The ebb and flow of melody
MANJARI SINHA
|
Hidayat Khan gave a sitar recital with mixed results, while vocalist Sumitra Guha enthralled listeners with her technical prowess and devotional fervour.
|
SONOROUS Sumitra Guha performing in the Capital.
Music Today presented Hidayat Khan at Surya Mahal, Radisson hotel, this past week, to mark the launch of its pop album of the year - Ziver: The Precious One. The new album by sitar exponent Hidayat Khan is said to be "rooted in classic Indian tracks with an upbeat melody that incorporates various styles - be it techno, hip-hop, electronica, Latin, Spanish or Indian classical music."
The album would certainly sell like hot cakes since it has all the ingredients likely to appeal to the younger generation. "Ziver", the very first track, for instance, has a strong Latin influence with a beautiful interplay of the Indian sitar and the Western guitar that lends romantic appeal to the song "Mehsoos kar mujhe" based on raga Kirvani. Similarly with "Mhari dhimi payal baje" that incorporates the Rajasthani Maand.
Hidayat was supposed to present excerpts from Ziver, but unfortunately he chose to start the evening with his sitar solo, opening the concert with raga Maru Bihag. Music lovers had come to listen to Hidayat with great expectations because he is the son of Ustad Vilayat Khan, and supposed to be his disciple as well.
Maybe due to constraint of time, the alap-jod-jhala of Maru Bihag finished in hardly 10-15 minutes before he went on to play and sing the bandish (composition) "Jhuki aayi ri rain andhiyari kari kari" in Teen tala.
Although it was a lovely bandish composed by Ustad Vilayat Khan with the mudra Inayat (from the name of his father the late Ustad Inayat Khan), Hidayat could not do full justice to it. Neither his sitar nor his singing could vouch for his talim (training) under his illustrious father.
Mithilesh Jha's tabla accompaniment could easily overshadow him. Next came "Chhap tilak...", an excerpt from the album and a famous composition of Hazrat Amir Khusrau, along with the melodious sarangi of Ustad Asif Ali Khan, with Mithilesh Jha on the tabla.
The alap on the sitar preceding the composition was much better this time.
That Hidayat felt comfortable in the lighter vein was obvious through the touches of romantic ragas like Tilak Kamod and Desh, et al on the sitar, but the singing part was still lacking in perfection.
There was no doubt that the sarangi and tabla did their best to enhance Hidayat's singing and sitar.
Mesmerising
SAM (Society for Action through Music) presented Sumitra Guha's vocal recital in the Pandit Gama Maharaj Smriti Samaroh at the Poorva Sanskritik Kendra auditorium this past weekend. Endowed with a sonorous voice and a musical temperament, Sumitra is originally trained in Carnatic music and later groomed by gurus of Hindustani Music like Pandit A. Kanan and Sunil Bose in Calcutta. So she has got the best of both worlds. That she is not only a reputed singer but a gifted composer as well was amply proved by the self-composed bandishes she sang in raga Maru Bihag and Kirvani. She opened her concert with a brief alap in raga Maru Bihag followed by the slow composition "Madhur Hari naam" set to Vilambit Ek tala and the madhya laya (medium tempo) chhota khayal "Muraliya baaj rahi" in Teen tala, rendering at good length with neat enunciation of the lyrical text and melodic appeal. The alap barhat and behelava were rendered with aesthetic approach in a methodical manner. Sargams and taans were varied, neat and colourful. Next came a drut Ek tala bandish in raga Kirvani with equally superb treatment. Sumitra concluded her concert with a bhajan, but in fact her entire concert had the devotional fervour. Jayram Potdar on the harmonium and Sudhir Pande on the tabla provided inspired accompaniment.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
