Some tribute, some celebrations
MANJARI SINHA
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Whether in honour of the Father of the Nation or the stars of tomorrow, New Delhi audiences were treated to an explosion of melody.
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MESMERISING RECITAL Pandit Rajan and Sajan Mishra offered memorable `Shraddhanjali' to Bapu.
In a special and well-attended programme on Gandhi Jayanti, organised by Udayan Care in association with Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, Pandit Rajan and Sajan Mishra offered a memorable `Sur Shraddhanjali' (musical tribute) followed by a discourse on Bapu, the father of the nation, by the revered Morari Bapu. The whole ambience was emotionally charged when the MishraBandhu opened their recital with "Shri Ramchandra Kripalu Bhajman... " soaked in the sweetness of raga Yaman Kalyan, set to Rupak tala of seven beats.
The delicate touch of the Shuddha Madhyam gave goose bumps at times. The beauty of their mesmerising recital that evening, right from the opening number to the concluding Ram dhun, was that the audience enjoyed the most popular devotional songs like "Shri Ramchandra... " by Tulsidas or the favourite bhajan of Mahatma Gandhi `Vaishnav jana to... ' by Narsi Mehta for instance. The music lovers enjoyed the essence of the ragas in which these songs were superbly sung.
The recital was immensely enhanced by Mehmood Dhaulpuri on the harmonium and Akram Khan on the `chaure munh ka tabla' that sounded like a pakhawaj.
The IIC Experience
The IIC Experience, which has become the annual Festival of Arts at the India International Centre, presented Pandit Rajshekhar Mansur in a vocal recital of Hindustani music. Belonging to the rich legacy of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana, Rajshekhar Mansur is groomed meticulously in the guru-shishya tradition by his illustrious father Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur. His astute mastery of the nuances and complexities of the Jaipur gharana was quite evident in his recital, although he took a little time to warm up in the opening Lalita-Gauri, the popular jod raga of this gharana.
A jod raga like this requires its twin components to be separately understood and then blended into an integral whole. The most creditable aspect of his rendering was that the two ragas, Lalit and Gauri were joined seamlessly.
The Jaipur gharana is also known for its aprachalit (rare) ragas, and Mansur offered a good fare of these ragas as well, something that you seldom come across.
He sang Khokar, Bihari, Meghawali and Adambari Kedar, before concluding his recital with the customary Bhairavi. Khokar, especially the bandish (composition) "Aaj mukhchand... " brought alive the memory of the late Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur. Bihari was also prevalent in his times. Meghawali, of course, was an unheard raga for many.
With the shades of ragas like Bhimpalasi, Bahar and Miyan-Malhar, Meghawali was really an `avali' or cycle of different ragas. Adambari-Kedar was a combination of Kedar and Shankara.
But Mansur says, "I am not satisfied with the term jod-raga or sankirna raga These terms give a feeling of transmutation and not transformation. For me, it is a new raga. Guru gives you the drishti (vision), he shows the path but you have to tread it on your own, creating your own music." Asavari, the institute of Shovana Narayan, in collaboration with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations presented Arpan, a two-day festival of young talented artistes at the India Habitat Centre.
The festival took a flying start with the impressive shehnai recital of Lokesh Anand, a gifted disciple of Pandit Anant Lal and Rajendra Prasanna. He played a detailed alap in Shyam-Kalyan followed by two compositions set to the cycle of nine beats and Teen tala respectively. The initial `Re Ni Sa' itself was an authentic stamp of his calibre which was amply proved by his methodical rendition of the raga.
Asghar Hussain on the violin came next with two compositions in raga Bageshri. If the slow composition set to a difficult tala like `gyaarah matra ki sawari' of 11 beats showed his command over the rhythm, the intricate nuances like the challenging gamak-taans proved his technical virtuosity as well. Panchaali Nandi's sitar recital the next day had the stamp of her guru Pandit Debu Chaudhuri not only in the melodious rendition of raga Jhinjhoti but also in following his footsteps by playing the sitar with only 17 frets.
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