The Sharan Rani Foundation celebrated the 90th birth anniversary of the Padma Bhushan Awardee Late Guru Sharan Rani Mathur at the India International and awarded the Sharan Rani Samman for lifetime achievement in the field of music to Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. The award is established in the name of this first and foremost female instrumentalist of our country, who was often called Sarod Rani. Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru called her the cultural ambassador of India and the legendary film and theatre artiste Prithviraj Kapoor went on to say, ‘Listening to Sharan Rani’s recitals feel as if ‘Ma Saraswati’ (Goddess of music) has left her veena and picked up the sarod in her lap.”
The evening opened with a short film ‘Sarod Rani: Sharan Rani’. Shot under heartbreaking circumstances, in the last few weeks of Sharan Rani's life by her talented daughter Radhika Backliwal Narayan, the film captures her inspiring musical journey of seven decades. The film featured her archival sarod recitals, rare photographs, interviews on her training under the iconic Guru Ustad Allauddin Khan, in Maihar. Veteran artists, scholars and leaders including Pt. Birju Maharaj, Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma, Vidushi Girja Devi, Shri Raja Reddy, Dr. Kapila Vatsyayan and former Prime Minister I.K. Gujral share their evocative perspectives on her and her timeless music. Sharan Rani was not just a master musician, virtuoso composer, author and a revered guru but also a visionary collector of old and rare musical instruments that she donated to the National Museum, displayed in Sharan Rani Backliwal Gallery of musical instruments.
Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt was supposed to give his Mohan Veena concert like the awardees do as per convention. Speaking on the occasion, he became emotional and said, “this award reminds me of my own mother who not only became the first ever music teacher in those orthodox times, but also struggled to win music, the status of a proper subject in school curriculum. He then offered his Mohan Veena concert as a tribute to Sharan Rani.
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Melodious combination
It was also the 99th birthday of Pt. Ravi Shankar, therefore, he chose to offer tribute to his own guru also by playing Jogeshwari, a raga created by him. A melodious combination of ragas Jog and Rageshwari, it was dealt with utmost care and reverence by Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt with no visible seam between the two ragas. His tender touches did full justice to the raga during the opening alaap. But as it proceeded towards jod-jhala, it gradually tended to become a duet with Salil Bhatt taking equal turns, at times overruling the norm by going beyond the swaras that the main artiste had reached.
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The volume of his instrument was so unbearably loud that even the opening uthaan of tabla by Ram Kumar Mishra drowned in the noise when the Masitkhani Gat composition started after the alaap-jod-jhala. There were choicest of ornamentations like the sweeping meends and a variety of gat-toda and taan patterns but for a small auditorium like that of the IIC, the decibel level kept getting higher and higher through the drut gat and the jet speed jhaala with innumerable tihais and sawal-jawab with the provoked tabla repartees. It seemed, may be due to no feedback, they had no idea about the plight of the audience. Fortunately, Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt played the concluding Pilu Dhun as a sublime solo. The very first statement of alaap laid the Maihar tradition bare for all to hear. The unmistakable silvery tone of his Mohan Veena, the melodious murkis around every note and that sure clean touch also stood witness to the influence, a whole generation taught by Pt. Ravi Shankar possess. The composition that followed in the Chaanchar Theka in Deepchandi and the lilting laggi of Ram Kumar enhanced the musical element of the melodious performance.