The call of contemplation
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Meghana Kulkarni’s music has a poignant sensuousness to it
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SKILLED Meghana worked out some fine graces, exquisitely crafted meends and glissandos
Meghana Kulkarni’s Hindustani vocal concert, hosted by the Hindustani Sangeet Kalakar Mandali, was a pleasant sight with all youngsters on stage. It had the sprightly Raghavendra Nakod on tabla and the uplifting Sukhada Limaye Joshi on the harm
onium.
Meghana, who’s had exhaustive training in the genre under renowned maestros like Venkatesh Kumar and Aarti Anklikar, began her recital with the elusive, but passionately beautiful Pooriya Dhanashri. After a short alaap marked with microtonal subtleties, Meghana chose to explore the raga with the bandish “Aajare Baalam Re” in madhyalaya. Rag Puriya Dhanashri has in it a bit of prayer, some beseeching, and lots of sensuousness (Kamavardhini). Much like her guru Aarti, Meghana’s rendition was laced with both lalithya (inflections so typical of the Maharashtrian tradition) and deep fervour. Though the raga itself is inherent with unusual combination of swaras, Meghana kept off the beaten track with her refreshi
ng imagination. Her voice – which has a wistful quality to it, something that seems to emanate from the world of gramophones – worked out some fine graces, exquisitely crafted meends and glissandos. She put forth unusual interpretations: as she was weaving those competent layakari patterns and just when you predicted what the tihayi (the winding up notes) was going to be, there would be a nuanced tag on, which gave the entire idiom such a refined finish.
In the drut, Meghana rendered the soaked-in-submission “Mushkil Karo Asaan” and gave it multiple readings too. She demonstrated a fairly good hold over rhythm and presented complicated taans and swara patterns with a good degree of clarity. This was more explicit in the composition “Dum Damara Damaru Baaje” set to rag Shankara, which had an interesting beat pattern. The composition, in fact, had a very dhrupad feel to it.
In the second half of the concert, the seriousness was interrupted with a string of light compositions. However, the jhoola she sang sparkled with such ingenuity. Though it was set to the overused Yaman, it was a brilliant piece.
Sukhada was extremely good on the harmonium. Not only did she demonstrate tremendous restraint, but was also extremely understated in her arresting improvisations.
Raghavendra Nakod was chirpy and energetic throughout the concert.
Meghana, who has in her the makings of a competent performer, has an effortless flourish to her singing. But each time she negotiated flights from one octave to another, there was a slight fumble, and didn’t sound comfortable in the mandra sapthak. Though Meghana has a nice voice with an unexplored raw edge to it, it needs more power.
Even with Meghana’s proficient understanding, her music obligates a deeper engagement. A music that bears in it an unrelenting struggle to get to the labyrinthine depths, agonising moments spent over unravelling the mysteries of the ethereal note.
How true poet Gopalakrishna Adiga was when he spoke of those meditative moments: “Huttagattade chitta, kadedeete purshottamana aa antha roopu rekheyanu?”
DEEPA GANESH
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