Ghazal sounded different at the State School Arts Festival here on Saturday. Most of the singers were accompanied on stage by musicians, who played harmonium and tabla.
The revised festival manual says it would be desirable to have accompanying musicians for Ghazal. Till last year, there was only the singer on the stage for Ghazal competition, just as in the case of Carnatic Music and Light Songs.
Most of the contestants hired professional musicians, but S.H. Krishnapriya of Sr. Elizabeth Joel CSI School, Attingal, Thiruvananthpauram, was accompanied by her classmates J.S. Mahishankar on harmonium and Mithun Shaji on tabla, as she rendered Peenaz Masani’s Halka kabhi padega …
Students or none
Sheena Raj, Krishnapriya’s mother and the music teacher at her school, said only students should be allowed to accompany the singer and the accompanying musicians too should be given grace marks. “I don’t think it is a good idea to have professionals on the stage along with a student,” she said. “Or only the singer should be on stage as earlier.”
Participants like S.T. Asna of St. Joseph’s GHSS, Alappuzha, however, chose to hire professionals. For her rendition of Dil ki baat labon par… , made popular by Mehdi Hassan and Ghulam Ali, she had the support of two experienced musicians in Shanmukhan on harmonium and Alappuzha Iqbal on tabla.
Shanmukhan said the change in the manual gave musicians like him an opportunity on the grand platform of the State School Arts Festival.
A costly affair
The parent of a contestant said the cost for competing in ghazal at the festival went up. “You have to spend more than ₹15,000 for one performance and you have to compete at the sub-district, district, and the State levels,” he said.
The competition was held at the Jawahar Bal Bhavan Auditorium
