Winter nights to warm the heart
GAUTAM CHATTERJEE
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Saptak brings together artistes from various genres and traditions for a musical extravaganza.
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MELODY MARATHON Rashid Khan
Saptak, an Ahmedabad-based classical music organisation, celebrated 13 winter nights, this January with classical maestros like Pandit Kishen Maharaj, Girija Devi, Rashid Khan, Ulhas Kashalkar, Zakir Hussain, Hari Prasad Chaurasia to name a few. Also present were Shiv Kumar Sharma, Shubha Mudgal, Ronu Mazumdar, Shahid Parvez, Ashish Khan, Budhaditya Mukherji and others. On the first evening, Pandit Shireesh Kalyan set the tone with raga Maru Vihag. Fazal Quraishi accompanied him on the tabla in Teen tala. Shubha Mudgal later sang Hemant. Next evening, after Shubhra Guha sang raga Chhayanat, Ustad Ashish Khan (son of sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan) presented ragas Bageshri, Jhinjhoti and Mishra Maand on the sarod, with Pandit Pooran Maharaj on the tabla. Ulhas Kashalkar presented raga Jog Kauns in sweet and melodious tones, enthralling the audience. Suresh Talwalkar accompanied him on the tabla.
The following night featured Akram Khan's recital with Jaideep Ghosh on the sarod playing raga Vihag. It was followed by raga Shuddha Kalyan performed by Prameshwar Hegde. Budhaditya Mukherji, the next night, presented raga Shuddha Kalyan on the sitar, Sandip Das accompanying him on the tabla, while Rashid Khan cast a spell with the raga Jog. Those who were not familiar with Rashid's other concerts experienced chaindari, a wholeness of music, mood and tone.
Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia with his nephew Rakesh, presented ragas Jog and Hemawati on the flute with Vijay Ghate accompanying on the tabla.
The fifth night, veterans Ikram Khan and Allarakkha Kalawant presented a sarangi duet in raga Vihag. It was for the first time that Shujaat Khan and S. Subramanian presented raga Vachaspati as a duet on the sitar and the flute respectively. Rajan - Sajan Mishra presented raga Malkuns the next evening in the traditional way. Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma presented raga Kirwani on the santoor, with Pandit Kishen Maharaj and Shubh Maharaj on the tabla. It was an unforgettable performance.
Similarly, Shahid Parvez and U. Srinivas jointly presented raga Vachaspati on the sitar and mandolin respectively. Ustad Zakir Hussain accompanied them in the Rupak and Teen tala compositions.
Girija Devi
On the eleventh night, Hindustani flautist Pandit Ronu Mazumdar mesmerised the audience, teaming up with Carnatic saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath to play raga Hamsadhwani. Then Kaushiki Chakraborty presented raga Rageshri with Sultan Khan on the sarangi. Ajoy Chakraborty, the Gundecha Brothers, Vidyadhar Vyas and others were the later attractions.
Usually Saptak organises a 10-night classical music festival every winter. This was the first time that it was 13 nights long. It was a confluence, or kumbha, of different artistes of different genres and gharanas.
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