It’s really quite ironical that one never gets to listen to many worthy musicians in Delhi while certain so-called “celebrities” perform here several times in one music season. I became acutely aware of this sad reality when I heard Pratima Tilak in Mumbai last Saturday. The occasion was a two-day music festival to pay homage to the memory of Gwalior gharana stalwart Sharachchandra Arolkar. His disciple Neela Bhagwat, a well-known vocalist and music scholar, and her husband Amarendra Dhaneshwar, who is also a music critic besides being a vocalist, have been organising this festival without a break since 1994, the year Arolkar died at the age of 82.
A reclusive musician who did not care for fame or money, Sharachchandra Arolkar was one of the senior most disciples of the great Krishnarao Shankar Pandit and his uncle Eknath Pandit. I had the good fortune of listening to him once in December 1985 when he sang in front of his guru at Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal where a three-day programme had been organised to focus on Krishnarao Shankar Pandit and his contribution to the Hindustani classical music. It was an emotionally poignant scene as one witnessed the 73-year-old maestro paying his respects to his 92-year-old guru. And Arolkar’s performance was simply unforgettable.
The two-day music festival in his memory was organised by the Khayal Trust in collaboration with Karnataka Sangh’s Kala Bharati Arts Circle. The first session began with a sarod recital by young Sougata Roychaudhary who chose a big and sombre raga Shree for the evening and played it with all the seriousness that it deserved. A disciple of Ali Akbar Khan’s sons Dhyanesh Khan and Ashis Khan, he played a reposeful alap in the true Maihar tradition and joined it beautifully with an intelligently-executed jod that was neat and full of rhythmic variations. He judiciously chose not to play a jhala and went straight ahead to offer a slow jhaptal gat followed by a fast teentaal gat, displaying some layakari. He concluded with a Mishra dhun set to Kaharwa taal and one was reminded of the Ganesha’s Jubilee Dance played by Ali Akbar Khan in his album with jazz musician John Handy.
Sougata played what he had learnt and seemed to be on the path to self-discovery as an artiste. He was ably accompanied by Germany-based tabla player Aroop Sengupta.
Pratima Tilak was a major discovery for me. She is a disciple of Kamal Tambe and Kausalya Manjeshwar who had learnt their art from the great Mogubai Kurdikar whose daughter happens to be the one and only Kishori Amonkar. It goes to the credit of Pratima that unlike many better known female vocalists of Jaipur-Atrauli gharana, her singing does not betray any traces of the Kishori Amonkar influence. True to her gharana, she opted for a jod raga Bhoop Nat and made it clear that although a combination of Bhoop and Nat, the raga had an individuality of its own. She sang a teen taal bada khayal “Malaniya laayee chun-chun kaliyan” in a well-cultivated, tuneful and resonant voice with verve and elan. A thinking musician, she elaborated the raga in the typical Jaipur-Atrauli style using aakaar and closely sticking to every beat of the rhythmic cycle. Besides aakaar taans, her bol taans were also aesthetically presented.
She sang a chhota khayal “Sajanwa aao more ghar” composed by Mogubai Kurdikar and dazzled the audience with her musical imagination as well as taiyaari. She created several black holes and one trembled thinking that she would be swallowed up by them but she triumphantly emerged unscathed. Her chhota khayal was also notable for creating the Shringar rasa.
After presenting a scintillating Bhoop Nat, Pratima Tilak turned her attention to the rare Ek Nishad Ka Bihagda and sang the traditional madhyalaya jhaptaal composition “Mohe jaane de”. Her rendering of this variant of Bihagda, which itself is a variant of Bihag, was even more satisfying as she executed long and fast taans. She concluded her recital with a Meera bhajan followed by a Bhairavi composition. Girish Nalavade on tabla and Makarand Kundle on harmonium provided very good accompaniment. Her disciple Prajatta Kakatkar impressed while offering vocal support.
A jugalbandi between Hawaiian guitar player Manish Pingale and sarangi player Sandeep Mishra too was a highlight of the festival. They chose raga Parameshwari, a creation of Ravi Shankar, and played with admirable understanding and seriousness. Both the young instrumentalists did not indulge in any gimmickry and unfolded the raga in alap that was followed by three compositions in slow, medium and fast tempi. Hindole Majumdar accompanied them on tabla.
The festival concluded with a vocal recital by Prasenjit Chakravarty, a disciple of Rajan-Sajan Mishra and Mohanlal Mishra. He presented Jaunpuri followed by Malashri, a musical curiosity that employs only sa, ga and pa. He sang a Bhairavi tappa before wrapping up.
