Splendid performances mark CR Vyas festival

Nagpur: Two-day Pt CR Vyas Sangeet Mahotsav concluded on Sunday with scintillating performances by renowned artistes. The festival was organized by Maharashtra Lalit Kala Nidhi in collaboration with Saptak and santoor maestro Pt Satish Vyas in memory of his father. This year, it was a fine mélange of vocal and instrumental presentations by renowned artistes who took the stage at Kavi Kulguru Kalidas auditorium at Persistent Systems Ltd on Saturday and Sunday.
The festival opened with young musician Anuja Zokarkar presenting a bandish in raag Madhuwanti, which she began with an extended alaap. She proceeded with ‘Darshan bin nahi chain’ in drut lay. A fourth generation singer, Anuja is a fine blend of old school singing and modern approach towards music under the training of her mother Kalpana Zokarkar. She concluded her performance with a tappa in raag Khamaj.

The second performance on Saturday was by renowned flautist Pravin Godkhini who is known for his incredible skills with the flute and his creative style. Casting a spell with soothing notes from his flute, he played gayaaki ang of raag Shuddh Kalyan. A child prodigy, he is known for his creative style and fusion presentation. He took forward the performance with ‘tantra shaili’ in raag Abhogi in taal Rupak, displaying his tremendous breath control in rendering high and low notes with sustained laykaari. He received repeated applause from the audience for raag Jog in teen taal. Accompanying him on tabla was another prodigy Ojas Adiya. The two matched their skills in an easy going fun-filled sawal jawab, showing command over their craft.

The second day of the festival saw performances by four artistes over two sessions on Sunday. The first one began in the morning with a santoor recital by Naresh Madgaonkar, a disciple of Pt Satish Vyas. He did his guru proud with an impeccable recital of alaap, jod and jhala in raga Ahir Bhairav, rendering his performance with deft strikes and techniques on the 100 strings instrument.

It was a packed auditorium as Aarti Ankalikar Tikekar took the stage for a vocal presentation in her unique high-pitched style. Starting with raag Jaunpuri, she took her time expanding the raag with a bandish ‘Payal baje jaye mori rajdulari’. Holding full attention of her audience, she switched to raag Asa Jogi with the bandish ‘Man mat maan’ in taal Deepchandi and meandered through the raag with ‘Kagwa bolan lagat in ek taal and ‘Bhanak suni awan ki’ in teen taal. She had the audience in thrall with a tarana in raag Deshkar, composed by sitarist Shankar Abhyankar and sung a jhoola before concluding the renditions with a tappa in raag Bhairavi.

The festival concluded with Dhrupad presentation by Prashant and Nishant Mallick who carry forward a 13-generation tradition of Dhrupad gayaaki. Starting with alaap jod and jhala in raag Shri, the duo presented another bandish, “Jaake mrig chaal’ in Chautaal and finished off with a composition in raag Shivranjani. The grand finale of the fest was a scintillating sitar performance by maestro Ustad Shahid Parvez who began with raag Gavati and followed it with a bandish in the style of tappa khayal in Jhap taal, mesmerizing the audience as they repeatedly applauded the performance.