The two brief but beautiful instrumental recitals were true to their title ‘Riwaayat-e-Maihar' (tradition of Maihar gharana). Angara V. Raja, chose to enchant the morning gathering at L.V. Prasad Eye Institute's auditorium, on his sitar, with the raag Alhaiya Bilawal of the thaat Bilawal (akin to Carnatic Dheera Sankarabharanam) group based on Western major scale. His deft fingers introduced us to the raag and took us on a sweet sojourn wherein we began to experience the raga as the strings poured forth the finer aspects of this melodic piece.
The underlying dignity of the Bilawal could not be missed. As the artiste moved over to the jhor, his expertise came to the fore in lending a clarity to the nuances of the raag. Then came the gushing stream as he dexterously got to the top gear. It reached a crescendo as one composition wrapped up and the artist moved on to the next in his inimitable, sure-shot, steady style which seems to be the mark of the Maihar gharana. There seemed to be no room for gimmicks of any sort in the name of creativity, as witnessed in this sitar recital as well as the following Bansuri concert by Pandit Nityanand Haldipur.
The artists do not fly too high and seemed rooted to the firm soil of the raag they took up.The Desh smooth-sailed mellifluously on Haldipur's bansuri with no undulations, no flights of fancy whatsoever. The sweet cadence of this raag permeated the auditorium as the audience took in this gentle waft of music that touched softly at the heart. The flute warbled like a dove as it unfolded the fragrance of Desh. Balance and stability were the hallmark of Haldipur as he shifted to Yamani Bilawal which dripped honey through his flute. The purity is clearly visible to the most lay listener and the rise and fall seemed well under control. An appreciative feature of these two Hindustani instrumentalists is their singular concentration on their medium, oblivious of the rest of the world. They seemed to be wedded to their instrument and played it like they were in rapt conversation with it. This makes all the difference for the audience, as they are bound to feel the impact of the instrumentalists' involvement. LVPEI's attempt to re-establish our ancient traditional arts through such rare performances is laudable.
