Siliguri-based Arrya Banik is 12-and-a-half, yet can sing a complete full-fledged 45 minute recital in pure raga, with tremendous control of “taal” and “sur”. This talented young boy with his extraordinarily pure voice has been making waves on social media. It was a pleasure to hear him live in concert last week at the India Habitat Centre, presented by Kshitiji Mathur’s Swarit Foundation. The 4th in its monthly series of concerts, the evening started with a raga Yaman (Aiman) recital by Arrya; his first khayal dedicated to Mahadev was in “jhaptaal”. The confidence with which the youngster conducted his recital, flanked by tabla accompanist Shambhu Nath Bhatttacharya and on the harmonium by Dr Vinay Mishra, was truly remarkable. He held his small frame erect, nodding with assurance to signal to Shambhu Nath and Vinay to improvise. His voice soared easily in three octaves; his “taans” were a combination of “sargam” and “aakar”.The second composition was “Main vaari vaari jaaoongi” in Teentaal, the third composition was in Ektaal “Guna nahin aye”, thus displaying his competence in three different time cycles, which at his age, having been learning only for five years is astonishing.
The boy currently is learning from Kaushik Goswami, a teacher at Pt Ajoy Chakravorty’s Shrutinandan in Kolkata; he is also learning from Pt Niharanjan Bandhopadhyay. Apparently, he makes the trip to Kolkata to learn for a few days every month, and then practices what he has been taught. His thumri in Mishra Pahari was surprising, one would have thought a child should first be taught “shudha” (pure) raga before venturing into a mixture (Mishra). He concluded with devotional pieces. One hopes in the future he lives up to the extraordinary promise his concert revealed.
The evening concluded with a sitar recital by the talented Delhi based Dhruv Bedi, disciple of Pt Buddhaditya Mukherji of the Imdadkhani tradition. This highly practised performer has had the privilege of performing in front of no less than 29 heads of State, and he is not yet 28! Born into a musical Sikh family of the Punjab, Dhruv was taught initially by his surbahar and sitar playing father Jagdeep Singh Bedi.
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Starting with raga Bihag, Dhruv carefully outlined the raga with a series of expert “meends”, before moving onto well executed “gamaks”, ending in a brief “jhala”. Though the aalap was brief, it was complete. The “gat” was in Teentaal, composed by his Guru Pt Buddhaditya Mukherji; on the tabla was Ajjrara gharana’s Saptak Sharma. The subsequent three “gats” were all in Teentaal, the last drut “gat” being an extremely difficult iconic composition of Ustad Imdad Khan’s, with a lot of “dir dir” stroke work, played at a tremendous speed. His good “taalim” (training) was revealed by his correct “chalan”, keeping to the gait of the composition, during his “upaj” (improvisations). Dhruv’s playing displays clear clean strokes, a profusion of “meendkari” even in the “taans”, and an expert use of “chikaari” work during the “taankaari”. He concluded the recital with a thumri in raga Khamach.