Shreshtha Bharat Sanskriti Samagam (SBSS), conceived by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, was presented in its 4th edition (after Bhubaneswar, Ahmedabad and Amritsar) at Guwahati, in association with the Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Assam at Srimanta Sankardeva Kalakshetra from 26th to 30th of December, 2018. Dedicated to the memory of Dr. Bhupen Hazarika, the five-day festival was like a meeting of creative minds with seminar in morning discussing the past, present and future of the particular artform followed by its performances in the evening.
Engrossing play
The SBSS took a flying start with “Agra Bazar”, one of the most captivating plays of the late Habib Tanvir and his Naya Theatre. The seminar on music next morning was chaired by Shekhar Sen with a distinguished panel of scholars for academic discussions and artistes for lecture-demonstrations. Chetan Joshi, the renowned flautist from Delhi, presented a well-researched paper on the past, referring to the excavations in Slovenia and Harappa, traced the evolution of flute from Vedic to Buddhist era and its literature to the present age. Joshi talked about the improvements on the structure of the instrument innovated by his Guru Pt. Raghunath Seth and demonstrated how he has devised it to cover three-and-a-half octaves. He also elaborated upon the present and future trends of flute playing.
Chetan Joshi
Dilip Ranjan Barthakur, who has also written a book on tabla in Assamese, presented a paper on tabla. Vidwan Haridwaramangalam A.K. Palanivel spoke with the help of an interpreter but when he came to the recitation of Kanokkols of Thavil, language was no bar. He fluently explained the Chinna-Melam, Periya-Melam and demonstrated variations in tempo with compressing 4,5,6,7.8, and 9 matras in just one beat, without changing the laya or ‘nadai’.
Pt. Chandra Prakash, who belongs to the Kishangarh Pushti-Margi Sampraday of Swami Vallabhacharya, gave a melodious demonstration of the devotional padas of Haveli Sangeet, relating to the Ragamala paintings and Bani-Thani, who wrote with the pseudonym Ŕasik-Bihari. He also talked about the Ashta-Yaam Seva referring to Shringaar ke Pada and Bhog ke Pada. He further demonstrated the specific ragas of the Kishangarh tradition like Shuddha Lalit singing the pada “Lal tum aaye/ Raina ganvaye...”. He also sang a Hori Pada in Adana set to the specific theka of Aditala in the Kishangarh style.
Prof. Krishna Bisht elaborated upon the concept of raga, tala and ragadari in reference to the distinct features of Dilli Gharana and demonstrated the terms like “Rachaav” and “Ghulaav” through her own past recordings.
Structure of shehnai
Pt. Rajendra Prasanna, who is an equally renowned exponent of both shehnai and flute, deliberated upon the specific features and structure of shehnai, as desired by the chair. He opened with an important statement, “Shehnai is a very difficult instrument and is possible to be practised and performed by only those who have ‘swara’ within themselves and demonstrated how there is no fixed position of any note. He demonstrated the gayaki ang through a Banarasi Kajri. The seminar concluded with a lively question/answer session with enthusiastic floor participation.
The Hindustani vocal recital by Pt. Ajoy Chakravarty was the main attraction of the evening concert that had opened with a Carnatic Veena recital by Vidushi Jayanthi Kumaresh and concluded with the tala vadya kacheri by Yella Venkateswara Rao. Accompanied by Indranil Bhaduri on tabla, Gaurav Chatterjee on harmonium and his own disciple Mihir for vocal support, Pt. Chakravarty offered a reposeful rendering of raga Jog.
Explaining how melody, harmony and aesthetics conjure up the concept of a raga, he opened with an introductory auchar (alaap) prefacing his own composition “Jal mein Naav rahe...”, set to vilambit Ek-tala. Unfolding the lower reaches of the raga, he went uptil the Ati Mandra Shadja and then did the gradual barhat while elaborating the whole of sthayee before he graduated to the ‘laya ka kaam’ with the intricate patterns of sargams while playing hide and seek with the tempo in reaching the sam providing a sense of wonder.
The finely wrought ideas joined subtly with phrases and nuances sung with an assurance of a lifetime lived in sadhana. His voice had that lucidity and focus which always seemed effortless and gave his style a singular enchantment.
The bandish gave a texture to the raga that went along with feeling. He seemed in no hurry to finish the slow composition without squeezing the last drop of rasa even to proceed further to the multi-hued taans.
The chhota khayal in Teentala, “Dhan joban nadi-naav sanjog….” was a lovely composition of his Guru Pt. Jnan Prakash Ghosh, which was followed by a tarana set to Jhaptala in the same raga and by the same composer. The versatile genius of Pt. Jnan Prakash Ghosh as a composer was beautifully matched by the aesthetic sense of Pt. Ajoy Chakravarty in rendering them with a subtle sense of proportion.
The inspired sangat of not just the harmonium and tabla but even his disciple did the guru proud.
