Celebrating celebrities
MANJARI SINHA
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Old World Culture flagged off its Tribute To The Legends series this past week with concerts in honour of sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan.
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Renowned artistes like Shubha Mudgal, Umakant and Ramakant Gundecha, Hariharan, Sonali and Roop Kumar Rathod and a brilliant bunch of Amjad Ali Khan's disciples paid tribute to the maestro
IN SYNC WITH THE MAESTRO Ustad Amjad Ali Khan performing at the festival
Conceived as a trust to promote the arts, the non-profit institution Old World Culture has hosted from time to time several prestigious events, and the proceeds generated have been donated to social causes, including the rehabilitation of displaced families from Kashmir, relief to cyclone affected areas in Orissa or earthquake-stricken Gujarat, the SOS Children's Villages and apprenticeship programmes to give children the opportunity to apprentice under renowned artistes. Tribute To The Legends is its latest venture. The first annual Old World Tribute To The Legends music festival was presented by the Bose Corporation at The Habitat World from November 26 to 30 as a tribute to the sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan, celebrating his contribution to the world of music.
Star line-up
Renowned artistes like Shubha Mudgal, Umakant and Ramakant Gundecha, Hariharan, Sonali and Roop Kumar Rathod and a brilliant bunch of Amjad Ali Khan's disciples paid tribute to the maestro through their music during the five-day festival. The opening day saw the release of a Music Today album titled Portrait of a Legend by Rajmata Gayatri Devi. The scheduled talk by Amjad Ali Khan thereafter took a musical turn when he spoke in the language of swara, singing some of his old bandishes with violin accompaniment by his disciples Jyoti Shankar and Deb Shankar, who also played a duet later. A documentary film directed by Gulzar on Ustad Amjad Ali Khan was also screened as part of the inaugural celebrations.
Rakesh Prasanna played several compositions of his ustad in raga Yaman, followed by a lovely Bageshwari that came as a sitar duet played by Sunil Saxena and Shriram Umedkar, both students of Amjad. Shubha Mudgal rounded off the evening with her haunting Hamir. Gurudev Singh and Deb Jyoti Bose presented raga Desh as a sarod duet the next evening, playing some beautiful compositions including the popular bandish "Beeti jaat barakha ritu... " in drut Ek tala. Sonali and Roop Kumar Rathor, who presented light music, sang a few songs especially from the album Vaada, which had Gulzar's lyrics composed by Amjad Ali Khan.
Ayaan Ali Bangash opened the next evening with the serene raga Shree. The selection of a sombre raga like Shree itself spoke volumes about the young artiste who treated the raga with utmost reverence. The Gundecha brothers sang a full-fledged alapchari in raga Gaoti followed by a dhrupad set to Chau tala next.
Amjad Ali Khan with Rajmata Gayatri Devi.
The concluding evening showcased a brilliant sarod recital by the talented Amaan Ali Bangash and ghazals by Hariharan. Amaan played a detailed aalap-jod-jhaala followed by three compositions in the raga Rageshri. The gradual sur dar sur barhat had a systematic approach in the alap, whereas the jhaala would take a sequence like Ga Ma Dha Ma and treat it with various improvisations resulting in a variety of chhands. The Teen tala composition that followed in madhya laya inspired Sandeep Das on the tabla enough for his initial uthaan, which he started off with only the left - dagga - for a few avartans, then the right tabla joined correspondingly, before he came forth for the long chakkardaar tihai with both his hands that earned him thunderous applause. Amaan also impressed with the next composition in the challenging drut Aada Chau tala of 14 beats. But for the deafening crescendo of the kansura (a little out of tune) jhaala, not only him, but each and every disciple of the ustad did him proud.
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