’Acharya devo bhava’, a musical soiree to rejoice the start centenary of Acharya Bimalendu Mukherjee, was organised not too long ago by Kailas Sangeet Belief at Chowdaiah Memorial Corridor in Bengaluru. Two well-known Hindustani musicians, Anupama Bhagwat and Kaushiki Chakraborty, paid tributes to the Acharya.
Anupama, one of many foremost disciples of Acharya Bimalendu Mukherjee and an exponent of Imdadkhani/Etawah gharana, selected the night melody raag Shyam Kalyan for her solo sitar recital. She constructed up the raag via an expansive and meditative alaap. She embellished her raag vistaar with meends, emphasising the Kalyan and Kamod ang, with delicate stretching of the gandhar observe that distinguishes it from raag Shuddh-Sarang in her prelude of ‘anibaddh’ alap part earlier than the gat.
Anupama’s improvisational skills have been discernible in her growth of this raag via alap and rhythmic patterns of the jod and swift jhalas. Within the gat part, Anupama took up a vilambit (sluggish tempo) composition in Teen taal for a meticulous exploration. She was ably supported on the tabla by Meghashyam Keshav. The deep inward high quality of her music, devoid of any gimmickry, was a refreshing expertise.
After the vilambit Teen taal composition, Anupama demonstrated her swift taans within the Drut Teen taal, increase a reverberating climax.
Fashionable Hindustani vocalist Kaushiki Chakraborty commenced her late night recital with the evening melody Rageshree. In her Vilambit khayal composition ‘Sakal sukh devo kartar’, Kaushiki launched right into a soulful alap, which was enhanced by the nuanced sangat offered by Murad Ali Khan on the sarangi and Tanmay Deochake on the samvadini.
Kaushiki‘s voice negotiated the three octaves with ease. Her felicity within the growth of this sringar pradhan raag, bearing shut affinity to raags reminiscent of Bageshree and Malgunji. was noteworthy. Outfitted with an enormous repertoire of bandishes , Kaushiki displayed her prowess by presenting a bouquet of three drut bandishes in Rageshree: ‘Kar phool sohe virajan par, chanda sohe amal gagan par’ (Teen taal), ‘Jao jao giridhari’ (Roopak taal) and “Sundar naveli nar’ (Ekwai taal) with sargams characterised by vibrant speedy taankari. The vilambit exposition contrasted fantastically with the drut renditions.
The younger tabla artiste Ishaan Ghosh impressed the viewers along with his ebullient efficiency. Teen or Rupak or Ekwai taal, Ishaan was in his component whereas executing the tihais. He created enticing rhythmic patterns along with his explorations and variations of the taals.
Kaushiki subsequent proved her aptitude for bol banav thumri singing with a poignant rendition of ‘Jiya mora na lage bairi balamva’ in raag Mishra Piloo, with appropriate musical inputs from Tanmay Deochake and Murad Ali whereas Ishaan Ghosh was at his greatest within the swift Laggi part of the Thumri’s climax as Kaushiki sang a plaintive ‘saiyya na ja’ chorus.
The person performances have been adopted by a jugalbandi for a kajri in Manj Khamaj and Dadra, ‘Barsan lagi badariya rumjhum ke’, popularised by the legendary Girija Devi. The 2 seamlessly interspersed their Manj Khamaj with Malhar. On viewers’s farmayish, they concluded with raag Bhairavi as Kaushiki sang a tarana and Anupama performed a composition of her guru, Acharya Bimalendu Mukherjee.