Kala-Hetu, as the name suggests, was established for the sake of the arts in the year 1997 by Vidushi Kalpana Verma and has been dedicated to the service of arts and the artistes since then. Their annual event Sabrang-2018, dedicated to the memory of Late Achchan Maharaj, was held at Kamani Auditorium as a two-day festival presenting the established and upcoming artistes of music on the inaugural evening and dancers of all three schools of kathak the next evening.
The inaugural evening took a melodious start with the sitar recital by Adnan Khan. Born into a family of musicians from Dilli Gharana, Adnan is son of the renowned sitar player Ud. Saeed Khan and nephew of Ud. Rais Khan and Ud. Mashkoor Ali Khan of Kirana Gharana. He was initiated into sitar under the training of his maternal grandfather late Ud. Zahoor Khan and then received guidance under his father. His grooming is also benefited by spending some time at the ITC-SRA, Kolkata.
Adnan played alaap-jod in one of the most appealing evening raga Yaman followed by gat compositions with skill and beauty. Adnan impressed with his command over the instrument in his elongated meends crossing several notes. His sensitivity was evident in imagination and his riyaaz (practice) in its execution; but it all went on according to his own mood as though without any sequence, at times repeating himself. The traditional masitkhani gat composition in slow Teentala was impressive and so was the medium tempo gat with lightning taans. He also played the rich and witty Sitarkhani bandish “Kinare kinare...” but it was slightly enervated because of the fast pace. He was ably accompanied on tabla by Zoeb Khan.
The vocal duet by Fareed Hassan and Mehboob Hassan, the young duo from Dilli Gharana came next. Accompanied on harmonium by Zakir Dhaulpuri and on tabla by Amjad Khan, they opened with raga Puriya-Kalyan. Being groomed under Ud. Iqbal Ahmad Khan, the Khalifa of Dilli Gharana, Fareed has imbibed the the intricacies of this gayaki like the rachav and ghulav in alaap and clarity in taans, but Mehboob being trained by Fareed, has to go a long way. After the detailed rendering of the main raga with the traditional bada khayal, “Äaj so Bana...”, set to vilambit Ek-tala and the chhota khayal in Teental; they also presented a thumri in Pahadi.
Focus of attention
The star artistes of the evening were Ustad. Ahmed Hussain and Ustad Mohammed Hussain Jaipurwale who are also being conferred the SNA Award this year. The gifted sons and disciples of Ud. Afzal Hussain, they excel in thumri dadra and ghazal singing. Accompanied on sitar by Ud. Saeed Khan, on violin by Azhar Shakeel and on tabla by Amjad Khan, they opened their ghazal concert with the classical poet Mirza Ghalib and presented the famous “Har ek baat pe kahte ho tum ki tu kya hai...” adorning and evoking the emotions of the Urdu couplets in the melodious strains of raga Yaman.
The contrasting sonorous pathos of raga Darbari underlined the Soz of the next ghazal by Amir Hanfi, “Main hawa hoon kahan vatan mera.../ Dasht mera hai na chaman mera...¨. Then came the ones on popular requests like the “Mausam aayenge jayenge…”, where the ragas and the adayagi (rendering) changed according to the seasons being depicted. Appropriate qata (couplets), enhanced by the delicate touches of sitar and violin, created the lovely preface for the emotions of every ghazal they soulfully rendered.
