The good and the usual
JITENDRA PRATAP
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While singers Pushkar Lele and Asha Khadilkar put in passable performances at the VSK Mehfil-Baithak's concert, the accompanists did a fine job.
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PLEASANT FARE Asha Khadilkar seen during their performances at New Delhi's Shri Sathya International Centre.
It was indeed pleasant to attend the mammoth sessions of VSK Mehfil-Baithaks at its changed venue, the basement auditorium of Shri Sathya Sai International Centre in the vicinity of the Lodi Colony which is much more spacious. The September concert featured two vocalists from Maharashtra, Pushkar Lele and Asha Khadilkar.
The young Pushkar commenced his recital with renderings in dusk-time melody of raga `Shree'. The opening `khayal' set to the 12-beat slow ektal was delineated with pleasingly executed alap-badhat, sargams and bole-taans. The mid-tempo tintal composition, `karam kariye', was developed with feelings and tunefulness and finally laced with scores of super-fast and intricately permuted `taans' of several hues and patterns.
Pushkar next rendered two khayals in raga Yeman Kalyan composed by his harmonium accompanist Chaitanya Kunte. The seven beat rupaktal composition `ab kachhu naa gaave' and the fast tempo tintal piece `baajo re manjirawaa' were handled with pleasingly deployed variations and with the raga's format, particularly the occasional and able insertion of the note suddha madhyam.
PLEASANT FARE Pushkar Lele seen during their performances at New Delhi's Shri Sathya International Centre.
Pushkar concluded his recital of the evening with compositions in raga Khamaj. While appreciating the choice of ragas Shree, Yeman Kalyan and Khamaj, one felt the renderings in the last named raga with as many as three composition seemed a bit too many, particularly in view of the next artiste Asha Khadilkar already waiting in the wings for her turn to appear on the stage. Chaitanya Kunte on the harmonium and Sanjay Deshpande on the tabla provided commendable accompaniment to the vocalist.
Dozen compositions
Asha Khadilkar taking to the stage after the intermission presented as many as six items with as many as a dozen compositions most of which fell below one's expectations. Opening her recital in the hybrid raga Gorakh Kalyan, her choice to continue further with khayals and a tarana in raga Kedar with the note suddha madhyam being prominent in both the ragas somehow seemed a bit odd. In spite of the opening Gorakh Kalyan being rendered in a somewhat sketchy manner, it did contain quite a few well-delineated sequences. Her own composition in drut ektal (subha din subha ghadi) was a liltingly rendered piece of music.
A seven beat rupaktal composition in raga Kedar (mangal gaavo) followed with a drut ektal composition (Mata Bhavani) did contain some pleasingly rendered sequences and concluded with a brisk paced tarana in drut ektal. The tappa in Kafi was an interesting piece of music since composed in Hindi instead of the usual Punjabi.
One wished Asha had restricted her recital to the numbers rendered in the first two ragas, namely Gorakh Kalyan and the Kedar, besides the tappa in Kafi but in a more elaborate manner instead of being rather sketchy.
Her continuing further with renderings in raga Sohni, Yeman, a Marathi song and the concluding Bhairavi somehow failed to impress. It was a bit odd to listen to the strains of raga Kafi in between for the second and third time. The singer had commendable accompaniment on the harmonium by Ajay Joglekar and on the tabla by Mukund Raj Deo.
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