A plethora of pristine melodies
Propelling patriotic passion, a big group of Bangladeshi artistes set off the inaugural day's event of the five-day third Bengal Classical Music Festival 2014 through rendering National Anthem, a DL Roy composition “Dhono Dhannye Pushpe Bhora” and a Kazi Nazrul song “O Bhai Khati Shonar Cheye Khati”.
Ajinkya Joshi next took the stage and presented a tabla lahora set on teentaal. He played various compositions, tukra, kayda and farmayeshi kayda of Delhi and Farrukhabad gharanas along with some beautiful compositions of his father. Gourab Chatterjee on nagma accompanied the performance, playing Raga Charukeshi.
Promising vocalist Ruchira Kedar next gave a moving performance of Raga Bageshree, following Vidushi Malavika Sarukkai's captivating show of Bharatanatyam. Her vilambit bandish “Kaun Gata Bhai” performance was followed by a well-decorated ektaal drut bandish “Beg Beg Beg Beg Aao”. The distinctive features of her performance included exquisite akar taan, meend, gamaki akar bistar, bahelowa and bolbut. “Piharba Ghar Aao Ghar Aao Eri” was her drut teentaal bandish. Sanjay Adhikari on tabla, Gourab Chatterjee on harmonium and Sushmita Debnath Suchi and Debjani on tanpura accompanied the vocalist. The artiste later rendered a dadra based on Raga Mishra Pilu.
Rajrupa Chowdhury diffused the melancholic aroma with her sarod recital of Raga Malkauns. Her alap performance created a devotional essence and atmosphere suited to the nature of the dew-dropping night. She later performed raga Hussaini Kanada.
Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan started off his sitar recital with alap, jod, gamaki laykari, vistar and colourful tehai set on a sweet Raga -- Rageshree. Set on rupak taal, the artiste played a sawal-jawab with tabla artiste Ustad Akram Khan, incorporating mukhra of the bandish with various types of layakari taan and tehai. He proceeded with his recital playing a drut gat on teentaal, and a drut ektaal gat. The artiste fantastically communicated with the audience, playing a Khamaj dhun on dadra taal. With an elaborate, sweet alap, Shahid Parvez Khan touched the hearts of the Dhaka audience, showcasing the shades of various ragas in his recital.
Music maestros apply the same notes of different ragas differently, as can be seen frequently in Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty's renditions. One of the best performers of our time to depict shruti in Indian vocal classical, he applied various mathematical magic in his performance of Raga Basant Mukhari (that was previously called Hijaj Bhairav, according to him). The permutation and combination of the notes -- sa re ga ma -- together with the rhythmic, colourful and ascending-descending tehai marveled the audience. He explained the raga with a sublime touch of dhrupad, and proceeded with the vilambit bandish “Nir Bharane Nikasi, Jamuna Ki Ghat Par” on vilambit-madhya jhaptaal while his teentaal bandish “Bhayo Bhor Mour Bolan Lage” led to the morning glow. Acclaimed slide guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya styled an illusion of melody in the unique jugalbandi with a long tehai, while tabla maestro Pandit Yogesh Samsi, made the connoisseurs immerse in the melodic sea. A sawal-jawab by the trio followed, generating a musical mahol.
Lyrical melancholy mingled with the romantic melody of Bhairavi when Pandit Chakrabarty performed a raga-based Bangla song “Banshitey Ke Dekechhe Amaye”, composed by his guru Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh in a poetic rendition. Through immaculate meend, the virtuoso artiste demonstrated different harmonisation, effortlessly moved back and forth across the three octaves. Brajeswar Mukherjee on tanpura and backing vocal, and Gourab Chattopadhyay on harmonium accompanied the performance.
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