Much before the notion of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) came into vogue, music lovers of Indore were treated to a sumptuous feast of classical music by the Sanghi family with Sanghi Sangeet Samaroh’. Lately, INTACH has also joined hands to preserve the intangible heritage of classical music fostered through this festival. The 47th edition saw musicians breathing life into ragas. The festival opened with the evening raga Shyam Kalyan rendered meticulously by Devaki Pandit. Trained under gurus like Vasantrao Kulkarni, Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki and Vidushi Kishori Amonkar; Devaki presented a slow and a medium tempo composition in vilambit and drut Ek tala composed by Pandit Ramashray Jha ‘Ramrang’, and took care not to let the shades of Shuddha Sarang, the afternoon raga creep into it.
Rakesh Chaurasia, the gifted disciple of Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia presented a detailed aalap-jod-jhala in raga Jog followed by a medium tempo bandish in Matta tala of nine beats cycle and a drut Teen tala composition. Steeped in sur, he breathes life into his raga rendition with his deep and sustained breathing. It came to the fore again in raga Hansadhwani, the second raga he chose to present with a composition in the adha theka accompanied by Ojas Arhiya, a brilliant tabla player.
Anupama Bhagwat, the young sitar exponent of the Imdadkhani Baaj, rendered the evening raga Puria Kalyan in a meditative manner next evening. Trained under Pandit Bimalendu Mukherjee, Anupama offered a seamless rendering of this Jod-raga, obviously a combination of Puria in the first half and Kalyan in the later half of the octave, with artistic insight. The systematic aalap-jod-jhala followed by a traditional Masitkhani and a drut gat in Teen tala, devoid of artifice and gimmickry, instantly reached the hearts of rasikas from the very first meend, transporting them to a state of bliss . Anupama concluded with a hori in Mishra Khamaj ably accompanied by Ramendra Singh Solanki on tabla.
Shubha Mudgal’s vocal recital brought the festival to its climax. There was commendable musicianship, intellectual grasp and enjoyment for herself – the greatest high an artiste can bring to one’s art. Opening her impressive recital with raga Shuddha Kalyan, she erected its architecture with all its grandeur rendering a meend-laden aalap, a vilambit khayal in Ek taal, a chhota khayal and a Ramrang composition in drut Teen tala with scholastic insight into the raga’s regal format.
Then came the myriad colours of Holi in a variety of freshly minted old time thumri-style horis opening with “Rang daro na mope….”, a bandishi thumri in raga Desh, followed a Bol-Banav thumri style hori in raga Pilu and concluding with a Bol-Baant ki thumri in Bhairavi “Suno suno jin daro mope rang…” in her richly cultivated voice. The melodious touches of harmonium by Sudhir Nayak and the perfect tabla accompaniment by Anish Pradhan with his typical tautness, the lilting gait and the authentic laggi added extra charm.
