Bliss in a sad, sad song
GAUTAM CHATTERJEE
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Varanasi was witness to some fine concerts by Shubha Mudgal and Hari Prasad Chaurasia the other day.
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RAS IN BENARASN Flautist Hari Prasad Chaurasia
Shubha Mudgal was at her vintage best during her recital in Varanasi, recently. It was an evening to pay tribute to great flute artiste Pandit Bholanath Prasanna. Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia was also present to perform, and Pandit Kishan Maharaj was the chief guest.
Having heard Shubha several times and hoping to find new musical gestures, the audience of Varanasi was pleasantly surprised to witness a new urge and poise in her singing, which is too short to explain. She presented raga Hameer and finished with a ragamala within 45 minutes. Shubha received musical training from many teachers beginning with Kamala Bose and Pandit Ramashraya Jha of Allahabad, from Vinaya Chandra Maudgalya, Jitendra Abhishki, Vasant Thakar and Vidushi Naina Devi.
She initiated her recital with the simple but spacious Hameer. The bandish was of Pandit Ramashraya Jha. She was accompanied by Vinod Lele on the tabla and Santos Mishra on the sarangi. She has a melodious and rich bass voice which combines with her well-dug and erect early notes, so free from tension. The start was immediate and vibrant, more so in the idioms in which Madhyam, (both shuddha and teevra) which is an avinashi swara (imperishable note), was made the terminal swara, as for example Sa Re Sa, Ga Ma Dha, Ni Dha Sa.
Shubha Mudgal.
Music lovers of Varanasi and Allahabad shall never forget the impact of Pandit Kumar Gandharva's long notes in Hameer, which in his deep lyrical voice gave one the feeling that he was crying his heart out. It is a raga of the Kalyan thaat that usually does not imply the karuna rasa. Shubha's riyaazi notes gave a similar feeling, a feeling of power and suppressed emotional conviction. Her capacity to permute diversely and at length without enlarging the canvas of the melody could be attributed to her experience and logical deliberation of the possibilities lying in the communion of notes, in vilambit Rupak tala. Yes of course, she admits, she is influenced by Kumar Gandharva's style of singing.
She believes in breaking conventions and doing things her way. "My involvement with music, classical or contemporary, is too serious to be termed `dabbling'. Fortunately, I still take lessons from my first Guru Pandit Ramashraya Jha `Ram Rang'. While I have no certificate of graduation from any of my gurus, their musical presence is audible to the discerning ear in my singing," she says. She has released recently the second CD of Ram Rang with many raga bandishes.
Next was Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia with his sweet flute. He presented the raga Jhinjhoti and a Pahadi dhun in the raga Madhukauns. Ajay Chaurasia and Vijay Ghate accompanied him on the flute and tabla respectively. It was late and he too was in a hurry to finish the programme. Pandit Kishan Maharaj christened him Hari Prasad Rasia and presented a poem in Braj Bhasha.
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