In 1979, when AIR introduced morsing (Indian Harp) as a category in its programming, then 48-year old L. Bhimachar was the first musician from Karnataka to play the instrument on Akashavani.
Mr. Bhimachar later groomed his younger daughter Bhagyalakshmi M. Krishna to become the first lady in the State to play the tiny mouth instrument on professional platforms at the age of nine. Today, the ‘morsing family of Karnataka,’ as they are known, has six morsing players and a mridanga artiste, spanning three generations.
They will be on stage this Sunday (March 26, 6.30 p.m.) at the Krishnadevaraya Auditorium, next to Chowdiah Hall.
Mr. Bhimachar (86), along with his sons Dhruvaraj (mridanga) and Rajashekar, Ms. Bhagyalakshmi, grandsons Vijayanand and Likith Kumar and granddaughter Poornima will be presenting an ensemble: ‘morsing tarang,’ a concept created by Mr. Bhimachar in 1991. This is the first time the family will be performing together on stage. The 45-minute piece, that will be presented on Sunday, has been composed by Mr. Rajashekar, who took nearly three months to arrange the rhythmic melody and conducted nearly 50 practice sessions to get it right.
“It’s a long piece of Mohana raga and Adi tala that flows in multiple paces and metres without a break. The lyrical symphony is a morsing adaptation of percussive syllables, where both musical notes and rhythms are transformed onto our instruments. This is unique as we will not have any melodic instrument, but will bring out melody and rhythm through the six morsings and a mridanga,” explained Mr. Rajashekar.
“At a time when fewer people are learning to play the morsing, my father’s conscientious effort in preserving the art in the family is encouraging,” says Ms. Bhagyalakshmi, who has had to fight gender bias when she started as a morsing artist. Today, she has over 1000 concerts to her credit. The family has also been at the forefront of taking morsing around the globe. Mr. Bhimachar and his children Dhruvaraj, Rajashekar and Bhagyalakshmi performed at the prestigious Global Jews Harp Fest in Amsterdam in 2006.
“We are happy to showcase the twangs of the signature Indian Harp on global platforms, where artists from Germany, Hungary, Japan, Vietnam, Russia play their harps. Each of them sound different,” says Mr. Bhimachar, adding that “What we introduced into the existing traditional percussive elements is a Bhimachar stamp. It has lucid rhythmic syllables in a stretched format, apart from sliding in a ‘kirra’ sound.”
The family will showcase all this and more this weekend.
