Thumri queen reigns supreme

September 15, 2016 09:11 pm | Updated November 01, 2016 06:41 pm IST

In a recent concert in New Delhi, Vidushi Girija Devi regaled the audience with her effortless command over the medium.

AMAZING RANGE! Vidushi Girija Devi.

AMAZING RANGE! Vidushi Girija Devi.

The Sahitya Kala Parishad and the Department of Art, Culture and Languages of the Delhi Government jointly presented their annual Thumri Festival recently at the Kamani Auditorium. The three-day festival showcasing young talent along with maestros, reached its climax with the choicest of thumri, dadra, jhoola, kajri bequeathed by none other than the octogenarian thumri queen, Vidushi Girija Devi.

Accepting the thunderous welcome by the overflowing auditorium, Girija Devi smiled and said, “My very dear listeners, I’m delighted that by the grace of Goddess Saraswati, I get so much of your love and affection but the music performance requires a lot of energy and stamina. When I think of my running 88th year, I realise that I must take rest now, but then I come across your encouraging applause and I can’t resist singing for you.” And the audience was once again awed by her remarkable range from deep lows of ‘mandra’, the lower octave, to the powerful highs of taar saptak, the higher octave. Also with the effortless ease in her playful creativity during her Purab Ang thumris and the rollicking dadras. Her mesmerising performance vouched for her lifelong passion for her art.

Girija Devi opened with a ‘bol-banaav’ ki thumri in Mishra Desh depicting the romantic rainy season in “aaye saawan, ghiri aayi badariya…” and went on to sing a jhoola “Jugal Bar jhoolat….” in raga Megh. This was a rare ‘Braj-Bhasha’ composition of Lalit Kishori from the Haridasi Sampraday. Next came the lilting dadras, “Lage tore nainvaan ke baan” and “tohe le ke Sanvaria nikal chalibe….” concluding with an old kajri composed by the great grandfather of Pandit Rajan-Sajan Mishra and the Bhairavi.

She was preceded by Pandit Bhola Nath Mishra of Banaras gharana, who opened with a bandishi thumri in raga Bageshri set to drut Ektaal, which was treated and felt like a chhota Khayal adorned with sargam and aakar taans. Then came a tappa in raga Malkauns. The actual thumri of bol-banaav in raga Mishra Kirwani, was interspersed with dohas of matching emotional background. He concluded with a dadra in Mishra Shivranjani and another in Pilu. The evening opened with Neha Chimmalgi, from Mumbai.

Pandit Rajan Sajan Mishra accompanied by Pandit Dharm Nath Mishra on harmonium and Akram Khan on tabla, was the highlight of the second evening. It was a rare opportunity to listen thumri-dadra from the Mishra Brothers who normally sing only khayal. Pandit Rajan-Sajan Mishra opened with a thumri in raga Desh “More Sainyanji utrenge paar ho nadiya dheere baho….” No doubt there was relief and satisfaction in the leisurely delineation of the text, but unfortunately the treatment sounded more akin to khayal than the emotive Thumri. In Dadra Pahadi “Asha doobi jaye, Shyam na ab tak aaye…”, they thoughtfully brought in raga Shyam Kalyan while rendering the word Shyam and went on to incorporate ragas like Shivaranjani, Bhimpalasi and Kedar also as the “Avirbhava-Tirobhava”, which is allowed in Thumri-Dadra. The popular Pilu Dadra “Jiya mein laage aan-baan…” reached the concluding Bhairavi “Chala pardesiya naina lagay…” , where the romantic touches of the sensitive harmonium sangati by Dharm Nath Mishra and the lively Laggi of Akram Khan also received applause.

The evening opened with Sunanda Sharma, a senior disciple of Vidushi Girija Devi who sang an impressive tappa with its intricate taans, apart from the thumri, dadra and jhula. Kaushiki Chakrabarty was the young star of the inaugural evening which opened with Ranita De followed by Samrat Pandit. Madhumita Chattopadhyay from Kolkata was perhaps the best among the younger lot. Trained under Vidushi Purnima Chaudhury, a seasoned disciple of Pandit Mahadev Prasad Mishra in turn; she impressed with her reposeful renderings of the thumri-dadra echoing old world charm. The sensitive bol-banaav of her thumri Mishra Khamaj and the lilting gait of her Dadra in Tilak Kamod and Pilu were remarkable. The kajri, “barse lagi kari badariya…”, saw Madhumita changing the tempo, seamlessly from keharwa to dadra in the Antaras. Dr. Vinay Mishra on harmonium and Pandit Vinod Lele on tabla, enjoyed accompanying this gifted artiste of the younger generation.

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