Nagabhushana Hegde Sagara’s Hindustani music concert at Vasudevacharya Bhavana, Mysore, transfixed the audience.
He was accompanied by Prabuhurao Akki (harmonium) and Bheemashankar Bidanur (tabla). Shri Guru Puttaraja Sangeetha Sabha had organised the concert, and before the main event, young Abhijit Bharadhwaj played a tabla (solo). Abhijit’s dexterous approach introduced the audience to nuances of different Kaidas (Purab Kaida and Dilli Kaida), which followed peshkaars. Guru Bheema Shankar Bidanur provided lehra, and the beat-permutations later culminated in climactic chakradaars.
Sagara’s concert proved itself an embodiment of absorption and an epitome of refined entertainment. The singer’s masterly control over the methodology of raagvisthaar and his imaginative vision over the process of interpreting the raag and the cheez collectively resulted in the evolvement of a piece of artistry that shone in its musical entirety. Hegde’s chords traverse the octaves with admirable felicity, and the intonations animate the lyrics to a point where the audience are lost into an atmosphere of ineffable sublimity. This was particularly so, when he was interpreting a devotional cheez like ‘Tu Hi Kartaar Sab Jag Ko Kaun Vidh Tere Gun Gaavu’ (vilambit) – both the sthayi and the anthara sections receiving their due structural importance and thematic significance.
Observe the profundity of the lyrics and the intensity of the artiste’s involvement in enlivening those passages. He would invariably stress on the impregnated meanings and fathom the subtleties, to enlighten listeners of the mood.
Be it sams, tihayis, sargams or taans, the singer would consider them as specific artistic tools in the process of badhat, and would blend them with intuitive discretion, delicately shaping the theme on hand.
Taans sprouting into varieties of musical figures emerged in various speeds; sargams passed through interesting articulations further beautified by thaanic modulations: heavy gamaks imparting gravity to the progressions that unfurled incessantly.
His magisterial voice (though tended to be stentorian) charged the lyrics in higher octaves, infusing them with the desired emotions, without losing its depth and consistency. Observe passages like ‘Tero Samaan’ and ‘Thu Hi Kripa’ with ardently appealing pukaars addressing the Lord. Lyrical movements — ‘Hamari Sudha Leez Murari’ and ‘Aas Lagi Thum Charan Ki’ in faster progressions carried the listeners to pleasant climax, the voice uninterruptedly merging with the drone creating a state of musical silence (aas).
Cheez in Sohini, ‘Kaahe Abto Aaye Ho’ in madhyalay, terminated in a sprightly tarana. Prabha Atre’s ‘Paar Karo Mori Naiyya’ (Mohankauns) rose to great sentimental heights in a passage like ‘Beech Bhaura Mai Akeli’ – the anguished self beseeching the Lord for transgression from the mundane into the realms of spiritual bliss. The concert included a Natyasangeeth and Raagmaala (Kedar, Shivaranjani, Bhupali, Kalyan Bhairavi and so on).
The melody accompanist faithfully followed the lead artiste’s extempore, (though at times faltered). The percussionist’s discretion in framing the phrases reflected a rare sense of refinement and propriety.
