Delhi Government’s Sahitya Kala Parishad recently held the Delhi Classical Music Festival at Kamani Auditorium. The five-day festival featured an impressive 14 concerts in all. The demise of Girija Devi a day before the start, saw most of the artists dedicating their concerts to her.
The third day started with a vocal recital by Bhuvanesh Komkali, grandson of late iconic Pandit Kumar Gandharva. He is maturing into a fine singer, with a certain repose in his presentation. He sang a brief 40 minutes, given the time restriction, raga Kalyan, also now called Yaman or Aiman. His first piece was in vilambit Ek taal, the lyrics devotional , followed by a brisk drut Teen taal.
After that was a magnificent rudraveena recital by Ustad Mohi Bahauddin Dagar. His presentation of Des was, of course in the Dhrupad tradition, to which he belongs, but what was interesting was to hear Des presented in a more serious sombre grave fashion. Bahauddin embellished his Des with wonderful meends, his jor had the beautiful “lau” his instrument is known for, his jhala was crisp and ever changing. The Chau taal bandish was presented with virility and more laya work than he usually shows. Pratap Awad of the Nana Panse tradition on pakhawaj was superb. Indeed one of Bahauddin’s finest recitals to date.
The evening ended on the same high note with a superb concert by Pandit Venkatesh Kumar of the Kirana Gharana who sang a beautiful Hameer, which seems to be one of his favourite ragas. His spontaneous unrehearsed “aamad” was a refreshing change. His second drut khayal “Deedth Langarawa Kaise Ghar Jaaoon” was sung with different emphasis to the commonly heard Gwalior version; the extremely fast sargam taans and gamak taans were stupendous, as always. Next was Kaunsi Kanhra, an unusual choice for the maestro who usually prefers to render straight ragas. Kaunsi Kanhra is a “jor” raga combining Malkaus and Kanhra. It is difficult to maintain the “shakal” as a composite whole; usually the rendering gets reduced to a phrase of Malkaus, followed by a phrase of Kanhra and so on. That wonderful, “khuli” awaaz, with its deep bass body is always a delight; he started with a devotional piece “Rajan Ke Raja Shri Ramachandra”, ending with a drut Teen taal, the ever popular “Kahe Karat Mohse Barajori”. Indeed a truly satisfying evening of fine music. He was accompanied by superb harmonium by Pandit Arawind Thatte, from Pune; sadly his microphone volume was a trifle too soft. On the tabla was the subtle Bharat Kamat, also from Pune.
The following day opened with a vocal recital by Pandit Madhup Mudgal, today easily recognised as a master of his craft, who sings with an uninhibited ease that only years of honing can achieve. He sang Raga Shyam Kalyan compositions in Rupak taal and Teen taal, ably protecting the Raga from undertones of Raga Shudha Sarang. Next was was Shahana, again exposed most satisfyingly.
It would have been difficult for any vocalist to perform after such an excellent concert but Nishad Bakre held his own after a slightly hesitant start, singing Raga Nand or Anandi with impressive taans, and good laya work. The concluding artists were santoor exponents Pandit Bhajan Sopore and son Abhay Rustom, who were unusually accompanied by three percussion instruments – pakhawaj during aalap, and tabla and ghatam. The initial Raga was Raga Saraswati. Their instruments have been greatly modified to include a rich “kharaj” (base) sound which has hugely enhanced the sound of their santoors. The festival ended with recitals of Pandit Jasraj, young vocalist Nitin Sharma, disciple of Pandit Ajay Pohankar, and finally Ustad Shujaat Khan unusually playing Raga Shudha Kalyan.