If reflections of lightning and thunders through high octave, full-breath variations of the monsoon ragas were the only attraction, the Thursday evening at Ravindra Kalabhavan could have been passable.
But veteran singer-brothers Rajan Mishra and Sajan Mishra belong to a different breed who made the evening memorable taking a motley crowd of 300 people on an affable and completely pure Hindustani classical vocal journey called Baithak on Varsha Vaibhav (Celebration of the Monsoon).
Sans gimmicks that many musicians resort to in a bid to impress the crowd, the duo set the pace for what was to follow: “We have always received your love and affection. Music is our prayer, worship. Join us in this worship.” There never was an occasion to doubt it.
Beginning with Kahe ho preetham in Goud Malhar , they built the concert methodically and progressed slowly. It was only about 15 minutes later they started showing glimpses of their repertoire and half an hour later when it actually started raining that Pt. Rajan Mishra launched into full-volume improvisations. Following it up with a playful variation, they branched into varieties of saragam (sequential rendition of notes taking their names).
The way younger brother imitated in aa-kar taans (a taan is what you render in one breath) what the older rendered in saragam won claps. The aa-kar taans rendered subsequently by the two together took the concert to its crescendo. Then the two kept you in heavens with a fine, prolonged dhrut (fast paced rendition) with the composition Jaani jaani tumare man ki jaani baat .
The way Mishra brothers filled the composition Garajata baadal , a lilting melody in Megh Raga , ensured that there never was a dull moment. So much so that when they wanted some acoustic adjustments; the senior artiste said, “reduce the sound on monitor” in the same raga wearing a broad smile. The way they rendered the phrase, Sanananana savan ritu aaye will remain etched in memory for long. And, you should have been there when the brothers rendered a particular composition of two to three minutes that one of them said would take 5,000 calories of energy!
Pt. Rajan Mishra, who took a few questions from music lovers, said a private channel – In Sing – dedicated to classical music alone is in the offing in Maharashtra while All India Radio was likely to start a radio channel for music in the north and the south.
He said artistes from all over India had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh a couple of years ago in this regard and “the radio will be there soon, we hope”. He said he, too, missed the good music he used hear on radio earlier.
He did not forget to request Mangaloreans to teach some music to their children. “Children who learn music will never become criminals,” he declared.
