The birth of Shri Krishna, adored by millions, is celebrated in many ways.
One way of celebrating the Lord’s birth is through “kirtan”. In the old havelis of the Goswamis of Mathura (Dwarkadhish) and Nathdwara (Shrinathji) temples were established, perhaps for security reasons. Vaishnavs of the Vallabh sampradaya (followers of the tradition of 15th Century Saint, Goswami Vallabhacharya) established a strict formal temple ceremonial of ritual offerings and prayer. Part of the ceremonial included vocal compositions being sung to wake the Lord up, entertain Him while He got dressed, ate, and then lull Him to sleep. These were sung in the traditional Dhrupad style, in authentic ragas, in strict “laya”. Most of the compositions were made by the “ashtachaap” (eight) kavis of whom Surdas is perhaps the most famous.
Later, as the old haveli sangeetkars died away, the names of the Lord were chanted in the same Dhrupad style. However, the main aim now was to rouse devotion in the listeners rather than to entertain the Lord, and Janmashtami is undoubtedly an important occasion for Haveli sangeet to be sung.
Janmashtami is celebrated with great fervour in the hill town of Simla, with “jhankis” being taken from one temple to another. The State Government of Himachal Pradesh, through its Department of Art Language and Culture organised an evening of Krishna bhajans to celebrate the festival. The concert was held at the magnificent Gaiety Theatre.
Celebrated vocalist from the Mewati gharana, Pandit Sanjeev Abhyankar from Pune regaled the packed audience for nearly two hours with several of his much loved pieces, which were very well received by an audience starved for true classical music. He sang compositions of Mirabai, Adi Shankaracharya, Rasik and others, all in praise of Krishna. He started, appropriately with the morning raga Bhatiyar, in which he sang two of his own compositions dedicated to the young Krishna, Bal Gopal — “Ya Mohan ke mein rup lubhaani” and the second in a rousing ek taal “Jago jago Nand ke laal”. A lyrical bhajan written by Sant Chaturbhuj Das describing the scene at the birth of the Lord in Hamsadhwani followed; then his Guru Pandit Jasraj’s much loved “Mayi mero man mohyo” in Hori Sarang, written by Rasik. Mirabai’s “Main to Giridhar ke ghar jaaoo” in Mishra Chandrakaus followed. He also sang a beautiful hori, self-composed “Aaj mayi Mohan khelat hori” in an unusual combination of raga Jog and Tilang.
However, undoubtedly the most moving piece which brought the audience to spontaneous applause several times during his rendering was “Om Namo Bhagwate Vasudevaye” which he sang in raga Bhupali. As he said from the stage, the audience fervour was most welcome, though in an earlier age, clapping in between a concert was considered bad and implied the audience was restless.
He sang with passion, and used different layas and different ragas in each composition to keep the interest level alive. His pieces were short and very pleasing, as the music was soothing, something which is not always the case nowadays with concert musicians. His embellishments always kept in harmony with the mood of the raga created by him, and were never distracting.
Vinod Lele from Delhi on tabla, as always, provided impeccable accompaniment, never obtrusive, but also never inconspicuous. On the harmonium was the talented Milind Kulkarni from Pune, and Anurodh Jain handled the cow bells, etc as part of the side rhythm.
