News & Notes
Swara Samrat Festival

Swara Samrat Ustad Ali Akbar Khan was one of the most iconic instrumentalists of the 20th century. In his memory, his disciple sarodist Tejendra Narayan Mazumdar has been holding an annual music and dance festival—Swara Samrat Festival(festival)—in Kolkata and other cities. In its 12th edition, the two-day festival in Kolkata was cut short due to the illness of Zakir Hussain. It was planned that the third day including the maestro would be held later in 2025. Sadly, with the untimely death of the tabla maestro, this was not to be.
The festival opened with
a vocal recital by Dhananjay Hegde. Disciple of the Gwalior and Kirana gharana
vocalist Vinayak Torvi, Dhananjay has received additional musical inputs from
Venkatesh Kumar. A seasoned performer, Dhananjay never fails to satisfy—his
well-modulated voice and non-gimmicky treatment of ragas is true pleasure. His
opening traditional composition was in vilambit Ek taal, the madhya laya and
drut in Teen taal. He sang raga Shuddha Sarang, impressively, for nearly an
hour. The raga is usually presented as a shorter, second piece, as it can veer
into sounding like raga Sham Kalyan. The last composition was by his guru
Vinayak Torvi. It is so heartening to witness how music is transferred from
generation to generation. Dhananjay’s voice in the kharaj (bass) notes was
impressive; his play with swaras seasoned; his bol baant pure Gwalior gayaki.
The next composition was in raga Patdeep; here the concluding tarana was self-composed.
Again, this was a reminder of how true musical training, which included the
creative element is passed on from guru to sishya. Both the accompanyists were
Kolkata-based—Soumen Sarkar (tabla) and Jyotirmoy Bannerjee (harmonium).
The next item was the
most enjoyable one for this writer; sarodist Debashish Bhattacharya of the
Senia Shahjahanpur gharana. A senior disciple of Buddhadev Dasgupta, this rarely heard
musician, sticks to his training, truly sounding like his guru. His impressive
control of the instrument, immense practise, and melodious content was matched
by raga purity and musical integrity. He played raga Bhimpalasi—from the confident,
opening strokes, one was aware that the raga was totally under the performer’s
command. In the methodical, but brief aalap, Debashish went to the deep Sa
with a sudden authority that impressed; too often musicians feel the need to
prolong the note build-up to reach this concluding note. The jor with the
impressive dhrupad ang gamakas and Rudra veena-style note play, spoke of an
authentic style passed down through the centuries, was thrilling. After a brief,
but very exciting jhala, Debashish moved onto a traditional maseetkhani gat
accompanied by Abhijeet Bannerji. The second composition had an unusual pick up
of the mukhra from the 14th beat. The second raga on request, was Barwa, rarely
played on the instrument nowadays. Debashish, with admirable humility, said
that he had not internalised this raga much; so while he honoured the request,
he showcased it briefly, before he switched to another sister raga, Pilu. Here,
he brilliantly wove in snatches of popular Rabindra sangeet songs. The unusual
simplicity, humility, and straight-forward playing was laudable like his
undoubted skill.
The third item was performed by the father-son duo Sriniwas Joshi and Viraj (son and grandson of Bhimsen Joshi). It was unusual to see this item marked as a ‘jugalbandi’ instead of the conventional ‘accompanied by’; in the Indian tradition, the disciple is never seen as being qual to the guru. The accompanyists were from Kolkata—Emon Sarkar (tabla) and Gourab Chatterji (harmonium). The opening raga was Multani.
Undoubtedly, the most
resounding flashy item of the evening was the percussion trio of maestro Yogesh
Samsi (tabla), vidwan Patri Satish (mridangam) and vidwan Girdhar Udupa (ghatam).
Indeed, each of the musicians have made the instrument their own, and each is
arguably the finest exponents of their respective instruments in their
generation. They have collaborated on stage as a trio often, and their very
evident chemistry and mutual respect on stage was perceptible. Accompanying
them was the young maestro Tanmay Deochake. Sticking to the most widely played ‘taal,
Teen taal’ or Adi tala, the trio initially played solos without the
accompanying lehra on the harmonium. Then each one slowly built-up the tempo,
with the harmonium, eventually being joined by the others in a thrilling
crescendo of a perfectly matched korvai. The recitation of the percussion bols
by each of the maestros, who then executed them perfectly was beautiful; the
syncretic presentation a reminder that Indian music, whether Hindustani or
Carnatic has a common origin.
The evening concluded
with a vocal concert by Sajan Mishra, accompanied by his son Swaransh; and
accompanied by Banaras gharana maestro Kumar Bose (tabla), and Kolkata’s
Debashish Adhikary (harmonium). Again, this performance was termed a
‘jugalbandi!’ The opening raga was the very commonly rendered Bagesree, and it
took some time for it to arrest. The second composition Eri ai mein kaise
ghar jaaoon was soulful and redolent of the Banaras gharana’s evocative
singing. The concluding composition was a tarana in Rupak taal. Sajan Mishra is a seasoned and polished
singer—he never fails to impress; his son Swaransh held his own. The next raga
on request was Jaijaiwanti, the vilambit composition Aiso nawal ladli Radha
was by (late) Rajan Mishra. The second composition was a Banaras gharana’s
adaptation of a similar composition More mandirawa. This raga was
presented with beauty, soul, and exquisite finesse. They concluded with a
bhajan Chalo mann Vrindavan ki orr. As expected, there was a standing
ovation.
Malavika Sarukkai was
supposedly the last performer for the evening, but she was unwell and had to
cancel.
The concluding day of the
festival again started dot on time at 1.00 pm, with a never-before attempted
duet by seasoned Maihar gharana violinist Indradeep Ghosh, and young, US-based
santoor exponent Vinay Desai. Despite the age difference, the duo performed
well together. Surprisingly, they both chose raga Shuddha Sarang again. In an
earlier age, artists would never repeat a raga performed in a festival.
Nowadays, sadly, ragas are repeated even by the successive artist! After a
brief auchar, they went straight to the composition in Rupak taal. Initially, Vinay
played laya-dominated phrases, while the mature Indradeep focussed on slower,
swara-driven movements. Later, both their playing matched as the speed
progressed. Indradeep had learnt from (late) vidushi Shishirkona Dhar, and also
the great V.G. Jog, whose style was totally ‘tantrakaari’; as such his playing
reflected the styles of both gurus. He has added a 5th string to his instrument;
and also, tarab strings. His simulation of bols was truly impressive, as was
the jhala. The brilliant young tabla exponent
Aarchik Bannerji, son of the great (late) Subhankar Bannerji, held his own with
ease; and matched each player’s solo presentation effortlessly. The drut
composition had been created by both players, based on the structure of Vinay’s
guru (late) Shiv Kumar Sharma’s compositions.
Kolkata’s Indrani
Mukherji has trained in the khayal idiom extensively, but it is for her thumri
that she is very popular. She sang raga Bhimpalasi, the popular Akhiyan mori
laagi, the drut was a Sadarang composition. Her thumri in raga Pilu, Bhawara
re hum pardesi log was very special; her voice conveyed the emotions
effortlessly. Somehow, Arup Chatterji (tabla) was unable to match her mood;
sometimes, a doyen is not the best accompanyist unless there is chemistry
between artists. Anirban Chattopadhyay (harmonium) was excellent.
Ravi Shankar came alive
through the music of his senior disciple Shubhendra Rao. Effortlessly bringing
in both gravitas and lyricism into the afternoon raga Madhuwanti, Shubhendra
recreated his guru’s magic. The concert was enlivened by Shubhendra’s memories
of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. His father had apparently missed the latter’s concert in
Bombay decades ago. Consequently, when his father had verbalised his
disappointment to the Ustad, who immediately said: “Come home, I will play for
you!” and rendered an unforgettable raga Lalita Gauri! Shubhendra’s expansive
aalap jor and jhala moved straight on to a madhya laya rupak gat; eliminating a
vilambit gat was suitable as his aalap had been so comprehensive and a slow
composition may have sounded repetitive. The concluding drut ek taal gat was
impressive as musicians today are rarely able to maintain the speed and clarity
in jhala bols on any taal other than Teen taal. Accompanyist Akram Khan, doyen
of the Ajrara gharana, quipped after the concert: “I was put into a difficult
position having to play Ek taal in that speed!” The concluding item was a very
lyrical Khamas.
Sarodist Indrayudh
Majumder had put together an instrumental ensemble of his father Tejendra
Narayan Mazumdar’s students. From the youngest seven-year- old Purab Chaudhury to
the most senior disciple Anjan Saha (aged 50), the ensemble included two
sitariyas too—Anjan Saha and Shubhayen Ganguly. The sarodiyas included
Indrayudh Majumder, Rudrashish Ghosh, Saswata Choudhury, and the sole female—Anoushka
Bandopadhyay. They played compositions in ragas Yaman Kalyan, Hemant; and
eventually a composition of Tejendra Narayan Mazumdar and his vocalist wife,
Manasi Mazumdar, in Khamas. The display of harmony, best shown in an orchestra,
was pleasing; each of the solos showed the youngsters have a bright future
ahead, musically. Sohan Ghosh (tabla) accompanied them brilliantly.
Umakant Gundecha accompanied by his nephew,
Anant, sang raga Puriya. It was interesting to hear from someone in the
audience that for many Kolkatans, vocal dhrupad implied the Gundechas! As usual,
the serene ambience they created was soothing. As always, they sang new
compositions: the main piece being Dharaa dharti dharani avani in the 10-beat
Sadra taal. On the pakhawaj was Akhilesh Gundecha. They concluded with their
highly popular Kabir composition in raga Charukeshi.
The grand finale concert of
the festival, Amjad Ali Khan accompanied after 40 long years by Swapan
Chaudhury, was preceded by an elaborate award giving ceremony to Amjad Ali
Khan. In fact, even after he had sat down to play, the sponsors of the
festival, tried to honour both him and Swapan Chaudhury, that caused the Ustad
to quip with a laugh: “Ok now, if the honours have finished, should we start??”
Showing his mastery of
the instrument Amjad Ali Khan attempted something never done before. He
announced: “I will play raga Durga, but a ‘crying’ Durga because of the
atrocities heaped on women.” So, on the Re, Ma, and Dha
notes, he prolonged the note, showed the srutis, and did not stop on the next
note; thus, he created a different pathos-filled sound. This was not the usual
raga Durga, but literally, his raga Durga’s notes cried in pain. He skilfully
avoided dissonant music and thus, Amjad Ali Khan proved that his creativity has
not lessened with the passing years. Then, he moved on to playing the
compositions he has created in a career spanning nearly 60 decades. Sadly, the
chemistry between him and Swapan Chaudhury was not apparent; the latter was confining
himself to making magic only when prompted by the Ustad. Slowly, as he was getting
into the groove, Amjad Ali Khan next played raga Shahana on request; his iconic
composition in Mian Malhar, Khamas, and eventually Rabindranath Tagore’s Ekla
chalo re. This was vintage Amjad Ali Khan, on his mettle, playing a tribute
in memory of a more senior sarodiya, in Kolkata, a city that he always said: “was
the first to shower him with fame.”
(The author
writes on music, musicians and matters of music)