The evening concert at Kadri Park as part of the ongoing Karavali Utsav featured younger but well-known Hindustani musicians – flautist Praveen Godkhindi from Bengaluru and vocalist Jayathirth Mevundi from Hubballi. Within the limitations of the jugalbandi, the duo ensured that the audience had an enthralling evening.
The highlight of the concert was the rendition of the composition ‘Ab to lagi lagan’ in Raga Madhukauns. It was slow initially and the two appeared to be straining to establish a connection with the audience.
Just when one was ready to declare it boring, the artistes introduced a bright sparkle and made it the most enjoyable part of the performance.
It was Mevundi who started sargams that were appealing and Godkhindi not only repeated with ease but added his own touch with aplomb.
The vocalist kept to his traditional training and evolution and tried to explore the possibilities of touching a chord with the audience, the flautist proved yet again that he is more adept at the theatrics of catching the attention of the crowd.
With his special touch, he would win claps again and again. Mevundi managed to get some attention with a tarana and sargam combination.
The short piece with ‘Kahe sataye mohe savaria’ was entertaining. One can hardly forget that jugalbandis are in the end some sort of clash of two egos and the concluding piece ‘Mile sur mera tumhara’ clearly belonged to Mevundi, even if it is for the reason that he did not give much scope for the instrumentalist to perform.
Ravindra Yavagal accompanied them on the tabla and Narendra L. Nayak on the harmonium.
