A delightful bouquet of ragas

Dedicated to the memory of Gana-Saraswati late Kishori Amonkar, the Bhilwara Sur Sangam, held at the Kamani auditorium this past weekend, brought back the mellifluous memory of her last concert presented for this very festival at the same venue last year. Humbly accepting the standing ovation by the enraptured audiences, she had requested them with folded hands to bless her to sing till she breathed her last.

This year, the 7th edition of Bhilwara Sur Sangam, an admirable initiative of the LNJ Bhilwara Group, opened with a sonorous surprise in the seasoned sarod recital by Abhishek Borkar. This young sarodia of Maihar Senia Gharana, who was perhaps a new name for the music lovers of Delhi, was born and brought up into a musical family from Pune and was initiated into classical music with vocal and tabla at the tender age of six. His first guru was his father Pt. Shekhar Borkar, himself a sarod player. Attracted to the sound of sarod, Abhishek opted to learn under him.

Striking a balance

The biggest asset of this sensitive sarod player is his melodiousness and the desirable balance between his right and left hand. Accompanied on tabla by Ud. Akram Khan, he opened the two-day festival, surprisingly with raga Gaoti. The introductory alaap was followed by vilambit (slow), medium tempo and drut compositions in Rupak and Teentala. The unhurried pace in which he delineated the melodious raga, vouched not only about his proper taleem (training) but also of his temperament that could have easily enabled him to inaugurate the prestigious festival with a more spacious and serious raga. Gaoti, one felt, could have suited better for the second raga! Answering this apprehension Abhishek, replied, “I have listened to three-hour long recordings of this raga played by Ud. Ali Akbar Khan and Nikhil Banerjee, so I take it to be a big raga only.”

Abhishek Borkar  

No doubt, Abhishek treated it with delight and that was reflected in his listeners too. Thereafter, he played a Dadra style dhun in Zila Kafi set to a leisurely Dadra Tala, with shades of Shuddha Pilu et al. He was on the verge of repeating himself due to the thin content, when he took resort to his rich repertoire of the ‘Taksali’ bandishes (compositions with the old time flavour), one after the other, like a rainbow. The nuances of Ajrada Baaj in the crisp tabla of Ud. Akram Khan also heralded repeated applause.

The imposing ‘sur’ filled voice of Pt. Venkatesh Kumar bestowed the inaugural evening its deserved due, when he etched the contours of raga Yaman Kalyan, exploring its interiors in his authentic Gwalior gayaki flavoured with a delightful aroma of Kirana. The meticulous alaap barhat during the Bada Khayal set to vilambit (slow) Ektala, proceeded towards the rhythmic interplay along with the raga elaboration and then to the cascading taans with well modulated grains of varied weight and myriad hues from heavy gamakas to intricate filigree, especially in the descending (avarohi) order. The Chhota khayal in Teentala also proved how a basic and common raga becomes the true test of genius in the hands of an accomplished musician.

The all time favourite, famous Jhaptal bandish, “Sakhi mori rumjhum….” in the pentatonic raga Durga next, got the listeners drenched with the Avarohi Bol-Taans in “Badar garje barse….” before it was followed by the Durga stuti, “Mata Bhavani Kali Durga…” in raga Durga, set to Teen-Tala. Vinay Mishra on harmonium and Bharat Kamath on tabla enjoyed themselves enhancing the beauty of his soulful renditions till the concluding Pilu Thumri, “Saiyan bides gaye…”. As they say, the ‘well begun (festival) was already half done!’

Rising star

The second evening opened with a first rate flute recital by young maestro Pt. Ajay Prasanna, the gifted son and disciple of Pt. Bholanath Prasanna, who groomed disciples like Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia. Ajay, the steadily rising star of the present generation of classical musicians, is not just known for the distinct sound of his tuneful flute but is equally renowned as an imaginative composer too. And this evening he proved to be a devoted guru as well, grooming his 16-year-old daughter Siddhi, fit enough to assist him with the same kind of total tunefulness that runs in his own veins. It was a delight to watch and listen to young Siddhi accompanying her guru/father Ajay Prasanna on flute, breathing in pure elongated ‘sur’, whenever she was needed to, with tender touches of Rishabh, Gandhar or any other swara, hinted by her Guru.

Ajay chose Yaman, the most melodious raga of the evening to begin with. Pt. Venkatesh Kumar had dealt this raga, a day earlier, with a whiff of the delicate perfume of Shuddha Madhyam in Yaman-Kalyan; while this evening it was just ‘Yaman’, the ‘sampoorna raga of seven notes, where only the Madhyam was sharp, with rest of the shuddha swaras played with the delicate breath inflections, that make our ragas come true. The detailed alaap, jod and jhala were followed by compositions in Rupak tala of seven beats cycle followed with a drut Teentala composition, where Pt. Ram Kumar Mishra revelled in rhythm.

The tabla, at times, felt obtrusive too in moments like, while the flautist would stayed totally drenched in sur on just a ‘Taar Shadja’ for 4-5 avratanas and Ram Kumar would unnecessarily insist his dagga, the left drum to match it. Ram Kumar was actually in his elements during the ‘chaiti’, where he too enjoyed the mesmerising music during Ajay’s melodious bol-banaav of the lyric and took his appropriate turn during the concluding laggi, enhancing the chaiti on flute with his Banarasi nuances like the “dha tin nada…”.

On request, Ajay had also played the famous Hamsadhwani composition of Ud. Aman Ali Khan, “Lagi lagan Sati-Pati san…” for a while before concluding his evocative concert with the mesmerising chaiti.

The festival concluded with the scintillating sitar recital by Ud. Shujat Hussain Khan, the torch bearer of the Itawa Imdadkhani Gharana. Accompanied on tabla by Amit Chaube and Shariq Mustafa on either side, he played alaap-jod-jhala and compositions in raga Charukeshi that he also sang before playing. Ud. Shujat Khan concluded with singing and playing verses of Kabir and Hazrat Amir Khusro, enhanced with the melodious touch of flute by Ajay Prasanna.