Artistes perform at the musical concert at Jayadev Bhavan auditorium in Bhubaneswar. Pictures by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, June 28: Renditions in Hindustani classical on Monday evening at an music concert regaled the audience in the capital.

The event organised by Harihara Sangeet Pratisthan was a congregation of well-known artistes and budding talents who showcased impressive duets at the Jayadev Bhavan auditorium.

Titled Jugalbandi, the concert presented duets in different genres of Hindustani music, including instrumental as well as vocal. Biswa Mohan Mishra’s Hawaiian guitar and Amit Kumar Das violin recital set the pace for the musical evening.

The duo left the audience awestruck with the instrumental rendition, taking the music lovers of the city by surprise playing Hindustani classical music on the western instrument of guitar and even violin that is prominent in Carnatic or Odissi forms of music.

“Although the common belief is that western instruments can only play rock music, it is a complete misconception. Music is universal and any instrument can play any form of music. In fact, the Hawaiian guitar I play, can be compared to instruments like sitar when it comes to sound,” said Mishra.

After a brilliant jugalbandi between these senior instrumentalists, it was the turn for the tabla players to win over the audience. Bijaya Kumar Das hailing from the Farakkabad Gharana and Chittaranjan Mohapatra from the Banaras Gharana contested during their duet recital on ek taal. They engaged in a battle of beats that amused the crowd and forced them to rain rounds of applauses.

“The musical battle or jugalbandi among the tabla players was thrilling. Das was vibrant but Mohapatra never lost his taal. Their consistency for such a long period was amazing,” said Prabhudatta Mohaty, a music student.

Guru Harihara Rath, of the Harihara Sangeet Pratisthan, who performed along with his young son Amit Kumar Rath presented the final rendition.

Rendering classical ragas, the guru presented various styles of rendering a raga in variant pitches. The younger Rath, a confident and promising vocalist, kept pace with his father, but needs even more finesse in the voice. Following the ragas, the duo also recited a Kabir song, Beet gaye din bhajan bina re. Brilliant tabla maestro Kulamani Sahoo accompanied them.