Many facets of a diamond
JITENDRA PRATAP
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Prabha Atre has sterling scholarship and a golden voice.
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The septuagenarian Prabha Atre is a multifaceted personality. Besides being one of the leading-classical Hindustani vocalists, she is also a lawyer, earlier a broadcaster, a highly dedicated guru, a researcher, analyst, thinker and a prolific writer. During the past several decades, she has been the Professor and Head of the Faculty of Music in Mumbai's SNDT University for Women.
She has given utmost thought to several issues that confront our present system of Indian classical music. These include the changing relationship in Indian music, the place of music in education, formulation of a national policy for Indian classical music, Indian classical music and fusion, theme-based programs, the guru-shishya parampara, the media and the important ingredients required for a vocalist. Her two books in English, "Enlightening the Listener" and "Along the Path of Music", would be beneficial and of interest to both the scholar and the student of music.
One of her most laudable achievements is in establishing the Swarmayee Gurukul in Pune to bridge the prevailing gap between the academic institutions and the traditional guru-shishya parampara by nurturing talented students into complete professionals. Her recent recital at the India Habitat Centre's Stein auditorium in collaboration with Swaramayee titled Sur Sangam was notable for her renderings of self-composed khayals, chaturang, bhajan and dadra, all set to Carnatic ragas with quite a few prominently deployed nuances of the southern system of music.
Ode to Saraswati
She commenced her recital with an ode to Goddess Saraswati with a madhya Ek tala composition in raga Saraswati, followed by a madhya Teen tala tarana in the same raga. Her next rendering was a charmingly composed Jhap tala composition in raga Kirwani, "Nand Nandan Man Mohan", which she embellished with scores of liltingly rendered melodic sequences and followed up with a colourful tarana.
The seven-beat Rupak tala composition in raga Hamsadhwani, "Man sumiran kar le", was quite different from the manner in which this Carnatic raga is rendered by most of the Hindustani vocalists. The madhya Ek tala tarana in the same raga was a lively piece of music. The most appealing number of the evening was the slow tempo Rupak tala composition in raga Hemavati, "Maien tori charan", which she rendered at good length and followed with a well conceived and a charmingly rendered chaturang in madhya Ek tala.
The dadra in Mishra Kanakangi (with both the Rishabh notes), "Shyam bin paoon maien", was an interesting experiment in deploying a Carnatic raga for a light classical piece of Hindustani music. The bhajan in raga Madhyamavati, "Hey Jagdamba", was a befitting finale to the veteran's delightful recital. Her disciple Chetana Banawat deserves high praise for providing commendable vocal support to her mentor. Jayaram Potdar on the harmonium and Prasun Chatterjee on the tabla provided excellent accompaniment.
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