The world’s longest Hindustani music festival, Saptak, bravely went online last week. Featuring 34 concerts, spread over 13 days, the festival stood out for its laidback approach to the visuals. Unlike other festivals which insisted on uniformity and standardisation of presentation, down to the backdrop, quality levels of recording and sound, Saptak was remarkable in its “hands-off” decentralised broadcasts. Adding charm and an old-fashioned quaintness, one realised that to hear good music, one doesn’t really need the fancy settings and close-up shots. Founder of Saptak, sitarist Manju Mehta, said that the emphasis was only on the music.
Pt. Venkatesh Kumar
Not being limited to recording concerts in only a few cities, the musical offerings were rich and varied. There were concerts recorded all over — in San Francisco — Kala Ramnath, from Mumbai — Purbayan Chatterji, Rakesh Chaurasia and Rahul Sharma, and from Dewas, Bhuvanesh Komkali.
Masterly renditions
Among the most enjoyable concerts were Pt. Venkatesh Kumar’s inspired raag Lalit from Dharwar, and Pt. Ajoy Chakrabarty’s concert from Kolkata, which was truly elevating. He sang with unhurried enjoyment and demonstrated that a physical audience wasn’t really necessary to create good music. In Bengaluru, Dr. L. Subramaniam proved his music has a universal appeal and in a way transcends genres. It was not just his choice of ragas (Hansadhwani, Abhogi, Kalyani and Bihag), which were familiar to listeners, but also his masterly, rounded playing style with appropriate, sparing use of gamakas to embellish.
pT. Ajay Chakrabarty
From Phoenix in the U.S., Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan played one of his best concerts. During his expansive, meditative alap in Thodi, he expertly demonstrated how the sound of the note depends on where it’s produced from. This concert was different — the pleasing eight ‘bol jhala’ — unlike his usual, more difficult four ‘bol ulta jhala’ — displayed the perfect coordination between both hands. All three gats, unusually for him, were in teen taal. And in each he demonstrated different techniques. Despite the imperfect sound system, this was perfect music.
Pt.Purbayan ChatterjI
Delightful performance
It was a true pleasure to hear the seasoned but less-heard Kalpana Zokarkar from Indore. Trained primarily by her father, who was a disciple of Ustad Rajab Ali Khan, Kalpana’s performance was mature and polished. The concluding tappa in Khamach was a delight.
Malini Awasthi from Lucknow sang authentic Banarasi thumris with unhurried charm. Vikas Babu, one of the increasingly rare exponents of shehnai, impressed with a simple yet effective raag Bhatiyar, then effortlessly transported one to a typical Banarasi mahaul (ambience) with his dhun. Ustad Shujaat Khan from New Delhi said ruefully,“I will try to pretend my audience is in front of me.” He succeeded partly as his raag Tilak Kamod was nostalgic.
A welcome change
While the galaxy of stars (including Dr. N. Rajam, Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pt. Birju Maharaj, Pt. Rajan-Sajan Mishra, Ustad Rashid Khan, Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, Shubha Mudgal, and Kaushiki Chakrabarty) made their expected appearances, it was a welcome change to hear the veteran and erudite Pt. Satyasheel Deshpande and young Agra gharana vocalist Shadaj Iyer.
N. Rajam
However, some concert formats definitely did not make for great music. Alam Khan (from California) on the sarod, with his tabla accompanist Mayookh Bhaumik in Kolkata, listening to each other through headphones and playing was disconcerting, and the concert was lacklustre. Alam creditably started the concert with raag Durgeshwari, composed by his grandfather Ustad Allaudin Khan, but the spark was missing.
Pt. Birju Maharaj
The festival was dedicated to Pt. Jasraj, with Sanjeev Abhyankar from Pune opening the festival, but his concert content did not reflect any special link with his guru. It was also dedicated to the Banaras tabla maestro Pt. Samta Prasad (2021 is his centenary year). Appropriately, a tribute concert was performed by Banaras gharana exponents and uncle-nephew duo, Puran Maharaj and Shubh Maharaj. Tabla artiste Sanju Sahai’s emotional message from London encapsulated the unique Banarasi culture shared by musicians of an earlier age.
Saptak’s Prafullbhai Patel said, “The audience was huge and we were able to reach out to more people from all over. Next year, we will consider holding hybrid concerts, subject to artistes’ consent.”
The Delhi-based author writes on Hindustani music and musicians.
