The Sankat Mochan temple in Banaras hosted its 101^st edition, comprising six all-night music and dance sessions. Five of the six evenings started with dance and then stayed with music. There were classical music performances by mainly North Indian musicians, but also included Carnatic music (U.Rajesh, Sivamani, L Subramaniam, and Yella Venkateswara Rao). There was one bhajan performance by Anup Jalota. This writer heard two of the six nights.

Late Rashid Khan’s son Armaan offered his music as a solo presentation; however this was not his first solo there. Accompanied by Banaras gharana’s Shubh Maharaj, Armaan was accompanied by two young harmonium players and one sarangi player. Blessed with his father’s golden voice, Armaan has also inherited a pleasing and confident stage presence. However, he prolonged his rendition of raga Jog overly, leading to excessive repetition, which detracted from an otherwise admirable concert. He ended with two lighter pieces, including the popular Yaad piya ki aayi, he also strummed his guitar during these pieces, trying to appeal to a younger audience.

Amrita Chatterjee, who is Mumbai-based but trained under the late Abdul Rashid Khan in Kolkata, surprisingly started her concert at well after 11pm with an early evening raga, Puriya Kalyan, sung competently.  

Anup Jalota entertained the crowd with well-chosen bhajans, interspersed with anecdotes, and jokes. Getting the crowd to sing along and engaging with the tabla and guitar; the veteran knows how to keep his audience rivetted.

Breaking the mood and steering the music back to a more sober direction, senior sarodist Tejendra Majumdar played raga Jaijaiwanti, a favourite of his. After a short yet comprehensive alap and jor, he focussed more fully on a Dhammar composition. Dhammar taal is associated with dhrupad and the pakhawaj; as such playing this in Banaras, whose tabla gharana is most closely associated with pakhawaj bols was appropriate.  Playing with vigour and impressive ‘bolkaari’, the rendition was in pure Maihar style layakaari; taut and racy.  Shubh Maharaj maintained the mood well. Changing direction, Tejendra next presented a lyrical Manjh Khamach, stressing beauty and softness.  Indeed these aspects are his forte – solid sarod craft, matched with authentic ‘ragadaari’, played with subtle beauty. Interestingly, he wove in snatches of the devotional bhajan, Ram ratan dhan paayo so subtly that one heard it, then it strayed into the raga, then one caught a glimpse of it again. The audience was entranced.

Maintaining the seriousness of the music, Niladri Kumar on the sitar played Kaunshi Kanhra. Without resorting to a display of virtuosity, Niladri ‘s mood was pensive, reflective and utterly soothing. After a brief etching of the raga, he went straight to the composition, which was perhaps a tad simpler in construction than the raga warranted. He was accompanied by Satyajit Talwalkar on the tabla. Niladri’s innate musicality is always a delight; Sankat Mochan festival always seems to bring out the best in him.  Satyajit Talwalkar maintained the pace of the music, enhancing it with his succinct, solo interjections.

Shounaq Abhisheki from Pune concluded the evening. His first ‘haazri’ at the festival, surprisingly he started with the early evening raga Sree, at four am! Apparently the composition, with its devotional lyrics had been requested by an eager fan. Shounaq then settled into his main raga Shivmat Bhairav. He was accompanied vocally by his talented son Abhed, and on the harmonium by the veteran Dharamnath Mishra. On the tabla was a local artist, Rajnish Tiwari.

The next evening’s music commenced with vocalist Ulhas Kashalkar. He started his concert with raga Tilak Kamod. Expanding it as a full-length main raga, which most vocalists do not attempt as it is perceived as too close to raga Desh for ‘safety’, the maestro sang with his usual finesse and mastery. You will not hear a bhajan at an Ulhas Kashalkar concert, what you will hear is solid, correctly proportionate authentic gayaki, delivered with perfection. There will neither be a display of gimmicks or excessive bhava, but nor will it be flat and boring.  There is always drama, always an erudite understanding of the raga.  He was accompanied by Suresh Talwalkar on the tabla, and the young Swapnil Bhise on harmonium. Vocal support was provided by his disciples, Delhi-based Ojesh Pratap Singh, and Kolkata based Alick Sengupta.

Flautist Rakesh Chaurasia played next, accompanied by Sanju Sahay on the tabla. This UK-based tabla player is a huge draw the festival, as his visits to India, and Banaras are only an annual or bi annual feature. He is regarded as the ‘khalifa’ or head of the Banaras gharana, despite being so young. Rakesh plays a well rehearsed presentation always; he never disappoints but for this writer, neither does he excite.

One of the finest concerts at the festival was the vocal concert by Jayateerth Mevundi. Hugely popular, this singer’s magnificent voice and riyaaz never fail to impress; this time the concert was laden with bhava too. He sang raga Malkauns, the lyrics were appropriately devotional. Also from Dharwar was Keshav Joshi on the tabla was superb too. Harmonium accompaniment was by Banaras’s own Dharamnath Mishra, who like all excellent accompanists, matches his embellishments to suit the main artist. In this case, he was muted and unobtrusive, sensing that Jayateerth did not need the distraction of additional ‘rastas’. (musical directions).

Next he sang a composition inescapably connected with the Kirana gharana Jamuna kinare mera gaaon, singing with such infectious enjoyment. He concluded with an abhang to which many in the audience sang and clapped along.

Yella Venkateshwara Rao played the festival’s only percussion solo, which is rare. Banaras is the home of the Banaras gharana of tabla and the Sankat Mochan festival has always featured wonderful tabla solos, mridangam and tabla jugalbandis, pakhawaj solos, and much else. Accompanied for part of the concert, in deference to his North Indian audience, by Delhi-based violinist R.Sridhar, and Yella Venkateshwara Rao were as usual in fine fettle. Always a draw on this stage, is his knack of pressing a particular point on his mridangam, that resonates and booms for long after he has stopped touching it!

Nayan Ghosh on the sitar played next, accompanied on the tabla by his talented son Ishaan. Nayan is a rare musician, equally proficient on the sitar as on the tabla; he started with the early morning raga Bhatiyar, playing with a contemplative mood. He followed it up with another morning raga Ramkali, which is rarely performed on the instrument. Next was  an unusual  form of raga Lalit, that  Nayan Ghosh had himself composed years ago, when he was a mere 18-year-old, and named it Brahma Lalit. He conceived it as being performed in the ‘Brahma mahurat’, just before the onset of dawn.  This had an interesting twist on both madhyams. It was a pleasure to hear this solid performance, yet, somehow the focus of the concert remained on Ishaan who enthralled with his frequent solo pieces.

The  concluding concert for the night was a vocal concert by  Rishi and Varun Mishra, commencing just when the sun arose. They started with another morning raga Basant Mukhari, a combination of Bhairav and Bhairavi. It was laudable to hear the younger generation of practitioners being given this august stage; the duo are disciples of Sajan Mishra.

It was heartening this year to see the festival focus on solid classical music performers, with better time management of concert slots. A few Banaras artists got featured too this year, which was laudable. A rare first was the pakhawaj accompaniment by the temple’s Mahant, Prof Vishwambharnath Mishra, to the Gundechas dhrupad vocal concert.