It was Swaranjali and Alaap's way of reviving the memory of ghazal king Jagjit Singh with a wonderful percussion evening by renowned tabla player Pandit Ramkumar Mishra of the Benaras gharana who gave us a peek into his prolific repertoire.
The audience were thrilled to the hilt as they sat back to enjoy the master strokes of the percussionist along with the mellifluous sarangi played by Farooq Latif Khan.
As is the wont by many a Hindustani musician/instrumentalist, educating the audience goes along with entertainment; the brief preludes to each cycle of beat made for a better understanding of the nuances of the tabla.
The Benaras gharana is the sixth and last of the tabla gharanas of India; hence the finer and more polished aspects are found to the fore.
The meandering alaap by Farooq wafted through the air like the fragrance of a lily- soothing to the ear and relaxing to the mind.
Pandit Mishra showcased the western and eastern Indian style before he launched into the Benarasi mode of presentation of the same series of bhol, which wraps up in a full circle beat. He spelt out the syllabic utterances (bhol/konakkal) prior to playing it out for us on the tabla in utter clarity.
The intricate, long-winding series of bhol were spelt on the percussion and its creative expansion gave the Benarasi style an edge over the others. The single handed beat was mind-boggling and had the audience in raptures.
The other hand was left to bolster the fast-track beat with a long one which gave that beautiful twist to the entire show.
We had a glimpse of Alla Rakha's style (the Punjab gharana) to draw a parallel between the two styles. The chakradaar in three octaves was marvellous. Pandit Mishra's culminations were like unwinding in calculated denominations that zoom and end in a tail spin which was exhilarating to watch.
The second part of the evening was followed by a ghazal rendition by Kuldip Sagar and Poorva Sharma accompanied by Javed on the tabla, Neeraj Kumar on the guitar and Kulkarni on the keyboard. While the accompanists proved their mettle, the singers, especially the high-pitch of Poorva left much to be desired. Jagjit Singh's demise is too recent a happening to allow us to forget his honeyed voice in replication. Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan played co-host to the two local Hindustani music organisations.
