha.
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