Reviews

Insync The Decade Festival

Insync TV channel, the only 24-hour channel dedicated to the classical arts, celebrated its 10th anniversary with three grand events in Chembur Fine Arts Auditorium, Mumbai. The music festival was curated by well-known music promoter Shashi Vyas, son of the iconic singer C.R. Vyas. Carefully presenting different hues of the diverse classical music of North India, Shashi Vyas ensured the representation of all the major vocal gharanas. The same attention was not shown to the instrumentalists who were presented, where the choice was dictated more by their worthiness as artists rather than the tradition to which they belonged; in any case, the instrumental tradition today has narrowed down to just three styles, which are generally followed.

The festival opened at 8 a.m. on 6 August 2023 with a  ‘Flute Symphony’ by Vivek Sonar and 30 of his senior disciples. Interestingly, they were attired in orange white and green,  seated at three levels, to depict the Indian tricolor, celebrating the spirit of our nation. Disciple of the legendary Hari Prasad Chaurasia of the Maihar gharana, Vivek is an acknowledged composer too. The next was a vocal presentation by the talented Manjiri Asnare Kelkar of the Jaipur Attrauli gharana. Student of the lesser known but hugely knowledgeable Kanetkar, Manjiri has been singing since her early 20s; in fact, she was hailed as Choti Kesar (referring to Kesarbai, the doyen of the gharana) because of her command of the style. In recent years, after her guru's death, she felt the need to hone her craft further and went to Kishori Amonkar two years before her death.

Manjiri sang raga Ramkali; the first composition was Radhe tore in vilambit Teen taal, in which she deftly built up the picture of the raga with slow, sure note usage, expertly executing the slow taans for which her gharana is famous. Slowly increasing the speed, she sang Un sang lagi, immortalised by Agra gharana doyen Faiyaz Khan. The old drut Teen taal bandish attributed to Kumar Gandharva, as he sang it so often, Jaja jaga was interesting, the badhat (progression) remaining strictly within the confines of the Jaipur Attrauli gharana, which was impressive. In today's world, with access to so many musical influences, it is admirable to see an artist like Manjiri sticking faithfully to her musical roots; her concerts make for deeply satisfying listening.

Manjiri next sang raga Malvi, which is usually associated with the evening, but she announced this was a rare morning form of Malvi; the composition was in Jhap taal, Ang sugandh, attributed to the founder of her gharana, Alladiya Khan, whose nom de plume was Ahmed Piya. Yati Bhagwat accompanied her on tabla and Anant Joshi on the harmonium.

The next vocalist was Shounak Abhisheki, who was announced as representing the Agra gharana. However, like his father, Jitendra Abhisheki, Shounak's gayaki style is a composite style, incorporating not merely elements of the Agra gharana, but also the Jaipur gharana, as he learnt from Kamal Tambe. Jitendra Abhisheki had learnt from guru Jagannath bua Purohit of the Agra gharana, Azmat Hussain Khan of the Khurja gharana, Gullubhai Jasdanwalla of the Jaipur Attrauli gharana and Azizuddin Khan, grandson of Alladiya Khan, founder of the Jaipur Attrauli gharana. In addition, he frequently sang compositions of his contemporaries like C.R. Vyas and Ram Ashrey Jha, making his musical legacy a rich tapestry.

Shounak sang two compositions in raga Nat Bhairav, both composed by C.R. Vyas. His work in the kharaj (bass, lower octave) during the vilambit portion was impressive. He next sang a rare Jaipur raga Khat Todi and moved on to Todi, in which he sang a very engaging tarana composed by Babanrao Haldankar, in which the 'sam' was off the beat in both the stayi and antara. His concerts are always interesting, sung with deliberation, with no desire to engage in gimmicks. Shounak was expertly accompanied by Sudhir Nayak on the harmonium and Mandar Purandik on the tabla.

The mood changed totally with the recital of Abhay Rustom Sopore on santoor. Abhay is the son and musical heir of the late Bhajan Sopori of Kashmir, a prolific composer who made significant changes to the santoor, like adding bass strings, which are pulled rather than tapped. The instrument is bigger, too; experimentation with the gauge of wires used has resulted in an instrument with a richer sound. The playing style is the Sopori baaj. Abhay, like his father, is a thinking musician, and he chose to present the rare raga Bheem, which was also the correct choice time-wise. His alap was expansive and soulful, with the additional novel sound of the notes on the kharaj wires. The alap was enhanced during the jor portion, as is traditional in the dhrupad tradition, with the accompaniment of pakhawaj by Rishi Shankar Upadhyay, creating a truly joyous and grand ambience. Abhay's compositions were in Jhap taal and Teen taal, including the traditional khayal, Hey nath. During the compositions, he was accompanied by the whiz kid of the Punjab gharana, Yashwant Vaishnav, and in the exhilarating ati drut portion, also by Rishi on the pakhawaj. Indeed, this was a racy, exciting concert that woke the audience that had been listening for the past four hours; deservedly, Abhay got a rousing standing ovation.

The next singer was Indrani Mukherji from Kolkata, singing in the Rampur and Kirana style of her guru, Arun Bhaduri. She chose raga Shudh Sarang, her beautiful voice skimming the notes with ease. Her vilambit khayal was composed by Agra gharana doyen Ratanjankar. Being equally adept in thumri, which she trained under Purnima Choudhury and Manju Sundaram, Indrani shifted to a kajri in Des, which she sang with expertise. Bringing in the flavour of Banaras thumri was Ram Kumar Mishra on the tabla and Sudhir Nayak on the harmonium.

The next performer was Manas Kumar from Assam on the violin. Manas wisely chose raga Mian Malhar instead of the traditional, somewhat staid, dry afternoon ragas; Manas played with a wonderfully mellow, moving sobriety. Violin is best suited to gayaki rather than tantrakaari-ang as there is no stroke work, and Manas's style reflects this. His short auchar was followed by compositions in vilambit Ek taal, Jhap taal and drut Ek taal. Ojas Adhiya on the tabla more than matched the violinist, his frequent interjections enhancing the recital. Today, the tabla accompaniment is no longer confined to giving the theka with one or two solo portions as was the case around 30-40 years ago; today, there is a continuous musical repartee between the instrumentalist artists on stage. Manas's next Saraswati Sarang fell somewhat flat after the excellence of his exposition in Mian Malhar, a raga he has clearly internalised successfully.

Next was Gwalior gharana singer Apoorva Gokhale, granddaughter of Gajananbuwa Joshi. Again, Apoorva cannot be regarded strictly only as a Gwalior gharana singer, as her lineage includes Agra and Jaipur too. Singing with confidence and mastery, Apoorva bewitched her audience. Multani, which is perceived as a somewhat dry raga, shone with Apoorva's handling. Her khayals in Jhumra taal,  Kavan des gaye and drut Ek taal Nainan mein aan baan were expertly sung with a plethora of beautiful taans. The next lyrical raga Gaur Malhar featured the iconic khayal,  Kaaheho and Saiyan more. Apoorva's singing is measured in proportion; she sings with 'asar' (feeling). She was accompanied by Anant Joshi and Abhay Daatar on the tabla.

Seventh-generation sitarist of the Imdadkhani gharana, Pune-based Shakir Khan played Charukesi, a favourite raga amongst North Indians, as it can be rendered at any time of the day and is not bound by rigid grammatical rules of note application. As usual, this was a polished performance. He was accompanied by Yashwant Vaishnav.

Kirana gharana's Kumar Mardur has a resonant, pleasing voice and is widely regarded as one of the fine singers of his generation. He sang Marwa before moving on to raga Shudh Kalyan, in which the traditional khayal, Bajo re, is attributed to Senia 17th-century composer Sadarang. He was accompanied nicely by Niranjan Lele on the harmonium.

Agra gharana’s popular singer Bharati Pratap from Bangalore sang raga Jhinjhoti . The composition by Mehboob Khan (Daras piya) was the well-known Akhiyan un sang lagi. The second lilting composition, Savare salone se lagi, was by another Agra doyen, Khadim Hussain Khan. Bharati concluded her concert with a beautifully sung kajri in Des, displaying the same imagination and connection with the swaras that she always displays. The ringing quality of her voice in the higher octave is highly appealing, as is her emotion-drenched singing. The accompanists were again Yati Bhagwat and Anant Joshi.

Debashish Bhattacharya, on the modified guitar, termed chaturangi, is from Kolkata; his training is in the Maihar tradition, though he is now also learning from Ajoy Chakrabarty. Due to time constraints, he played a sombre raga Darbari, a brief auchaar, and then a Teen taal Maseet khani gat. (Maseet Khan of the Senia gharana created the vilambit and madhyalaya Teen taal format of compositions that is commonly played by all instrumentalists today). His bolkaari, sonorous meends, and raagadaari impressed. Changing the slider to a thicker, denser one to create different sounds on the lower octave was admirable. The drut Ek taal bandish was followed by an equally exciting composition in Teen taal, the laya and the fast strokes clearly enunciated. Ram Kumar Mishra's accompaniment on the table enhanced the concert.

The last performance was by Anand Bhate, a disciple of Bhimsen Joshi. A golden resonating voice matches his prowess as a singer. He sang raga Malkauns, which is laudable as usually on stage performers prefer the less stark and easier to embellish other forms of Malkauns. His rendering, as expected, was in keeping with the spirit of the raga, not embellished with light movements at all. Anand's excellent breath control in the long taans was stupendous. Surprisingly, he next sang Basant, which is usually reserved for Spring. Both traditional compositions, Phagawa and  Endi endi gali gali, were beautifully sung.

The 14-hour-long musical marathon was truly an aural treat, each performer holding his own with elan. One must laud Insync TV for relentlessly promoting classical music and dance, not succumbing to the temptation to focus on the more commercially lucrative lighter forms of music and dance.

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