Harmonium Habba, held for the fourth consecutive year in honour of harmonium maestro Pandit Rambhau Bijapure, commenced with a harmonium and bansuri jugalbandi concert of Sudhanshu Kulkarni and Rajendra Kulkarni.
They were accompanied by Vishwanath Nakod on the tabla. The raga chosen was Madhuvanti, a beautiful late afternoon melody with a haunting melancholy character. Both Sudhanshu and Rajendra delineated the raga in cyclical avartans of the raga in vilambit and drut bandishes respectively. Later, they also attempted a rendition in raga Shuddh Kalyan, a very difficult raga for a harmonium solo, and therefore a challenge to the harmonium artiste. It was a very well orchestrated jugalbandi performance and Vishwanath Nakod's effervescence on the tabla imparted a scintillating touch.
Vishwanath Kanhere's harmonium solo had many interesting features. He has the distinction of having accompanied Hindustani classical vocalists in over 2,000 mehfils and an equal number of mehfils in Marathi theatre. Kanhere began his recital with the evening melody rag Purya Dhanashree in tal Jhumra , a rhythmic cycle of fourteen beats. The delineation of the Madhyalaya bandish in Purya Dhanashree and the faster bandish in drut teen tal, a cycle of 16 beats were characterised by uncommon, rare and aesthetically pleasing sangathis and improvisations. It was a testimony to his vast experience and ingenious scholarship.He also demonstrated his ease with rare ragas like Yaman-Mand and played his own creation “Bhinna Kauns”, a riveting combination of the immensely beautiful raga Bhinna shadja and rag Chandra Kauns. Vishwanath Nakod proved his indefatigable zeal by making his appearance again after the first jugalbandi recital in order to provide tabla accompaniment to this harmonium solo.
On the second day of the Habba, there was a unique instrumental ensemble — harmonium, sarangi and Hawaiian guitar with the tabla. Although it was described as an experimental venture with a great deal of humility by Ravindra Katoti, the ensemble mesmerised the audience. Ravindra Katoti on the harmonium,
Faiyyaz Khan on Sarangi, Prakash Sontakke on the Hawaiiian guitar were accompanied by Uday Raj Karpur and Jagdeesh Kurtkoti on the tabla. They presented a ragamalika, giving the audience a panoramic view of the ‘raagdari' music through a succinct presentation of each of the 16 ragas in this tapestry that consisted of Bhimpalas, Shuddh Sarang, Madhmadh Sarang, Patdeep, Hamsakinkini, Yaman and more. The ragamalika was also presented in a bandish form.
Faiyazz Khan, also an accomplished vocalist, sang the bandish set to Ada chautal, a complex rhythmic cycle of 14 beats. The composition briefly highlighted the contours of each raga and Faiyyaz Khan enunciated the challenging bandish with great clarity and inimitable grace. Prakash Sontakke on the guitar delineated the ragamalika with brilliant flshes of alap and Ravindra Katoti's taans were rapturously delightful and the commencement of the ragamalika in bhimpalasi and the clarity and swiftness with which the artistes moved on to play more than 16 ragas, all in one composition, was indeed exemplary.Uday Raj Karpur and Jagdish Kurtkoti provided energetic tabla accompaniment. This was followed by a thumri composition in Mishra Piloo in Dadra. Faiyyaz Khan also sang the thumri “Saiyya bolo tanik moso rahiyo na jaye”, investing it with an alluring sense of emotional fervour and adorning the composition with soulful gamaks and musical phrases.
The Habba concluded with the harmonium solo recital by maestro Tulsidas Borkar. He was accompanied on the tabla by Kedar Vyshampayan. He began his solo with the late evening melody raga Purya Kalyan in madhyalaya Jhaptal. His delineation of the compositions in the raga had a lot of cut notes and high speed passages creating in many ways an effect similar to that of a string being plucked.
This was followed by another rare ‘jod raga' Tilak-Des. He treated the audience to a feast of ‘taans' executed with inimitable speed, melody and clarity. After the rendition of the popular Marathi abhanga “Thirtha vittala kshetra vittala” he concluded his recital with a ‘teental' composition in raga Bhairavi.
