Pune: Saturday's line-up at the 65th Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav included veterans Upendra Bhat and Aarti Anklikar-Tikekar. Of course the audience's expectation from the headlining performers was high. However, it was the santoor exponent from Kashmir Abhay Sopori, who mesmerized the crowd assisted by accomplished tabla and pakhawaj players.
While his father Pandit Bhajan Sopori could not perform with him, Abhay did his best to conquer the hearts of those present in the audience in what turned out to be the show-stopper of the day.
It was Abhay's first-ever solo act on the Sawai stage and he chose the alaap jod for his performance as a tribute to a style developed by his grandfather and great-grandfather. Before playing a collection of bandishes set to the Raga Bhim, he explained the variations that various exponents applied. His fingers and the wooden mallets he used moved nimbly over the strings. The audience was in delirium. Ever the helpful performer, Abhay sang parts of the raag to explain the nuances and improvisations in it.
At the end of his performance, Arya Sangeet Prasara Mandal's executive president Shrinivas Joshi appealed that the recital continue for another ten minutes. Abhay went on to play an authentic Kashmiri dhun.
Earlier in the evening, another debutant at this year's edition Tushar Dutta sang two compositions, one each in vilambit and drut both set to the raag Gaud Sarang. He proceeded to sing a dadra based on raag Shivranjani. To round off his performance, he invited the taal exponent Pandit Mauli Takalkar to assist him in a bhajan, and paid rich tributes to him.
Kirana gharana exponent Upendra Bhat began his rendition of the raag Durga and set it to Gopala Mari. With a tribute to the music of this state, Bhat ended his performance with a soulful abhanga.
Aarti Anklikar-Tikekar was up next. Known as a purist in Indian classical music, she sang two raags, the first one being Raageshwari, setting it to the bandish Sumiran Karat Raam. The second one — Kaafi — was set to a Hindi tappa written by one of her gurus. She closed her performance by another tribute to her gurus, singing the popular abhanga Bolava Vitthal composed by the legendary Kishori Amonkar.
Later in the night, actress and Guinness World Record-holding kathak exponent Prachi Shah took the stage. Invoking the Lord Ganesha in her introductory performance, she gave an energetic performance in both vilambit and drut in the Jaipur gharana, set to teen taal. Her guru Ganesh Hiralal was present on the harmonium. Incidentally, this was the only dance performance at this year's festival.
Before the curtains came down, there was still time for khyal exponent and veteran Padma Talwalkar, who started her performance with the raag Bhup, It was nearly midnight. The audience, however, did not mind, even for a bit.
