A celebration of music

The wide array of performances at the two-day Sohan Lal Sanghi Smriti Sangeet Samaroh enraptured the audience

TOUCH OF THE MASTER Ajoy Chakrabarty performing at the festival

Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty , the star artiste of the inaugural evening at the 47th Sohan Lal Sanghi Smriti Sangeet Samaroh, presented by the Indore chapter of INTACH at Ravindra Natya-Griha; remembered Indore as the birthplace of Ustad Amir Khan, whom he acknowledged as his ‘apratyaksh’ (indirect) Guru.

The Patiala doyen offered the specimen copies of both his Gurus, Ustad Amir Khan in raga Abhogi “Charan Dhar aaye…” and Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan in Malkauns “Mandar Dekh Dare Sudama”; immortalised by the stalwarts respectively. If the leisurely gait of Abhogi and the challenging intricate work of ‘Khand-Meru’ brought the signature of Amir Khan Saheb alive, so did the Malkauns where Chakrabarty demonstrated the five different ragas within Malkauns by ‘Murchhana-Bhed’ i.e. just shifting the tonic ‘Shadja’ to different notes; like Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, who used to astonish his listeners with this unbelievable trait. The thumri “Prem Agan Jiyara Jalaye…”, also brought back nostalgic memories of the late Ustad to the discerning listeners of Indore who stayed past midnight and requested the veteran vocalist with the farmaish for the thumri.

The festival had opened with a masterly jugalbandi of sitar by Santosh Sant and santoor by Sandip Chatterjee accompanied on tabla by Ramdas Palsule. The amazing tunefulness and deft strokes of these remarkable artists of the present generation mesmerised the audience with their delightful delineation of Bhupali adorned with the aalap-jod-jhala and a couple of compositions set to Rupak and Teen tala.

Vidushi Kalapini Komkali, the gifted daughter and disciple of Pandit Kumar Gandharva and Vidushi Vasundhara Komkali, remembered her childhood days when she used to come to this famous festival with her parents to listen to the stalwarts of the bygone era and would later sleep in their lap during the overnight concerts. She was overwhelmed to perform herself this evening in this prestigious festival. Opening with “Govind Been Bajaye…”, a rare traditional Bandish in raga Nand where the uncommon ‘sam’ was placed on ‘shadja’, providing ample scope and space for the Mandra vistar. “Ab to aa ja re…” the popular composition of Pandit Kumar Gandharva in this raga was studded with the nuanced touches of Kumar ji. This was followed by the traditional Hameer Khayal “Kaise Ghar Jaun Langarwa…” with vibrant verve.

Classical treat

Ably accompanied by Vivek Bansod on harmonium and Ramendra Solanki on tabla, Kalapini offered a sumptuous feast along with a rare ‘Chaiti’ in raga Barwa composed by Kumarji, “Vari Jaun Bala Baras, Karat Tori Agwani…”, welcoming the new year that had just started a day earlier with Chaitramas, the first month of the Hindu calendar.

Then there was a bandishi thumri in raga Sindura concluding with Kabir’s nirgun bhajan “Sunta Hai Guru gyani…” that brought back the memories of Kumar Gandharva.

The two-day festival most efficiently compered by Sanjay Patel reached its climax with the scintillating sitar recital by Ustad Shahid Parvez, accompanied on tabla by Pandit Yogesh Shamsi. The very first meend of his main raga Charukeshi, from mandra dhaivat to shadja showered him with the ‘aahs’ and ‘waahs’ by the discerning audience. The pathos filled aalap pierced the hearts with the pace, the tension and the tautness of each and every meend encompassing the lower and middle octave. The detailed aalap-jod-jhala culminated in a unique composition set to Rupak tala of seven beats cycle, where the ‘sam’ was overshadowed by the next beat stealing away its due emphasis. The intricate rhythmic variations were reciprocated by Yogesh Shamsi on tabla with immaculate precision.

The raga proceeded with a couple of medium and fast tempo compositions in Teen tala reaching the jet speed jhala that got him thunderous applause.

Shahid concluded his melodious recital with an Afghani folk tune preceded with a lilting Dadra in Pilu that had the ‘Avirbhava-Tirobhava’ sequences with multiple shades of Kafi, Patdeep, Gara, Jaijaivanti, Pahadi and even film tunes like “Mohe Panghat Pe…” or “Abke Baras Bhejo...” providing a delicious dessert.