The popular festival, jhulan yatra — which celebrates the romantic spirit of Krishna — always evokes a musical atmosphere, especially where the North Calcutta residence of Ramkanai Adhikary, widely known as Jhulanbari, is concerned. This year, their five-day programme began with a rendition of a dhrupad by Sudip Pal. His Surdasi Malhar became more pleasant as it progressed, especially along with the able use of pakhawaj by Swarup K. Ghosal. Pradip Palit’s support on the harmonium was equally important to the performance.
Tarun Chakraborty enhanced the tuneful ambience with smooth renditions of Jayjayanti and Sohini on the violin. He also played a familiar bhajan, “Payoji maine”, enchanting the listeners with a jhinjhoti gat at the end. Sujit Saha accompanied him on the tabla. The presentation by Pune-based vocalist, Mandar Gadgil, who started with Raga Puriya Kalyan was thoroughly enjoyable. Both his vilambit and drut kheyal were arresting. Gadgil also sang a Marathi abhang. Next came a sarod recital by Debashish Bhattacharya of Raga Megh with Parimal Chakraborty on the tabla.
The surbahar and sitar recital of the veteran artist, Kartik Kumar (picture, left), added a new dimension to the festival. He brought out the charm of Yaman Kalyan, playing the alaap and jod on the surbahar and the gat on the sitar. He delighted the audience with a vilambit gat in Tilak Shyam as well as his own creation in Kala Ranjani. The music flowed on with keertans, Mishra Khamaj and Bhairavi, with Sujit Saha on the tabla. Sucheta Ganguly Burman highlighted the charm of Behaag on the harmonium with support from Jyoti Goho and with Ashoke Mukherjee on the tabla. This was followed by thumris in Mishra Khamaj, kajri, jhula and dadra.
Biplab Bhattacharya’s solo tabla recital consisted of various kaydas, parans and relas based on teentaal. The rhythm and tune of the festival were boosted by Wasim Ahmed Khan’s generous voice, who began his performance Bageshree and charmed the audience with a nom-tom alaap, a special feature of the Agra Gharana. His next rendition, in Raga Gaud Malhaar, was as beautiful. His final presentation, the bhajan, “Kahan gaye shyam” in Raga Desh, was the perfect conclusion to the programme. Sarwar Hussain on the sarengi, Pradip Palit on the harmonium and Ashoke Mukherjee ably accompanied Khan.
Kajalrekha Music Foundation celebrated its annual function at Uttam Mancha — a part of their philanthropic endeavour. After the inaugural ceremony, Omkar Dadarkar started the programme with a vocal recital, assisted by Sanjay Adhikari on the tabla and Gourav Chatterjee on the harmonium. His expert voice expressed the essence of Raga Shree well. The magic continued through his vilambit kheyal in tilwara followed by a drut kheyal in teentaal and a bhajan. The sitar player, Sugato Nag, explored the allure of Raga Ramdasi Malhar through his intricate movements. He gave an arresting performance in Tilak Kamod as well, accompanied by Ujjwal Bharati on the tabla.
The tabla lahara of Yogesh Samsi (picture, right) was a wonderful experience for the audience. His adroit rendering of bols and their demonstration, the manifestation of the nuances of different Gharanas in his performance and the effortless presentation of complicated compositions helped the recital scale an astonishing height. Hiranmoy Mitra beautifully assisted him on the harmonium. The combination of the flute and the tabla by Praveen Godkhindi and Shubhankar Banerjee, respectively, held a flourish. Although Godkhindi was a little hesitant at the start of Raga Bhupali, the wonderful performance on the tabla by Shubhankar helped him get in the mood. The matta taal composition highlighted the intricacies of both the raga and the tala. The conclusion, a tuneful rendition of “Yaad piya ki aye” left a mark on the audience.
Picture of Yogesh Shamsi. Kajalrekha Music Foundation
