The Raza Foundation held a jugalbandi concert recently that was remarkable for a variety of reasons. For one, it signalled the return of live performances in Delhi; the hall was filled to 50 per cent capacity, a rare phenomenon in a city known for its blasé audiences for classical music.
Secondly, it featured the aunt-nephew duo of Kalapini and Bhuvanesh Komkali. Such a pairing is unique, since the different singing scales pose a hurdle not easy to surmount. As Bhuvanesh said in a lighter vein, “Humne gaane ke liye madhya marg chunni, aakhir hain to Madhya Pradesh ke” (we chose the madhya or middle scale, after all we belong to Madhya Pradesh). And thirdly, the concert was devoted to their guru Pt. Kumar Gandharva’s compositions.
Bhuvanesh Komkali. | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives
On a different pitch
The hour-long presentation, however, was not all great music. Singing in an unfamiliar scale seemed inhibiting, especially for Kalapini, who was not able to present her voice at its best. The harmonium accompaniment by Chetan Nigam seemed lacklustre and uninspired at times, though Shambhunath Bhattacharya was his usual ebullient self. Playing on different pitched right-hand tablas (for each singer ) and changing and retuning them during the concert did not seem to pose a hurdle at all for him.
The duo began with a mangalacharan in raag Kedara. The calming piece set the tone for the concert; being in a pitch more suited to Bhuvanesh’s scale, it was dominated by him, with very brief interspersions by Kalapini. Next, Bhuvanesh sang a Tulsidas composition, based on raag Bahar. Kalapini’s solo was a magnificent Gaur Malhar composition by Surdas that described the birth of Krishna.
The lilting Holi ‘Narmada rang se bhari, holi khelega Krishna Murari’, sung by both in raag Kafi, is a folk song of the Malwa region. Apparently, the celebrated artist Sayed Haider Raza (the concert was organised to mark the painter’s birth centenary) used to love the Narmada; the allusion to the word ‘rang’ was appropriate too. Though Bhuvanesh excelled, singing in both upper and lower registers, the piece was led by Kalapini.
The next piece, a solo by Bhuvanesh, was a composition by Kabir, ‘Neherwa humka naa bhave’, and was rendered with poignancy. His next was a small folk bhajan. Kalapini then sang another solo piece, a rare composition by Chandrasakhi, ‘Milta ja jo’. Her next song on guru bhakti, with which the concert was to end, was the one that Kalapini said she had once sung for Raza sahib.
On audience request, the duo ended with what’s arguably the song most identified with Kumar Gandharva, ‘Kaun thagawa nagareeya lootan ho’ in raag Kalyan. The concert was a reminder of the creative genius of both Kumar Gandharva and Raza.
The Delhi-based author writes on classical music and musicians.
