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Taste of real music

Musical treat Malini Rajurkar, T.M. Krishna and Murad Ali

Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, the great savant of music, philanthropist and revered guru who trained a galaxy of musicians and teachers, devoted his entire life to removing the stigma and prejudice attached to classical music and musicians in his times. He opened the first Gandharva Mahavidyalaya in Lahore way back in 1904, which has proliferated and has branches all over the country today. To celebrate his 135th birth anniversary, the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya and Saraswati Samaj jointly organised the Vishnu Digambar Jayanti Sangeet Samaroh at Kamani auditorium recently. It encompassed one morning and three evening sessions of classical vocal and instrumental music.

The remarkable feature of this annual music festival is the showcasing of new talents along with the top musicians. This year the festival opened with a vocal recital by the young Ranjani Ramchandran. Initiated into music by her mother, Ranjani learnt from Pandit Kashinath Bodas and Veena Sahasrabudhhe before she joined the I.T.C. Sangeet Research Acedemy (SRA) as a resident scholar under the tutelage of Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar.

She also received guidance from Girija Devi in Thumri-Dadra at the SRA. Ranjani presented a vilambit and a madhya laya khayal in raga Multani followed by a composition in Bahar, which was adequate indication of her sound grooming and also her deep involvement with Hindustani classical music.

The serene sitar recital by Kushal Das was the other attraction of the inaugural evening. Commencing his recital with the detailed alap, jod, jhala in raga Miyan Ki Malhar, he displayed not only a good understanding of the basic structure and the melodic appeal of the monsoon raga but also the profundity of a surbahar player. This was followed by a Masitkhani gat in raga Miyan ki Malhar and a madhya laya (medium tempo) composition in raga Megh, vouching for his instrumental virtuosity. He also had several rounds of rhythmic dialogues with the ace percussionist Akram Khan on the tabla , whose crystal clear ‘na-dhin-dhin-na’ during the concluding jhala sequence was superb.

T.M. Krishna’s soul stirring Carnatic vocal recital opened with the Tyagaraja kirtana in Chittaranjani raga, the next evening. The reposefully rendered ragam-taanam-pallavi in his main raga Varali revealed the serene mood of the raga during the detailed ragam and taanam portions, while the niravals and kalpana swaras spoke of his technical virtuosity during the pallavi. The concluding composition of Muthuswamy Dikshitar in raga Mandalakshi was mesmerising in its musicality, extracting the raga bhava with profound depth. Venkatesh Kumar from Dharwad was his counterpart in Hindustani music this evening. Heopened with the popular bara khayal “Bolan laagi…” set to vilambit Ek tala in raga Shuddha Kalyan followed by “Mandar bajo…” in Teentala. He also sang a thumri in Mishra Khamaj and a madhya laya composition in Sohani, before concluding with Bhairavi. The morning session opened with a solo sarangi recital by the talented young artiste Murad Ali who played a slow and a medium tempo composition in raga Lalit with sensitivity and concluded with a dhun in Jogia. Malini Rajurkar, a renowned vocalist of Gwalior gharana chose to sing the most appropriate raga Bilaskhani Todi, presenting a bara khayal in vilambit Ek tala and a chhota khayal in Teen tala. A dexterous tappa in Kafi, composed by Pandit Dinkar Kaikini came next, followed by a popular Teen tala composition “Aaj khelo..” in the same raga. She concluded with a beautiful bandish of Balvant Rai Bhatta “Saadh le nar Shadja apana…” in Bhairavi. Malini Rajurkar’s vocal recital was a real treat. She had excellent support from Arvind Thatte on the harmonium and Bharat Kamath on the tabla.

The Jayanti Samaroh concluded with a flute recital by the star artiste Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, which was preceded by the vocal recital of Shaunak Abhisheki. The devotional songs by the students of Gandharva Mahavidyalaya were an added attraction in the beginning of each session.

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