Soaring songs
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The Devnandan Ubhayker festival was a music treat
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PHOTO: MURALI KUMAR K.
SPARKLE Kaushiki was brilliant
The Devnandan Ubhayaker Yuva Sangeet Utsav, a music festival held in memory of the late Devnandan Shivaram Ubhayaker, celebrated its 20th anniversary recently. Although the music festival has been conceived as a platform to showcase and nurture young and emerging talent in the field of Hindustani Classical Music, the 20th Devnandan Sangeet Utsav departed from this convention by presenting illustrious artistes, who have taken classical music to great heights.
The five-day music festival at the Ambedkar Bhavan opened with the rudraveena recital in the dhrupad tradition by Bahauddin Dagar. Bahauddin Dagar commenced his recital with a leisurely meditative alap followed by jod and jhala in Rag Multani. His exposition exemplified some of the salient features of the dhrupad alaap . The euphonious synchrony established between the wizadry of the pakhawaj played by Sanjay Agle and the skilful negotiation of sam (first beat of the rhythmic cycle) by the artiste added to the melodic appeal of the recital. However, when Bahauddin Dagar decided to conclude his concert with a truncated, succinct alap in rag Kambhoji, a Carnatic melody, it was quite an anti-climax.
Sanjeev Abhyankar started his vocal recital with the popular evening melody Rag Yaman. He presented a traditional composition "Kahe Sakhi Kaise Kahiye Bhariye Din Eiso Lalan Ke Sang" in vilambit teen taal of 16 beats. The vocalist delineated a madhyalaya bandish in roopak tal "Preet mori lage tum sang mohan" (seven beats) in Rag Gorakh Kalyan followed by two compositions in drut teen tal and drut ek tal. The drut ektal composition was noteworthy for its high velocity taans accentuated by the tabla accompaniment of Udayraj Karpur, the talented disciple of the tabla maestro Pt. Suresh Talwalkar. The soulful harmonium accompaniment by Vyasmurthy Katti enhanced the musical appeal of the compositions. After the delineation of the vilambit composition, Praveen Godkhindi, who performed on the second day demonstrated his mastery of the gayaki style by choosing the bandish "Guru bin gyan kaun pave" in madhyalaya teental by singing the composition before playing the bansuri. The splendour of arresting taans in drut teen tal composition in Marwa was ably matched by the energetic tabla accompaniment of Rajendra Nakod. Kaushiki Chakraborty, the daughter of the illustrious maestro Pandit Ajay Chakraborty, commenced her recital with the romantic night melody Rageshri. Kaushiki enraptured the audience with her sonorous melodious voice with a slow alap in vilambit ektal composition "Sab Sukh Devo Kartar". She embellished her exposition with an array of sargams, highly stylised gamaks bearing testimony to her mastery over laya and sur. Yogesh Samsi enhanced the layakari of Kaushiki's gayaki. The most enchanting part of Kaushiki's recital was the extraordinary rendition of the dadra composition in Misra Pahadi "Sajanwa kab avoge mai kithe guzaroo din saraa". Kaushiki stole the hearts of the audience by taking them to the heights of ecstasy and euphoria with her richly imaginative improvisations. Ustad Rashid Khan presented Marwa, a twilight melody, in vilambit ektal composition "Piya more anat des gayilava" which was followed by the drut teen tal composition "Guru bin gyan" popularised by the legendary late Ustad Amir Khan. The maestro explored Rag Marwa in great depth, with poignant lyricism and pathos both in the vilambit khayal and the chota khayal "Lagan more lage tum sang piya". Ustad Rashid Khan proved once again that he was indisputably the finest exponent of the tarana (Behag). Shounak Abhisheki, the son and disciple of the legendary classical musician and composer Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki, an exponent of both the Agra and Jaipur gharana gayaki, presented Rag Shree, a twilight melody in two compositions and a tarana. His skilful and masterly delineation of the bol alap, sargam taankari and layakari in the vilambit composition "Lavo Ri Maliniya Barajo Na Mane" was compellingly reminiscent of his father. The tarana in Shree, his father Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki's composition had a rich aesthetic appeal. The astonishing range and faultless rendition of Shounak's ragamalika composition won him accolades.
The sitar duet of the brothers Rafique Khan and Shafique Khan commenced with an ala-jod-jhala in the night melody Rag Jog. Through their soul stirring alap, the magic of gamak taans, dazzling tihayis and the brilliant sawal-jawab with the tabaliya Rajendra Nakod, the brothers cast a hypnotic spell.
Shubhendra Rao and Saskia, on the last day of the festival, made an unusual choice in Patdeep, an afternoon melody. It was an extremely moving, hauntingly evocative rendition, incorporating some of the finest aspects of both the gayaki and tantrakari styles in lyrical abandon. Sakia's cello sang in unison with Shubhendra's sitar, kindling a sense of wonder. The Gundecha brothers' exposition of the melodic personality of Shuddh Kalyan was exqisite. "Adi param Bramha deva Narayan niranjan nirakara" rendered in sonorous voices in synchrony with the reverberating beats of the pakhawaj by Akhilesh Gundecha produced a spiritually uplifting incantatory effect.
VAISHALI SRINIVAS
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