Gururao Deshpande Sangeet Sabha had organised its annual monsoon music festival “Malhar Utsav” recently.
The festival commenced with a Sur Bahar recital by Pt. Pushparaj Koshti. Sur Bahar is a lesser known stringed instrument which bears a very close resemblance to the sitar. Pt. Pushparaj Koshti is perhaps one of the fewest exponents of this rare instrument. Disciple of Ustad Zia Fariuddin Dagar, Pt. Koshti began his recital with Soor Malhar, a rather complex raga among the Malhar family of ragas. The raga unfolded slowly in all its splendour through the triadic superstructure of alap-jod-jhala in the quintessential Dhrupad style. Pt. Koshti took up a composition in the “gat” which was set to “chautal”— a rhythmic cycle of 12 beats, a very popular taal in Dhrupad music. Uddhav Shinde executed many admirable flourishes on the pakhawaj. Pt. Koshti's rendition of the raga Miyan Ki Malhar in the faster-paced shool tal, a rhythmic cycle of 10 beats, pulsated with some lilting layakari .
The cynosure of Malhar Utsav was Pt. Vijay Koparkar who mesmerised the connoisseurs with his erudite and melodious vocal recital. Pt. Koparkar, the disciple of three great maestros of the bygone era of Hindustani classical vocal music — Madhusudan Patwardhan, Vasant Rao Deshpande and Jitendra Abhisheki has developed his own idiosyncratic style which is a spectacular blend of three different styles of music. Pt Koparkar commenced his vocal recital with the majestic and the most popular raga of the Malhar family, Miyan Ki Malhar. He began with the invocatory bandish, a Sadarang composition “Kareem nam tero”. His impeccable exposition of the raga in the vilambit ektal khayal revealed his mastery and extraordinary depth. He explored the raga at an unhurried pace marked by a delectable gliding movement from one note to another note with remarkable subtlety and precision. His plaintive intonation of the bandish in the tar saptak had a haunting appeal. His meends and gamaks in the richly imaginative aalap section of the vilambit khayal spontaneously elicited a lot of applause from the audience. This was followed by another unique bandish “Mohammad Shah Rangilari”. The audience was enraptured by the breathtaking velocity and clarity of his taans which travelled the three octaves with ease and aplomb in the fast-paced drut ek tal chota khayal. Pt. Koparkar's rendition of a tarana in the same raga in drut teental was an absolutely delightful masterpiece replete with kathak bols enhancing the rhythmic appeal of his taankari and culminating in a stupendous climax to his rendition of “Miyan Ki Malhar”.
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After his impressive rendition of Miyan Ki Malhar, Pt. Koparkar chose raga Basant. He presented two remarkable compositions of the composer Pt. Chandrakant Apte , “Ayiri Basant” and “Purava Binat Dar dar “Gokul ke sab kumar” in drut roopak and drut ek tals respectively. The audience listened to his flawless execution of sargams and energetic taans with a sense of awe. Yielding to the requests of his audience , Pt Koparkar graciously agreed to present the complex “Surat Piya” is not only a ragamalika but also a talamalika. It is an exceptionally challenging piece starting with raga Sohni , subsequently Jaunpuri, Malkauns , Marwa and Kedar.
Pt. Nakod played with an extraordinary sense of empathy, and it emerged as a soulful confluence of vocal, tabla and harmonium ensemble. Ravindra Katoti on the harmonium exulted in keeping pace with Pt. Koparkar , creating a melodic tapestry.