Not long ago, Patna used to be known for those classical music festivals where stalwarts of older generation took pride in participating. The Takshila Educational Society (TES) has taken it upon itself to revive that cherished tradition which had diminished gradually with time; by organizing Takshila Festival, their annual treat to music lovers of Patna. The festival, one of their many creative endeavours, also augments the aim of TES to spread awareness for our intangible heritage of art and culture, in society.
Chennai, 05/07/2016 : For Friday: Shujaat Husain Khan an Indian musician and sitar player at a music session in Chennai on Sunday. Shujaat Khan the son of legendary sitar player Ustad Vilayat Khan, was nominated for Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for his work. His style of sitar playing, known as gayaki ang (a voval style), aims to imitate the human voice. Photo: Shaju John
Like always, this year too, it was music in its entirety comprising vocal, instrumental and dance, with vocal recitals by Shashwati Mandal and Sanjeev Abhyankar, instrumental sitar recital by Ustad Shujat Hussain Khan and the dance segment represented by Rama Vaidyanathan’s Bharatanatyam recital.
The two-day festival took off with the impressive vocal recital by Shashwati Mandal, the brilliant young vocalist of Gwalior Gharana, who has music in her genes. Granddaughter of Pandit Balabhau Umedakar, Shashwati was initiated into vocal music by her mother. A formal disciple of Pandit Balasaheb Poochwale of Gwalior Gharana, Shashwati is presently being groomed under Pandit Madhup Mudgal. She opened her well-planned vocal recital with the sombre evening raga Shree, presenting the traditional bada khayal “Saanjh bhai…’ set to TilwadaTala, a composition of Pandit Anant Bua Joshi for her chhota khayal and a tarana composed by Pandit Kumar Gandharva to complete her main raga delineated with all its nuances, for nearly an hour.
The next raga was an uncommon Jod-raga Sohni-Bhatiyar, a combination as the name suggests of ragas Sohani and Bhatiyar. The uniqueness of its treatment came across with the swaras of Sohani in the upper octave, descending to that of Bhatiar in the Madhya Saptak; meandering seamlessly from Sohani to Bhatiar. After a Teentala Bandish in this raga, Shashwati showcased her ‘Tappa’ Taalim (training) under Balasaheb, in the concluding Tappa Khamaj, a composition of Shori Mi yan with effortless execution of intricate taan patterns, typical to tappa. She was ably accompanied on tabla by Pandit Vinod Lele and on harmonium by Prof. Mausam.
Sitar recital by Ustad Shujaat Khan, the scion of the famous Etawah Imdadkhani gharana, was the other attraction of the inaugural evening. With Mithilesh Jha and Arunangshu Chaudhury on either side to accompany him on tabla, he reminisced his father Ustad Vilayat Khan playing an incredible ‘Yamani’ for his Patna audience in the bygone era. And he opened his sitar recital with the same raga. The introductory Alap-Jod Jhala was followed with a medium tempo gat composition in addha theka of Teentala where the sensitive touches of Shuddha Madhyam were less than Yaman-Kalyan and a little more than Yamani-Bilawal. The melodious shower of short spurts of Taans was followed by a long drawn Jhala. Then came Thumri Khamaj where he sang a number of songs in the same raga, concluding with “Rangi sari chunariya….’ immortalised by Shobha Gurtu.
Sanjeev Abhyankar accompanied by Vinay Mishra on Harmonium and Vinod Lele on tabla; regaled the audience with his vocal recital on the concluding evening. Opening with the pathos filled evening raga Marwa, he delineated the Virah-Bhava, the feeling of separation from the beloved in the Vilambit Ektala “Piya more nahin aaye…” and the Drut Ektala composition “dekh dekh baat tori, taras gaye naina….” adorned with a variety of taans and bol taans. Raga Kalawati was a good contrast, where he presented a medium tempo khayal composition and a tarana. Sanjeev took a little time to settle down, but once he found the correct pitch, he was in his elements.
