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Aparna Chakravarti Centenary Music Conference

Vidushi Aparna Chakravarti Centenary Music Conference, featuring a plethora of musicians belonging to all categories, would have been incomplete without the luminous presence and recital of Vidyadhar Vyas, one of the most knowledgeable vocalists of his generation. It was good to see a grand event such as this dedicated to a critic. Albeit a vocalist and writer, Aparna Chakravarti (popularly addressed as Aparna-di) was better known as an art critic. Usually art journalists belong to the clan of unsung heroes who live an anonymous life to play with double edged swords and leave the mortal world unceremoniously. Yet the fact is that no true artist feels complete without his art's proper assessment and appreciation by someone who understands the art-form. 


Aparna-di's centenary celebration was organised by her NRI son Nilotpal Chakravarti, daughter Sudeshna Khasnabis, and daughter-in-law Rita Chakravarti at Satyajit Ray Auditorium (ICCR, Kolkata). The two-day event was packed with several interesting items like the screening of audio-visual tributes by several dignitaries and the launch of the book, A Song for All Seasons – A Selection of Music Reviews & Other Pieces by Vidushi Aparna Chakravarti (1923 – 2007)’. An aesthetically hard-bound book, published by the siblings in proud memory of their mother. Lovingly collated and aesthetically stringed - the reviews, interviews and other articles trace the cultural history of her times with telling effect.  

 

Bengal, as the political and cultural capital of the British Raj had seen extremely knowledgeable art critics who were great maestros of the art and gave away its lucid description in English and Bengali. Till 1980s most of them contributed in The Statesman. Aparna-di was perhaps the last of that generation who strictly adhered to the traditional Indian cultural values, its expression through classical arts and it's appreciation in an equally classic language. And, like her contemporaries Kumar Prasad Mukherjee, Dipali Nag and Buddhadev Dasgupta, she was a practicing musician who would write as well. Her frank opinion commanded tremendous respect from her readers.  


As a performer-educator Vidyadhar Vyas would have won her admiration and it was he who brought the conference to its pinnacle. Since he is a wonderful orator, it was a brilliant idea to request him to enlighten the audience by explaining the genre of khayal replete with its origin, actual import of its different components and segments; the philosophy behind its lyrics and the historical facts behind its different stylistic schools better known as gharanas.

 

The information-hungry audience found a charming storyteller in Vyas, who easily educated them by narrating interesting anecdotes laced with delightful singing. Flanked by Jishnubrata Sircar (tabla) and Hiranmay Mitra (harmonium), Vyas exhibited varied forms of compositions to support what he had claimed as a speaker. For an invocation he commenced with Chaitanya sarvabhootaanaam set to Jaijaiwanti. A torchbearer of the Paluskar Parampara of Gwalior school, his rendition recalled the memories of numerous such devotional numbers originally sung and immortalised by the legendary D.V. Paluskar and followed by the music world. But even in the top echelons of this arena, Vyas stands a head taller than others. 

 

Khayal is the biggest fusion in the history of Indian music. It's a confluence of Indian and Persian music that developed between the 12th and 18th century and evolved as the leading genre synonymous to Hindustani music today. It took slow moving dhrupad-alap and assimilated it in vilambit khayal bandishes and talas. Dhrupad does not have vilambit pada or tala. The cyclical movement of both dhrupad and khayal relate to nature but the devotional element of khayal is in the garb of Sringara rasa and is essentially based on female characters with innate feelings of women. Khayal is emotional while dhrupad is ritualistic, explained Vyas before demonstrating his impeccable style of rendering a khayalnuma in raga Kalyan, set to Teental. 

 

According to him just as the ancient Nirgeet was the compilation of beej-mantras, the lyrics of tarana were assimilated from different sources and then transformed into bols such as nom tom or yala yali (by replacing Om Anant Hari Narayana or Ali), dir-dir of been, dhakit-dhumakit of tabla / pakhawaj. To display this he sang a tarana in drut teental that incorporated all these bols. From his treasure trove, Vyas also showcased some rarely rendered trivat, and chaturang. "Tradition has to change but the core value should remain," he emphasised to guide the younger generation. 

 

Both the evenings were divided into two parts and reserved the final ones for celebrated vocalists. The first evening’s final slot glowed with ragas Jaijaiwanti (khayal) and Vasant (tarana), elaborately rendered by Bharati Pratap of Agra gharana. The competent hands of Bivash Sanghai and Hiranmay Mitra on the tabla and harmonium respectively, gave her total freedom to play with sur, tala and lyrics to her heart’s content. This churned up several magical moments. Earlier after two opening recitals of Aparna di’s senior students Arpita Chatterjee (dhrupad) and Kalyani Das (khayal) the audience experienced raga Yaman based jugalbandi between veteran surshringar exponent Anindya Banerjee and young Rudraveena player Sayak Mitra. Sayak’s mentor Ujjwalendu Chakraborty, as the penultimate artist of the final day, displayed the rich technique of playing surbahar. It could do better with tunefulness. Singapore based Niranjan Rao, a data scientist by profession and vocalist by passion, made a brave effort to sing raga Maru Bihag khayal, displaying almost all its segments. He concluded with a bhajan.


The Chakrvarti siblings also paid tributes to their father Mukul Chakravarti, a serious music connoisseur and organiser of the famed Jhankar Music Circle. He enjoyed a successful career in Actuary - a rare profession. In his honor the Chakravartis instituted the 'Mukul Chakravarti Memorial Award' for deserving students of Actuarial Science. The active participation of Nilotpal as the anchor and Rita as the singer of a bhajan tuned by her mother-in law, gave the occasion its due respect with genuine warmth.  

 

 

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