The classical bansuri (flute) more than met and merged with the ethno-musical notes of Baul singing in the very unique fusion concert where Carnatic flautist Ravichandra Kulur and his accompanist Giridhar Udupa (ghatam/morsing) blended their artistic outflow with Gokul Das and Krishna Das, Bauls of Bangla devotional folk, more or less a la Sufi, in an alluring amalgam that apposed two diametrically differing and distinctive styles.
After a peek into their individual streams, where Ravichandra presented a fast-tempo varnam (Ninnu kori yunnanu raa) in Vasanta raga followed by an RTP (ragam, tanam, pallavi) in raga Charukesi, the flow of swara improvisation bandied with the percussion as a sort of syllabic countdown that fell to a single syllable and suddenly surged, plateauing till it scaled down again into the muktayi (finale). The effect likened to a stream in flow across hills and dales. The tanam was not as pronounced over the flute as it should be. Giridhar Udupa, a proven multi-instrument artiste was wonderful with the ghatam (a mud pot) as well as the stringed morsing.
This short duration concert handed over the stage to the Bauls who were a complete antithesis to the former in more than one aspect – the sedate Carnatic music was offset with the toe-tapping rhythm of Bangla balladry set to the accompaniment of the Ektara, the dubki and the drum.
Essentially rural singers, a nomadic mystical minstrel clan mostly from Bengal and Bangladesh, the Bauls with naturally rich tone and timber don’t need a mike to reach out to an audience seated in a closed hall. Hence their drum did sound a bit too loud as the drummer got carried away by his own enthusiasm. Still, the native song and dance had its innate charm and was very appealing. Very popular Bangla Lok geet (desi songs) like ‘Pahrir deshe ja...’, Parome paromo janiye..’ regaled the audience.
Singers Krishna Das and Gokul Das despite contrasting tonal qualities got together like light and shadow.
The Carnatic musicians chipped in for the third segment which was a jamming session of the two, a thrilling trip in rhythm with Giridhar Udupa and Ravichandra spelling out the bhol in the language of percussion, alternating it with the flute as well, while Krishna Das and his accompanists danced and sang to the drum beat.
Each artiste got to showcase his individual talent with a lively conversation of the anklet bells (nupur) of the singer and the percussion wherein the two drop down to single syllabic, single jingle of the anklet bell marking the end of the dialogue! A racy konakkal (Carnatic percussion bhol) to an equally paced singing by Gokul Das made for another round of beautiful rhythm play.
There was not a single jarring note in this fusion; kudos to the artistes for this flawless, coherent blend of music. The show was part of the HCL Concerts- True to Our Roots series held at India Habitat Centre.
