Beauty questions, joy answers
Manjari Sinha
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A jugalbandi series that brought together the best on the Kamani stage.
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MELODY IN UNISON Shubhendra Rao on the sitar and Saskia Rao de Hass on the cello.
Jugalbandi is a subtle and sophisticated art. Since the nature of our music is solo, two musicians performing together is a challenging proposition. It demands a high level of mutual respect and understanding. Jugalbandi fails if you fail to make room for the other person. When your solo is over, stop playing and add a little phrase that will enrich and exhort the other artiste to a greater response. Respect the art and not your own playing, however superior it might be. Strive always to reconcile differences, and work to celebrate the whole. A successful jugalbandi should demonstrate two musical souls united, perfectly tuned to each other's aesthetic vision.
These thoughts were evoked in the three-day jugalbandi three-day festival, Rivayat the Tradition, organised by Spandan Communications this past week at Kamaani auditorium, to welcome "Classical-2006". The festival was thoughtfully conceived offering a vast variety of duets - between the Indian sitar and the Western cello, Hindustani sitar and Carnatic flute, vocal music and the surbahar, the flute and the santoor, the sitar and the sarod and the sarangi and the violin. There was a galaxy of mridangam and ace tabla players as well for accompaniment.
Flying start
The festival took a flying start with Shubhendra Rao and Saskia Rao de Hass playing together on their sitar and cello respectively. An able disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar, Shubhendra was initiated into the intricacies of the Maihar gharana by his father N.R. Rama Rao, himself a disciple of Pandit Ravi Shankar. Saskia has worked with singular dedication to adapt the Western cello to Indian classical music and continues to learn its nuances from none other than her husband Shubhendra Rao. Sharing the same wavelength, both of them were in perfect unison for an ideal jugalbandi.
They started with Yaman, the most appropriate raga for the evening. The initial Dha Ni Re, Dha Sa itself on the cello was convincing enough of Saskia's sensitivity, which was welcomed by Shubhendra's loving spray of tarab's avaroha of the raga. The detailed treatment in the mandra saptak, especially on the cello, echoed the laraj-kharaj effect. The sitar, of course, was always there for the complimentary treatment.
Auspicious atmosphere
The leisurely alap created an auspicious atmosphere for the inaugural evening. It was followed by a melodious dhun where Tanmoy Bose on the Tabla joined in. The lovely dhun had shades of Rasia, Kalavati, Hemant, et al that came and merged in an aavirbhaav-tirobhaav format, beautifying the main theme. They also played an old bandish in Khamaj set to drut Teen tala, which had the authentic stamp of the Maihar gharana. The next pair was Gaurav Mazumdar, another talented disciple of Ravi Shankar on the sitar and Shashank, the child prodigy, on the Carnatic flute. They started with a detailed alap-jod in the raga Dharmavati, with such matching capabilities as if made for each other, and went on to play a composition set to Teen tala/Adi tala where the mukhda itself started with the sam. There were also sawaal-jawaab between the flute and the sitar but the dialogue was always friendly and understanding. The main raga was followed by a percussion duet between Parupalli Phalgun on the mridangam and Akram Khan on the tabla, who also accompanied with great verve. They concluded their jugalbandi with a melodious piece in the raga Pilu set to Teen tala/Adi tala. Ravi Shankar and SukanyaShankarwere in the audience to inspire the artistes.
The second evening presented Sunanda Sharma singing raga Kedar and Desh with Purbayan Chatterji's surbahar, accompanied by Mithilesh Jha on the tabla. Rajendra Prasanna played the flute with Abhay Sopori's santoor along with tabla accompaniment by Sarit Das. The last day Prateek Chaudhuri on the sitar and Joydeep Ghosh on the sarod presented their jugalbandi with brilliant tabla support by Akram Khan. The festival concluded with an ideal jugalbandi between Kamal Sabri's sarangi and Sangita Shankar's violin with Rafiuddin Sabri on the tabla. They played the raga Jog with utmost sensitivity, making the jugalbandi a meaningful dialogue of sheer beauty and joy.
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