The ‘bismillah’ or the auspicious beginning of Ustad Bismillah Khan’s year-long Birth Centenary Celebrations by the Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) with ‘Sur Banaras’ on his 100th birthday in March 2016 at Varanasi continues with ‘Swar-Ganga’ series featuring the recipients of Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar, the SNA Award for the young artistes who have made their mark in performing arts. This Award was commissioned in the year 2006, on the behest of then President APJ Abdul Kalam. That was the year when Ustad Bismillah Khan had passed away; hence the SNA Yuva Puraskar was named after him.
The “Swar-Ganga” Festival of Music organised jointly by the SNA and the Department of Art and Culture, Government of Manipur recently, took place at Maharaja Chandrakirti auditorium, Imphal. The three-day festival featuring young Awardees of Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar and talented artistes from Manipur, reached its contemplative climax with ‘Nat-Sankirtan’ performed with complete devotional fervour by Meirambam Maniton Singh from Mei Rambam, Bishnupur district of Manipur, ‘Sankeertan’, a form of community prayer, is an integral part of the lives and the artistic manifestations of the people of Manipur. It follows an extremely strict code where the songs, music, talas and rhythm patterns as well as the costumes are determined by specific rules and regulations. The Nat-Sankirtan by Maniton Singh and group, dressed in pure white dhoti and safa, opened with Purvarang where performers ceremoniously offered flowers and sandalwood paste to their instruments before the ‘Mandapa-Mapu’, the brahmin conducting the ceremony, recited invocatory shloka with the jaya-dhvani on a double-conch. The Sankirtan then started with the ‘Mridanga-Raga’, a particular type of composition on drums along with the raga Alaap by the main singer. The Pung drummers also danced with leaps and swirls as if their whole is being pulsated with the rhythm.
The evening had opened with raga Patdeep on flute by Devapriya and Suchismita Chatterjee, trained under Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. Sikkil Gurucharan, the gifted grandson of the famous Sikkil Sisters, gave an impressive performance of Carnatic vocal, accompanied by V. Sanjeev on violin and J. Balaji on mridangam. Right from the opening Vinayaka Stuti by Muthuswamy Dikshitar to the Mishra-Mand Thillana, Gurucharan displayed commendable maturity of expression.
The inaugural evening of the “Swar Ganga Festival” opened with a Hindustani vocal recital by Bhuvanesh Komkali, the gifted grandson of Pandit Kumar Gandharva and disciple of Vasundhara Komkali and Pandit Madhup Mudgal. His robust rendering of the vilambit and drut khayals in Madhuvanti in his rich toned voice was followed by shuddha-Shyam, a combination of shuddha Kalyan and Shyam Kalyan. Meandering through both the ragas with artistic insight, he concluded his recital with the popular Bandish “sawan ki saanjh…” in Shyam Kalyan.
Malladi Brothers, Sriram Prasad and Ravi Kumar’s captivating concert came as the Carnatic counterpart of the Hindustani vocal. Opening with a Todi Varnam, they sang “Parvat Rajkumari…” in ragam Sriranjani and a Thyagaraja composition in Sankarabharanam. Moirangthem Cherish Singh from Manipur concluded the evening with raga Yaman on violin.
The second evening opened with a shehnai recital by Ashwini Shankar who played a melodious Madhuwanti and a Thumri in Mishra Pilu with Mithilesh Jha on tabla. Abhay Rustam Sopori’s santoor came next. He opened with a detailed alap-jod jhala in raga Champakali where Rishi Upadhyay joined him on pakhawaj during the jod and jhala sequence. Abhay continued the raga, singing and playing a tarana in drut Ektaal with tabla by Sachin and a drut composition by the threesome.
The highlight of the evening was the pensive pena by Shobha Chandra Singh, accompanied by Oja Mangi Singh. Pena is a traditional indigenous bow instrument of Manipur with just one string but its tone simply penetrates the heart. The song was based on a tragic folklore of Manipur, rendered in a perfect amalgamation of storytelling and abhinaya, rendered by the tonal effects of the versatile performer’s vivacious voice with such pathos that it touched the heart and soul of the spellbound audience.
