Missing the same old spark
JITENDRA PRATAP
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RARE RECITAL Malini Rajurkar's waning interest in public performances is a cause for lament.
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THE VSK Baithak at the India Habitat Centre's Basement theatre was a huge draw, with the entire venue jam-packed with the city's music lovers eager to listen to the vocalist Malini Rajurkar of Hyderabad.
According to the host, Vinod Kapur, it took a fair amount of pleading and cajoling to persuade her to accept the invitation to perform at this Baithak (the second time after a gap of more than a decade), the reason being her present lack of interest in public performances. There was also a hint of her increasing interestin such activities as social work and public welfare. Credit must be given to two of her young accompanists, Arvind Thatte of Pune (harmonium) and Subhash Kamath of Mumbai (tabla), who apparently persuaded her to keep up her interest in music and continue to perform for her fans.
It is rather sad when reputed artistes of Malini's stature lose interest in interacting with their audience and admirers. Artistes need to communicate with the audience to retain total interest and involvement in their respective arts.
One recalls with nostalgia the artistic temperament of the late Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. Although suffering from a serious paralytic attack during the last days of his life, he continued to perform with his usual charm, and total artistic insight. He sang constantly, even when lying on his hospital bed in Hyderabad. After getting slightly better, he started performing, and he had to be literally carried to the stage and seated before the curtains were opened. Some of his most memorable recitals were given after his paralysis and right till the final years of his life. One fervently hopes that, similarly, this highly gifted singer in Malini will soon revive her interest to perform and continue to charm the large number of her admirers. This needs constant mental as well as physical commitment towards exploring fresh dimensions and polishing one's performing abilities.
Pleasingly rendered
Her decision to start the recital at eight in the evening with the afternoon raga Madhuwanti of Carnatic origin did not impress much. The raga Yaman that followed would have been a better melody for that time of the evening. Commencing with a brief alap in Madhuwanti, Malini rendered a composition set to the slow ektal "Aye Laal Ke Nainan" with pleasingly rendered badhat and further laced with a tag of lively sargams and taans. It was the antara that was even more pleasing and a result of her penchant for singing with noticeable verve. The fast Ek tala composition "Morey Maathe Nahin" contained well-inserted variations in bol-taans and well released rhythmic phrasings.
Malini revealed some of her earlier charm in her renderings in raga Yaman, particularly with the mid-tempo Rupak tala composition "Aali Main Kaise Jaoon". One particularly relished the short but well-knit taan sequences that were tight in rhythm. There were some glimpses of her individual mannerisms in the rendering of the superfast Teen tala composition that followed "Rang Rajuwa". The colourful phrasings were released with dexterity. One did however miss her earlier grasp of the Gwalior style's redeeming features in khayal singing. She now seems to have taken on a sense of waywardness in her present mannerisms that does not amount to a newly evolved style of one's own.
The two accompanists acquitted themselves creditably by adding further charm to Malini's recital. It was rather irksome, though, that the recital was far too frequently interrupted with re-tuning of the two tanpuras strummed by the two young ladies who were quite oblivious of their instruments going out of harmony as the recital progressed. The tanpura accompanists of yore were well-groomed disciples of their gurus, besides being accomplished performers in their own right. They were always aware of the minutest changes in the instruments they handled, and kept them in tune on their own. Stringed instruments tuned by someone else cannot stay tuned when handled by others.
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