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Offerings of music and dance

Charming gait Nandita Devi and Bina Devi performing at Arpan.

Asavari, Shovana Narayan’s institution for classical performing artsand Art Junctionin collaboration with the India Habitat Centre presented the “potential torch bearers” of classical music (vocal, instrumental) and dance at their a nnual Arpan Festival 2007 at the Stein auditorium.

That the two-day festival for young talents, into its fifth year now, has earned a good reputation was evident from the enthusiastic response of music lovers on both the evenings.

A befitting curtain-raiser was the mesmerising flute recital by Rajesh and Rishabh Prasanna. Born into a renowned family of traditional musicians from Varanasi, the brothers were initiated into music by their grandfather Raghunath Prasanna and groomed further by their father and guru, Rajendra Prasanna. Rajesh and Rishabh played raga Puria Kalyan with a detailed aalapchaari and two compositions set to Rupak and Teen tala respectively. Their talent, temperament and technique bore the stamp of their guru-pita from the beginning. Perfect tunefulness and complete involvement were the most endearing qualities of their recital. Young Parvez Husain efficiently accompanied them on the tabla.

Farid Hasan’s vocal recital, failed to satisfy the connoisseurs. With the illustrious lineage of Dilli gharana and an ustad like Iqbal Ahmad Khan as his guru, Farid was expected to have worked hard but seems to have taken it all for granted . Even the best accompanying artists — Mehmood Dhaulpuri on the harmonium, Murad Ali on the sarangi and Shakil Ahmad on the tabla — could not help him much.

After presenting two compositions (bara and chhota khayal) in raga Yaman, he insisted on singing another in raga Kedar, saying that it was his grandfather’s bandish with ‘tappa ang’, but there was hardly any trace of tappa in it. The evening proved that no matter what your musical lineage, ultimately it’s your own hard work that counts.

The first evening ended with a captivating Kathak recital by Kristina Dolonina and Madina Andassova, talented disciples of Shovana Narayan. Opening with “Adharam madhuram…” as a duet, they went on from Teen tala to Jhap tala and Dhamar. The abhinaya piece on a poem of L.M. Singhvi proved Kristina’s emotive power too. The crisp padhant (recitation of mnemonic bols) belied their foreign nationalities. The concluding Malkauns tarana set to Teen tala was marked by perfect synchronisation. The dancers certainly did their guru proud.

The festival concluded the next day with an equally enchanting Manipuri dance recital by Nandita Devi and Bina Devi, gifted disciples of Guru Singhjit Singh and Charu Mathur. The charming gait and graceful movement of the duo was mesmerising.

The evening opened with a solo tabla performance by Shahbaaz Shakeel, son and disciple of Shakeel Ahmad of the Ajarara and Dilli gharana. Shahbaaz is also groomed by Ustad Iqbal Husain of the Farrukhabad gharana. Thus, he has acquired the fine points of all the three styles.

His Teen tala showcased the quayeda, rela-palta, gat and chakkardaar tukras of all the three baaj (styles).

Saraswati Rajgopalan’s veena recital represented Carnatic music. She opened her recital with a kriti of Muthaiya Bhagavatar, “Charanam vijay Saraswati maye…” composed in raga Vijaya-Saraswati, a rare janya (derivative raga) of the melakarta raga Dharmavati. The main piece was “Hiranyamayim….” a composition of Muttuswami Dikshitar in raga Lalita, tala Rupakam. The rich alapana and taanam revealed the raga beautifully before she went on to play the composition where the flow of kalpana swaras indicated her sensitive manodharma along with her technical prowess. Kumbakonam N. Padmanabhan on the mridangam and K. Ramamurthy on the ghatam gave her competent accompaniment.

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