Pt Upendra Bhat, Shrinivas Joshi, Anand Bhate and Viraj Joshi -- disciples of Pt Bhimsen Joshi -- offered a musical ‘Arghya’ on the final day of the 71st Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav in Pune on Sunday. They were accompanied by Bharat Kamat (tabla), Avinash Dighe (harmonium), Vaishali Kuber, Anuja Bhave-Kshirsagar, Sandip Jadhav and Dhananjay Bhate (tanpura), and Mauli Takalkar (taal).
Double Violin Performance Offered Audience Unique Auditory Experience
The fifth session of Sawai proved to be one that evoked a sense of longing with the melodies of Raag Marwa and provided a distinct auditory pleasure through the unique experience of the double violin performance.
The fourth performance of the day featured Sawani Shende, who began her presentation with Raag Maarwa. The initial composition, ‘Guru Naam ka Sumiran Kariye…’, was a Bandish set to the slow rhythmic cycle of Vilambit Ektaal. She followed this with another Bandish, ‘Parmeshwar Roop Sapta Suran Me…’, in Madhya Laya Addha Teental. These first two compositions were self-composed by Sawani Shende, a pattern she had also followed during her previous performance at the Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Festival in 2010.
She continued with the drut Bandish, ‘Ho guniyana mil…’, and then sang a Dadra in Mishra Maaru Bihag, ‘Matwale Balma Naina mila ke mat jaana…’, which was set to tune by her father, Dr Sanjeev Shende. Sawani Shende concluded her recital with a powerful, self-composed Abhanga of Samarth Ramdas, ‘Ram Gaava Raam Dhyava…’. She was accompanied by Rohit Mujumdar on tabla, Rahul Gole on harmonium, and Preeti Pandharpurkar-Joshi and Shruti Vaidya on tanpura.
The second-last performance was by Dr L Shankar. He started with Raag Jhinjothi in the traditional Ragam Tanam Pallavi style. The interesting part of his performance was that he performed the Pallavi in a taal of 9¼ beats, which was then expertly simplified by the tabla player Amit Kavathekar by displaying sections of 2-2-2-2-TaKaTaKiTa, which combined to 9¼ beats. He then played another piece in Raag Gaurimanohari.
The sixth performance of the day was presented by Pandit Venkatesh Kumar, who chose Raag Puriya for his main presentation. He began with a composition set to the slow rhythmic cycle of Vilambit Ektaal, the Bandish being ‘Phoolan Ki Harwa…’. This was followed by the second Bandish, ‘Gajare Ban Kar Aayi…’, which was performed in Teental. He then started Raag Kedar with a short alaap, which made the audience familiar with the mood, and then sang the Bandish ‘Jhankar Pari…’, followed by the famous Kedar Bandish ‘Kanha re Nand Nandan…’. He ended his performance with a Kannada bhajan and the Marathi Abhanga ‘Ye ga ye ga Vithabai…’. Pandit Venkatesh Kumar was accompanied by Bharat Kamat on tabla, Suyog Kundalkar on harmonium, and Shivraj Patil and Nagnath Nagesh on tanpura. Anand Deshmukh anchored the festival.
Vocal Music Maestros Graced First Half of Final Day with Melodious Performances at Sawai
Vocal music maestros dominated the first half of the fifth and final session of ‘Sawai’ on Sunday with their melodious performances. Many promising expressions of musical talent from both veteran and young artists were presented before the audience.
The last day of the 71st Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav started with Pandit Upendra Bhat with Raag Asavari (Komal Rishabh). He sang ‘Sabahi Mera hot…’ in Vilambit Ektaal, followed by ‘Mein to tumaro Dasi…’ in drut Teental. He then sang a Raag Hindol Bahar Bandish, ‘Koyaliyan bole chale jaat…’, in Teental. He then sang a Kannada bhajan followed by a traditional Warkari Abhanga, ‘Samacharana tujhe dekhile…’. He ended his power-packed performance with the Abhanga ‘Yach sathi kela hota attahaas…’. He was accompanied by Niranjan Lele on harmonium, Sachin Pawgi on tabla, Ramakant Paranjape on violin, Ganesh Chakankar on pakhawaj, along with Vinayak Hegde and Dhananjay Bhate on tanpura.
The second performance was by Shruti Vishwakarma-Marathe, who started with a powerful Raag Patadeep, beginning with the Bandish ‘Naiyya mori paar karo…’ in Vilambit Teental. She then continued with the drut Teental Bandish ‘Jaage more Bhaag…’. She then sang a Tarana in Ektaal. She ended her performance with a Nirguni bhajan made popular by Pandit Kumar Gandharva, ‘Nirbhay Nirgun…’. The uniqueness of her harkats and murkya was greatly appreciated by the audience. She was accompanied by Pranav Gurav on tabla, Leeladhar Chakradeo on harmonium, along with Aditi Pote and Tejal Kulkarni on tanpura and vocal support.
The third performance of the day was by Aniruddha Aithal. He started with the Vilambit Teental Bandish ‘Saheb Jamaal…’ in Raag Multani. The stability and maturity in the performance displayed by Aniruddha enthralled the audience. He gradually increased the laya of Ektaal as the badhat of the Raag progressed. He then sang ‘Nainan me Aan Ban…’ in drut Ektaal, which marked the end of Multani. He then sang a Kannada Rangageet, ‘Moksh sadana moh harana…’, which provided a good contrast to Raag Multani. He ended with a powerful Kannada bhajan, ‘Odi Barayya Vaikunthapati…’. The audience loved the performance, and he received a standing ovation and was asked to sing for a little more time, during which he sang the last part of the Kannada bhajan. He was accompanied by Ravindra Katoti on harmonium, Bharat Kamat on tabla, along with Digambar Jadhav and Akshay Tawade on tanpura. Anand Deshmukh anchored the Mahotsav.
The Vatsalabai Joshi Award, presented annually by the Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal, was conferred today at the 71st Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Festival upon Mauli Takalkar of Pune, who has provided rhythmic accompaniment (taal sangat) to four generations of artists for over eight decades. The award, which consists of a cash prize of Rs 51,000 and a citation, was presented to Mauli Takalkar at the Maharashtra Mandal’s sports complex in Mukundnagar. Present on the occasion were Srinivas Joshi, Executive President of the Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal, and trustees Shilpa Joshi, Shubhada Mulgund, Milind Deshpande, Dr Prabhakar Deshpande, and Anand Bhate.
