It is commonly claimed that Indian classical musicians have been treating every raga as a living deity since ages. But this is an era plagued by aggressive professionalism that, in the name of virtuosity, coerces the persona of ragas. Very rarely one gets to experience a portrayal that rises above mere “taiyari” and explores the depth of emotions that actually lifts a raga to a higher plane where it ceases to be just a combination of notes of a scale; but where each note reflects the glowing character of the chosen raga whose definition “ranjayate iti raagah” demands the coloration of minds of both — the artiste and his listeners. One such rare opportunity was provided by the Malhar Festival organized by ITC Sangeet Research Academy at GD Birla Sabhagar recently.
It was sheer bliss to listen to Miyan Malhar — as portrayed by erudite vocalist Ashwini Bhide Deshpande, the final artiste of the fest. The raga emerged almost like an audio-visual where, empirically, one could see the softly rolling sea-waves transforming into heavy, rain-bearing clouds, gently engulfing the sky and again retuning on earth showering the blessings of the residing deity of the bandish, as invoked by Adarang in in his immortal “Karim Naam Tero”. As interpreted by the vocalist, the reposeful elasticity of meend-laden melody a la Indore-Kirana badhat was very different from her own school; but it portrayed the majestic monsoon-mood while the lyrics invoked His blessings!
Fully aware of the fact that the same raga with the same bandish had been explored by Waseem Ahmed Khan, before commencing her recital Ashwini ji very humbly sought the permission of the opening artiste of this two-day festival, who sang it with the usual verve of his Agra gharana style.
After this vilambit tilwada, she switched over to medium paced Jhap taal and fast Teen taal compositions in a rare raga Kedar Malhar that blended the key phrases of both Kedar and Malhar beautifully. The progression very soon became denser and varied in texture with cascading taans.
Unique composition
She followed it up with a unique composition set to a tala-cycle of seven and a half beats in raga Prateeksha (Bhoopeshwari to some). The edge-of-the-seat excitement of every approach to the sam in each cycle was thrilling. Mere dedication to taalim is no guarantee of yielding such finely crafted music; adding to it is a constant evolution. This modesty-packed scholarly culmination along with the haunting commencement was superbly accompanied by her disciple Maitreyi Dadarkar (tanpura and vocals), Sanjay Adhikary (tabla) and Rupashree Bhattacharya (harmonium).
Essentially focused on SRA’s home-grown virtuosos, the festival also invited renowned Carnatic vocalist-duo Ranjani and Gayatri. In the final slot of the first evening, they began with a rare composition in raga Gaud Malhar invoking the blessings of Goddess Chamundeshwari and followed it up with a thrilling ragam-taanan-pallavi in raga Charukesi. The elaborate alpana, rich with kalpanaswaras that showed preference for long, steady, peaceful perch on vital notes a la Hindustani music, was very impressive; so was the emotive violin accompaniment by L. Ramakrishnan. The tanam incorporated graha-bhed with some delicate thumri-like inflexions thrown in.
Season’s spirit
Though, according to the artistes, Carnatic music does not possess monsoon-dedicated ragas, they infused the season’s spirit with the help of ragamalika and the kriti “Varshini Shreevarshini”, set to Mishra jati Jhampa taal. In the neraval their improvisation on “Ananda Varshay” and “Amritavarshini” came like prayers steeped in devotion while the sargam in ragas like Meghranjani, Abhogi, Kalawati added rainbow-like hues of melody. Delhi Sairam’s spirited accompaniment and tani added that extra zing which left the listeners in raptures.
The young SRA-brigade was not lagging behind either. Alick Sengupta, another vocalist-scholar from the Academy, showed delightful signs of his individuality by emerging out of the shadows of his Guru Ulhas Kashalkar. Ably supported by veteran harmonium expert Jyoti Goho, sarangi exponent Sarwar Hussain and tabla virtuoso Sandip Ghosh, his Gaud Malhar, replete with “Kahe Ho” and “Balma Bahar Aayi”, had all the characteristics of Gwalior School; but the rhythmic patterns and pukars had the tell-tale impression of Ustad Amir Khan; and yet he blended both beautifully.
Among the two instrumentalists, Abir Hossain, a musician-tutor with the Academy, has already carved a niche for himself as a brilliant sarod exponent. His portrayal of raga Megh did full justice to this majestic monsoon melody by aesthetically balancing the instrumentalism and vocalism with well measured emotions and skill-show. The sensitive tabla of Sandip Ghosh played a vital role in this; so was Ashoke Mukherjee’s tabla while offering support to young scholar Paramananda Roy, a promising flautist who offered a melodious raga Surdasi Malhar.