The Raza Foundation celebrated the birth centenary of Late Balasaheb Poonchwale with ‘Pranati’ at New Delhi’s Triveni auditorium. Born in 1918 to Raja Bhaiya Poonchwale, an eminent musician of Gwalior gharana, Balasaheb is known for his distinct style of singing and for composing innovative bandishes in genres like khayal, tappa, tap-khayal, tap-thumri et al. A recipient of the SNA Award and Shikhar Samman, Balasaheb was a generous Guru who bequeathed his knowledge wholeheartedly and mentored many vocalists and instrumentalists, apart from the students of Madhav Sangeet Vidyalaya, Gwalior, where he was the principal during 1960s and 70s. It was a welcome opportunity to listen to many of his compositions during the two-day festival.
Flying start
‘Pranati’ took a flying start with the vivacious vocal recital by Shashwati Mandal, a steadily rising star of the present generation of classical musicians. The granddaughter of Balabhau Umdekar, a court musician in the erstwhile estate of Gwalior, Shashwati has classicism in her veins. She was specially relevant to this festival, being groomed under Balasaheb himself, with the proud privilege of being awarded the central government scholarship from the department of culture to study khayal and tappa gayaki under him.
The selection of the sombre evening raga Marwa and its reposeful rendering with penetrating focus and exquisite restraint, spoke of her talent and temperament. The tightly conceived Marwa was dealt with clarity right from the introductory alaap to the traditional bada khayal, “Piya more anat des gailwa…” set to vilambit Teentala that saw the gradual unfolding of the raga underlining its pensive mood. The chhota khayal, “Jao Mohan….” was adorned with a variety of sargam and akaar taans with complicated patterns. The austerity, rigour and taste in her khayal renditions vouched for the vocalist’s adherence to the authentic Gwalior gayaki.
The tappa Kafi, “Mann matt maar wey…”, was a scintillating composition of Balasaheb where one could notice the spiral flourishes of the intricate tappa gayaki right from its introductory alaap. Unlike the usual addha theka, one normally listens to with tappa; this one was set to Rupak tala of seven beat cycle. The swift intricate taan patterns were mathematically logical and forceful. The tremendous tappa eventually culminated into the traditional bandish ki thumri, “Chhando chhando Chhaila mori baiyan….”, set to ati drut Teentala. The sargam taans in a parallel tempo and the akaar taans in lightening speed reached her rich and taut performance to its climax.
Thinking musician
Pt. Satyasheel Deshpande was the other attraction of the inaugural evening. An erudite musician of Gwalior gayaki with the signature nuances of his Guru Pt. Kumar Gandharva; Satyasheel is a thinking musician. Opening his vocal recital with “Karim naam tero…”, in Miyan Malhar, which he said, is known to be a representative khayal of Gwalior gayaki; he elaborated the raga with finely wrought ideas in alaap barhat and bol alaap, playing hide and seek with the ateet and anagat ‘sam’ of the well known composition, with full gusto. His meandering through the shayee and antara and the carefully calibrated elaboration of the raga had the splendour it deserved.
This was followed with a beautiful composition, “Ghar mohe jane na jane, Chhaye ghan, vyakul mann, pawan chalat sanan sanan…” set to drut Ektala. Another composition in drut Ektala, “Kahe Ladali…”, and yet another, “Sawan ghar aayo ri…”; disclosing the secret that one is taught many compositions of different flavours in the same raga, in Gwalior gharana . The reason he explained was the Gunijan-khana in the royal courts, where there were several musicians sharing their compositions to enrich their repertoire.
In the following composition “Kahe ho…” in raga Gaud-Malhar, he elaborated the Mukhadabandi, this gharana is famous for. Here again he sang a number of compositions in ‘Gaud Malhar’ like “Bol re Papihara…”, Balma bahar aaye…”, Maan na kariye…”, “Banat bani aayi…”, “Jhuki aayi re badariya sawan ki…” and “Tumhare mann ki sab jani…” etc. He also rendered the famous composition of Pt. Ratanjankar “Madho Mukund Giridhar Gopal….” in raga Ramdasi Malhar. Inspiring even the accompanists in Paromita Mukherjee on harmonium and Anish Moghe on tabla, Deshpande created and relived the congenial atmosphere of a delightful musical mehfil (chamber concert) of the bygone era.
The next evening opened with vocal recital by Jayant Khot, a senior disciple of Balasaheb Poonchwale from Gwalior, who focused mostly on the compositions of his revered guru. Opening with a tap-khayal in raga Yaman, he proceeded to a Shyam-Kalyan composition set to drut Ektala. Next came a composition in a rare raga ‘Chanchalat Malhar’, before he showed the specimen of a tappa that Balasaheb had sung in Malhar-Prasang held at Bharat Bhavan, Bhopal. He also sang the famous thumri, “Chhab dikhlaja banke sanwaria…” that his Guru had taught him as a tap-thumri. Jayant concluded his concert with a tappa in Kafi, leaving the rasikas wanting a full film rather than these brief trailers.
Padma Talwalkar, the seasoned vocalist from Pune, reached Pranati to its pinnacle with her reposeful rendition of the traditional composition, “Daro na daro na rang mope suno…” in Bhairavi. The gifted granddaughter of Kanebua, Padma is trained in Gwalior, Kirana and Jaipur gayaki under stalwarts like Nivruttibua Sarnaik, Gajanan Rao Joshi and Mogubai Kurdikar. Her dignified persona on the stage redolent with the strains of tuneful Tanpura, augmented expectations of the music-loving audience. Accompanied by ace artistes like Dr. Vinay Mishra on harmonium, Pt. Vinod Lele on tabla and her own disciple Ankita Deole for vocal support; she opened with an auchar (introductory alaap) that sounded like ‘Shuddha Kalyan’ with the opening meend from shadja to Mandra Dhaivat tenderly caressing the hidden Nishad and the significant swar-sangatis like ‘Dha re’ again with the misleading meend of Shuddha Kalyan, took the discerning listeners by surprise when she started the famous Bada Khayal of Bhoop, “Jab hi sab nirpat niras bhaye…”.
But once she disclosed Bhoop and proceeded with the treatment of the raga with gradual progression of notes during the bada khayal in her usual poise and repose and a little more vigour during the popular chhota khayal, ”Jab se tumi san lagli…” and the tarana, she showed what a seasoned artiste can do with a simple pentatonic raga like Bhoop, which is just a chord in length but rich with benediction. The delineation of the raga though bent many times towards Shuddha-Kalyan but the harmonium of Vinay Mishra would bring it back to the track of Bhoop. The leisurely spread of her treat felt more fulfilling after the quick and short renditions by the previous artiste.
Her choice of Darbari in “Anokha Ladla…” the popular Teentala composition did create a contrast but could not justify it for a second raga, despite the alaap underlining the andolan of the Ati-Komal Gandhar and the impressive Gamak taans. It was her concluding Bhairavi, the piece de resistance, that lit up the evening with all its luminosity.
