Manjusha Patil was born into a family of music aficionados and trained in Hindustani from her childhood. Blessed with a mellifluous, magnetic voice with extraordinary range, she was trained by maestros such as Pt. D.V. Kenbua and Pt. Narendra Kanekar. At present, she is learning from Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar.
Voice is Manjusha Patil’s asset, and knowledge, her guide. In her vocal concert, she presented three raags in detail. Purya was the first and major one where she delivered two bandish; the first one in ek taal and the second in teen taal.
Manjusha, in a slow pace, sang ‘Pyaar Se Ghar Layae’ and went through various passages of the raag’s range exploring the vistas it could offer. Her voice traversed past the high pitch and tara sthayi sancharas with consummate ease and eloquence. The durit bandish was ‘Janana Paga Payal Bhaje’ which was ornamented with a surfeit of awesome akaras.
The second raag was Bageshri for ‘Sakhi Manu Laage.’ Bageshri being a soul stirring raag, Manjusha’s sojourns created an air of tranquillity and poignancy. The faster section was centred on ‘Jare Badra Tu Ja’ with several absorbing expressions.
The Sohni raag bandish ‘Baed Baed Mann Laljaaye’ touched its beauteous core and the finale was a vibrant tarana.
Finally, Manjusha added a thumri, ‘Saawan Ghar Aajaa Re’ in Misra Pahadi replete with lighter musical motifs. A Meera bhajan, ‘Ram Ratan Dhan Payo,’ and ‘Bindiya Ka Rang,’ a lively number, were tailend pieces.
Shriram Hasabnis on the harmonium shared equal honours with the vocalist as he was given a good share at every level to express himself through his creative replies. Mayank Bedekar on the tabla was soft and delicate in his approach but rose to the occasion with flashes of enticing rhythmic configurations at important junctures.
