Music goes beyond barriers to create bonds that eliminate differences of hearts. The end and means of arts in itself is to bring harmony by getting the notes of that which is played, of those who play, and for sure those who hear, in perfect synchronisation. Living up to this thought, ‘Beyond Barriers’ was organised last week by tabla exponent and composer Sovon Hazra in association with his Sky group promoting fifty young artistes to excel in their respective fields of music and dance.
In presence of guests like eminent sitarist Padma Bhushan Pandit Debu Chaudhuri and Gaurav Majumder, the unique musical effort was aimed at creating an atmosphere which goes beyond languages, religions and other geographical boundaries which tend to separate people. The two-hour concert featured a unique symphony in the form of vocal music, the melody on tablas, creative Kathak dance and distinctive fusion music by the Sky group which surmounts conventional musical definitions.
The evening commenced with ‘Mangalacharan’, a dance item performed by students of Sur Chandam on Rabindranath Tagore’s melody conducted by Juthika Dey. This was followed by a bandish of Indian classical of vocal chorus performed by students of Umak, conducted by Priyanka Mukherjee.
A tabla duet was presented by students of Sovon Hazra, Raghav Ghai and Bisman Singh, followed by a Tandav nritya presented in Kathak style by students of Juthika Dey. ‘Navarang - Tabla melody’ was followed by students of Sovon Hazra, conducted and conceived by him. This was followed by a vocal and instrumental symphony through live music and dance conceived and composed by Hazra and arranged by Smarajit Sen.
The classical vein was broken by a western Jazz vocal presented by Alankrita Bari and the finale fusion presentation.
This was an eccentric mix of classical music and fusion by Hazra on tabla and cajon, mridangam by Kesavan, flute by Mayank Raina, keyboard by Zafar Mirza, sitar by Smarajit Sen and vocals by guest artistes Anirban Bhattacharyya and Priyanka Mukherjee
Sovon Hazra was trained in tabla by late Pandit Biswanath Bose of Kolkata (Banaras gharana), Pandit Kumar Bose and Pandit Jayanta Bose. And in 2003 he started Sky which was his unique way of experimenting by amalgamating Indian ragas such as Raga Bairagi, Kalavati, Hamasadhwani, etc. with the notes of western instruments.
Thus, when one asked why the need to conduct such concerts, Hazra commented, “Culture is the base of any society and I strongly believe that if at least one person in every family would have learnt Indian classical music, this country would never have been positioned as Indian music goes beyond castes, religions, social status, etc. and engulfs all. “
