Celebrating the myriad flavours of the flute, the 10th edition of the three-day Raasrang Festival was held in Nehru Park under the Sharad Purnima moon.
Pt Ajay Prasanna’s seven disciples played an ode to Lord Shiva, with the accompaniment to the chant of Om Namah Shivaya. Next was the short recital of eight-year-old Anjaneya Joshi, son of flautist Chetan Joshi. The boy played compositions in raga Aiman. Creditably, he handled two taals, Jhaptaal and Teen taal. The next recital was by Chetan Joshi, accompanied on the tabla by Ashish Sengupta of the Banaras Gharana. Chetan Joshi has learnt mainly from SNA awardee Pt Raghunath Seth, the well known Mumbai-based composer and flautist. His Raga Hansadhwani was lyrical. An unusual, welcome twist was an expert accompaniment by Ashish during the jor section of the aalap. He ended with a dhun composed by his guru.
The next group was led by a Mexican born, India-based flautist, Nathalie Ramirez who was accompanied on the guitar and drums. Her collection was a medley of songs, including the composition of her own, entitled “Rickshaw”. It was easy on the ear, hummable, lounge music type assortment, in which songs merged into one another with ease. The evening ended with folk music from Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand, where the main artist played a version of the Scottish bagpipes that was introduced by the British, perhaps through the Kumaoni troops. The adapted version is called the mashakbeenand its distinctive sound lent itself beautifully to the simple Pahari tunes played. Accompaniment was only by the thaal and drum. Sadly, much of the audience had left by then.
Eclectic combination
The next concert was “Under the Banyan Tree – On a full moon night”, organised by Teamwork Arts and Friends of Music. This monthly eclectic combination of the music of different genres has slowly garnered a niche audience with their skillful choice of venue and lighting – conducive to unwinding on a weekend. This time it was sarod recital by 28-year-old Amir Khan who hails from Bhopal but lives in Kolkata.
Grandson of the sarangi nawaz Ustad Latif Ahmed Khan, Amir was privileged to learn sarod craft from none other than Ustad Rehmat Ali Khan (Babbu sahib), son of the legendary Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan. He explained how his love for the sarod came about when he heard Ustad Amjad Ali Khan as a young boy at the Tansen Samaroh in Gwalior, and was totally enamoured of the instrument. Luckily, he found an able Guru in Bhopal. As such his “pakar” of the instrument is impeccable.
His attempt to stick to the bold, stroked, crystal clear “baaj” of the gharana also does him credit. He played raga Jog during the “jor” section of the aalap. He tried to have mridangam accompaniment by Vetri Bhoopathy, as was the practice in the past with dhrupad style accompaniment by pakhawaj, but Amir’s lack of training in this was visible as he resorted merely to playing a phrase, rather like one would play a composition set to rhythm rather than expand the aalap. Zaheen Khan accompanied him on the tabla. His next two offerings were in raga Des and Durga. The Des was innovative. He played the typical tune in which “chaupais” from the Ramayana was sung, as taught by his grandfather.
The next item was a qawwali by the Qutbi brothers, who hails from the tradition of Qutubuddin Bakhtiar Kaki, the 13th century Sufi whose tomb, situated just behind the Qutub Minar, is still a place of worship. As per tradition, they started with a “qaul”, (saying of the Prophet Himself), and went on to sing various popular pieces, including Amir Khusrau’s “chhaap tilak”. Singing in unison, their voices, trained in the way unique to authentic qawwals, created an unforgettable evening.
The third concert was of somewhat rare Agra Gharana gayaki by the Kolkata-based Zainul Abedin, a disciple of Ustad Latafat Hussain Khan. His gravelly voice and delineation of age-old “simple” ragas such as Aiman Kalyan, Durga, Maru Bihar, Malkauns with traditional “nom tom” alaap was enhanced by authentic accompaniment during “jor” by Ashok Mukherji on the tabla, and Gourav Chatterji on the harmonium.
