Melody in high tide
MANJARI SINHA
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The monsoon picked up in Delhi this past week. And it rained concerts.
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DEVOTION PERSONIFIED Madan Gopal Singh in concert.
With the Shruti Foundation and Delhi Tourism jointly dedicating a two-day music festival titled Taal Surannya to the late Ustad Bismillah Khan at Dilli Haat, Pandit Chatur Lal Memorial Society and Bharat Sanchar Nigam presenting Amar Jyoti with Ustad Shujat Khan's sitar and Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia's flute recitals at Siri Fort, the annual concert of Sumadhur Hansadwani at the Sai Sabhagar and a book release on Pandit Gokulotsava Ji Maharaj at Triveni with a vocal recital by the author Neeta Mathur and a sitar recital by Prateek Chaudhury, the Capital's residents enjoyed an abundance of music concerts this past week.
Shruti Foundation's vision and commitment was visible in Taal Surannya, held at Dilli Haat. Although late by more than an hour because of heavy rains, the festival took off with an impressive santoor recital by Abhay Rustum Sopori. Due to some major improvements made by him in the instrument, Abhay could adorn his Champakali with the kind of meends and gamaks usually not expected from the santoor. He played a detailed alap and jod, followed by two compositions in this raga set to drut Ek tala and Teen tala respectively, before concluding with a super fast jhala. Mithilesh Kumar Jha provided commendable tabla accompaniment.
Pandit L.K. Pandit and Meeta Pandit regaled the audience with a stirring treat of Gwaliar gayaki next. They opened their vocal recital with raga Bhoopali, the most appropriate raga for that hour. After a brief alap the bara khayal set to vilambit (slow) Ek tala was dealt with in great detail with the silsilevaar barhat, behelawa and varied taans before they went on to sing a tarana in the same raga set to Teen tala. Bharat Bhushan Goswami on the sarangi and Man Mohan Singh on the tabla were just the perfect accompaniments for Pandit ji. The duo concluded their recital with a melodious thumri in Pilu, set to Deepchandi tala.
Sonorous sarangi
Kamal Sabri's sonorous sarangi and Sufi sangeet by Madan Gopal Singh were the attractions of the next evening. The talented son and disciple of Ustad Sabri Khan, Kamal presented raga Yaman with a detailed alap, jod and three compositions in slow, medium and fast tempos respectively. The gamak ka kaam during the alap and the layakari (rhythmic permutations) in the composition set to an 11-beat cycle were especially remarkable. Madan Gopal Singh's full-throated renderings of some of the immortal Sufi compositions by Sultan Bahu, Bulle Shah, Waris Shah to Amir Khusrau pulled the biggest crowds awestruck by the magic of his devotion. Mahmood Dhaulpuri on the harmonium and Mithilesh Jha on the tabla were inspired by him, hence they gave their best.
Ustad Shujat Husain's mesmerising Maru Bihag and pulsating Pilu dadra on the sitar and Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia's Jhinjhoti, Miyan-Malhar and Bengali kirtan on the flute enraptured an overflowing Siri Fort crowd when they played for the Chaturlal Memorial Society.
Sumadhur Hansadhwani's annual concert at the Sai Sabhagar paid tribute to Meera with vocal recitals by Vidushi Sumitra Guha and Pandit Gokulotsava Goswami. The institute also honoured Pandit Mani Prasad and Gokulotsava ji on this occasion. A book on the life and works of Gokulotsav Maharaj by Neeta Mathur was released at another function at Triveni auditorium where a vocal recital by the author and a sitar recital by Prateek Chaudhury marked the occasion.
Prateek's impressive rendering of the pensive Marwa with Rafiuddin Khan on the tabla was the highlight of the evening.
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