Masterly strokes
|
Vocalist Banishree Falisse gave a polished performance. JITENDRA PRATAP
|
The Belgian Business Association Charity recently presented a grand musical evening at the Embassy auditorium entitled ‘Invocation to Naad Brahma’ with khayals in raga Megha besides a couple of devotional songs by the Bengal born senior
vocalist, Banishree Falisse.
She happens to be the wife of the Belgian diplomat Philippe Falisse, himself an outstanding musician who learnt Hindustani vocal music (Dhrupad, Dhamar and Sadra) from the renowned Dagar Brothers for overtwo decades.
The Ambassador of Belgium in India, Patrick De Beyter speaking on the occasion said, “Looking back at four wonderful years in India, I have the feeling that the relationship between our two countries have never been so strong”. Banishree Falisse was initiated into khayal by late Kalachand Das and Amiya Ranjan Banerjee. She also learned the Khandarvani style of dhrupad from Pandit Udhay Bhushan Bhattacharya.When she settled down in Delhi, Banishree received voice training from Dagar Brothers and carried on her sadhana in khayal under the guidance of late Pandit Vasant Thakar. Banishree holds an M.A. degree in Music from Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, and was awarded the “Sur Mani” title.
With showers falling in some parts of the city, the principal rain time melody of the pentatonic raga Megha was the apt choice for Banishree to commence her recital of the evening and she did this with aplomb.
The slow tempo ten beat “jamptal” composition (2-3 and 2-3) had all the grandeur of a dhrupad recital of yore. Incidentally, raga Megha is one of the six principal ragas in the older system of Indian classical music. Some of the others being raga Hindol, raga Deepak, raga Sree, raga Malkauns and the raga Bhairav. Banishree concluded her recital of the evening with soulful hymns, oozing devotional fervour. She had excellent accompaniment on the harmonium by Mehmood Dholpuri and on the tabla by Prasun Chatterji.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
