Barkha Ritu

Shailaja Khanna

Banyan Tree has been holding the Barkha Ritu festivals in various cities in India for the past two decades; the rationale being the music of the rains needs a platform. However, over the years, with the same artists being invited to perform again and again, their repertoire of the ragas of the season seems to have fallen short, as one finds artists choosing to perform any raga, and not confine themselves to the Malhars or Megh. Sadly, though there are several versions of raga Malhar, created over the centuries by saints and composers, today only a handful are in common usage. These include raga Mian Malhar, the most common, created by Tansen, Surdasi Malhar created by Surdas, Ramdasi Malhar by Ramdas, Meera Malhar created by Meera bai. Charju Malhar, created by the musician Nayak Charju is virtually extinct today. Combining other ragas to Malhar include Nat Malhar, Chaya Malhar, Jayant Malhar, Anand Malhar, Des Malhar, Megh Malhar; but these too are not so commonly heard at concerts.

Barkha Ritu’s 2025 season opened in Delhi with NY based Jazz and Carnatic guitarist Prasanna. His eclectic training in various genres, and his laudable ability to collate and internalise these different forms and techniques into creating a unique style make him a hugely refreshing musician. He started the concert with a traditional composition of Tyagaraja, unusually he played without any accompaniment. In the US, perhaps accompaniment is a problem but one wondered at the absence of mridangam at a Delhi concert. Prasanna explained, in an interchange after the concert, “The last 40 concerts I have played solo, I played without the mrigandam. I feel the accompaniment detracts from the grandeur of the composition. The sahitya gets lost, the entertainment value takes over. Carnatic classical compositions have an inherent rhythm inbuilt. I want to bring out the beauty of the raga and the composition in its purest form; though I don’t say that percussion is superfluous.”

After a brief alap in raga Amritavarshini, the monsoon raga in the Carnatic system, Prasanna played a composition. Here he displayed his training in classical western, Jazz, Blues, and the guitar techniques he has incorporated in his playing. His guitar sometimes sounded like a piano, sometimes a violin, with his different finger techniques and tweaking the electronic amplification. It was different, exciting and racy.

Next was a solo sitar concert by Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan, accompanied by Ram Kumar Mishra on the tabla. He chose to play raga Charukesi; his slow deliberate ‘meend’ work was a true delight. The composition was his own in 10 beats. A somewhat simplistic structure, his compositions lend themselves for improvisation; he confined this to ‘layakaari’. The ‘drut’ piece was in Teen taal. The presentation was brief, only 20 minutes; given the time restraint, but one notices that Ustad Shahid Parvez does not nowadays lose himself ever in his music; preferring to present a very carefully constructed concert, beautifully in proportion.

The final piece was a jugalbandi; both Shahid and Prasanna appropriately played raga Megh. In the Carnatic idiom this is Ragam Madhyavati. Shahid relied on long ‘meends’ to make his point musically, Prasanna chose to showcase staccato fingering, wisely not trying to echo the sitar. At one point each followed the others phrases musically, with slight changes; this is usual in Indian classical music jugalbandis. Moving straight onto a composition in the 7 beat ‘rupak taal’ (the Carnatic equivalent is misra Chaapu with the same beat division), both maestros improvised differently. Shahid chose gamakas, intricate laya work and long taans. Prasanna presented innovative note combinations, unusual guitar playing techniques, in his inimitable style tinged with  his training in jazz. It was an exhilarating experience; Ram Kumar Mishra chipping in with appropriate, complementary pieces. What came out was that both artists gave each other musical space and tried not to copy or repeat; and the music was clearly not pre rehearsed as, sadly many jugalbandis are.

Prasanna reflected, “Shahid bhai and I hadn’t discussed the concert beforehand - our collaboration was entirely spontaneous. I didn’t know which taal he would play, so I followed his lead throughout. His sense of proportion was remarkable, never overdone. He understood I wished only to complement his music, and that shaped our performance. I tuned my violin in the Western style to match his D pitch. We concluded with a korvai he improvised on the spot, and I simply followed.”

The concluding concert was by Sanjeev Abhyankar, the most popular disciple of Jasraj. He sang raga Ramdasi Malhar, using both the gandhars (some musicians use only one gandhar). The bandish was Na jaavo mero pyaare in vilambit Ek taal. Sanjeev is one of the most polished singers of his generation, bringing  to his concerts excellent raga knowledge combined with awesome practice and vocal dexterity. Smoothly moving onto a faster composition Ghan ghor ghata chaai, Sanjeev concluded with raga Megh, and then a brief Meera bhajan. Yet, this was not one of his great concerts, perhaps lacking an emotive element. He was accompanied on the tabla by Ajunkya Joshi and on the harmonium by Abhishek Shinkar.