Mangalacharana organised its 8th Sangeet Sammelan as “Yuva Taal Vadya Utsav” (Youth Percussion Festival). Such a unique concept, focused only on young and rising percussionists (up to twenty-five years of age), was held on the 15th of September at Sisir Manch. The objective of the festival, as envisaged by renowned musician couple, vocalist Indrani Mukherjee and tabla player Apurba Mukherjee, was to inspire and encourage the torchbearers of various types of Indian classical percussion instruments and their rich cultural heritage, as described in Natyashastra (Pancham Veda). Mukherjees, very rightly, believes that timely recognition and appreciation will ignite the passion within these youngsters who, despite numerous lucrative options scattered all around their paths, chose the demanding arena of Indian classical music. The day-long festival showcased nine percussion items, including tabla, pakhawaj, shreekhol, and mridangam players in five solos, three duets and an ensemble.

Among the tabla soloists, Aarchik Banerjee, by the dint of his unwavering focus and resilience, has already arrived in the haloed zone of celeb musicians. In the final slot, his version of teental, replete with shuruwat, peshkar, rela, and compositions of his father-guru, Pandit Subhankar Banerjee, was brilliant. So was Zargham Akram Khan, worthy son-disciple of Ustad Akram Khan. He too chose teental adorned with peshkar and various kaidas, including tisra jati. The Madhya laya rela was again in tisra and several gats with superb tihais in fast laya. He maintained the finesse of Ajrada both in padhant and its nikas (execution). Anjishnu Mukherjee, son-disciple of Apurba Mukherjee, Pandit Arup Chattopadhyay, and mridangam-Vidwan S Sekhar, played chartal-ki-sawari (11 beats) studded with a unique shuruwat, peshkar, and tisra-jati kaida with superb clarity and balance of both hands. Roudraswa Rakshit, disciple of Pandit Bimal Roy, chose teental that showcased traditional and Pandit Shankar Ghosh’s compositions nicely. All these soloists were supported by harmonium wizard Hiranmay Mitra, a versatile musician proficient in tabla as well. Shyam Kalyan Majumdar is one of those passion-driven musicians who did not hesitate to embrace the pakhawaj, a dwindling instrument. Trained by several gurus belonging to different pakhawaj gharanas, he gave a power-packed recital in chautal to Subrata Bhattacharya’s harmonium accompaniment.

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The duets were led by Suprabhat Banerjee and Nabagato Bhattacharya, brilliant, renowned disciples of Pandit Samar Saha. They played teental in sparklingly vociferous Benares style. Another teental-based skillful dialogue between tabla and shreekhol, played by Arkodeep Das, disciple of Pandit Kumar Bose, and Samapriyo Goswami, disciple of Pandit Gopal Barman, respectively, was very interesting due to the two instruments’ tonality. Sajal Das provided harmonium support in both items. A jugalbandi between Subhadrakalyan Rana’s Hindustani tabla and Aroni Kanti Bhattacharya’s Carnatic mridangam competently exemplified universal brotherhood while displaying different shades of rupak-mishrachapu (seven-beat cycles) with élan. Both Rana (disciple of Pandits Shankar and Bickram Ghosh) and Bhattacharya (disciple of Vidwans N Shankar and Sundarkumar) were supported by Subrata Bhattacharya (harmonium) and N Debashis (taaldharak), respectively.

Taal Tarang, the only tabla ensemble of the soiree, featuring Archishman Sinha Roy, Anchit Majhi, Swarnabha Sarkar, Iraban Jha, and Arka Ghosh, all students of tabla maestro Tanmay Bose, neatly played the traditional teental compositions of the Farukhabad Gharana’s style. Earlier the day commenced with a Guru Vandana by Indrani’s students and was inaugurated by all the senior musicians who braved inclement weather to witness the promising Future Percussionists. Some of them were school-going children, but the standard of their performance was noteworthy.

Two annual rituals

Rhythm Academy of Music, under the able wings of tabla maestro Sujit Saha and his son-disciple Surojit Saha, held its 43rd Annual Classical Music Conference in a packed Triguna Sen hall. The evening’s highlight was renowned flautist Pandit Nityanand Haldipur’s recital. He played a soulful version of raga Desh in gayaki-anga, wonderfully supported by the host. A Pahadi dhun accomplished the veterans’ offering.

Earlier the evening commenced with Taal-Vichitra, an annual ritual observed by the Master and disciples of Rhythm. This year a group of twelve children on the tabla, Dhak, Dhol, Kasor, Ghanta, and Dafli, played teental-based Kaeda, Tukra, and Udaan and closed with Dadra. The skill shown by Ritojit, Saunak, Rudrajit, Saptarshi, Rinan, Vihaan, and Neelanjan was worth mentioning. Rising khayal exponent Arjun Roy, disciple of young Guru Omkar Dadarkar, finely delineated raga Puriya Dhanashree and a bhajan to the sensitive accompaniment of Surajit Saha’s tabla and Suraj Sharma’s harmonium. Subhranshu Bhattacharya, disciple of violin maestros Rabin Ghosh and Sisirkona Dhar Choudhury, skillfully played ragas Durga (jhaptal), Hansadhwani (teental), and a sweet dhun in Sindhu Bhairavi. Krishnendu Pal’s tabla provided appropriate support.

Another annual ritual of celebrating the birthday (1 October) of the legendary sitar and vocal maestro Dhruv Tara Joshi by Goud Malhar was fondly observed by his devoted disciple Dr Tapasi Ghosh in a small but warm baithak organised at her residence. The nostalgic memories shared by several disciples of the loving Guru portrayed him as an erudite multilingual genius who actually groomed Vilayat Khan, his late ustad, Inayet Khan’s son, but treated the fatherless ten-year-old with genuine respect due a senior Khalifa. This was so because this confirmed bachelor was very down to earth, caring, reliable, and witty. The ‘Rishi’-like guru literally illuminated the seekers’ minds!

It was evident when Tapasi chose Lalita Gauri, a blend of morning raga Lalit with evening melody Gauri. The keynotes, such as shuddh and teevra madhyams and interlinking phrases, stood out in the light of Agra nuances and open akar. With supporters like Arpan Bhattacharjee (tabla) and Aloke Roy (harmonium), her raga elaboration took to the rhythmic path of the madhya-vilambit teental bandish ‘Pritam Saiyan Daras Dikha Ja.’ Her bol-vistar was contained within one avartan with neat arrival on sam. She eschewed behlawa to reach out to gamak taans, and soon a Pran Piya composition set to drut teental arrived with interesting bol-baant and taans, wherein both madhyams and raagroop kept their presence intact with commendable clarity. The learned vocalist’s next choice, an emotive raga Yaman, changed the ambience completely. So did her concluding thumri with its soulful bol-banav.

Nava-Ratri

The ‘Nava-Ratri’ (literally: nine nights) is observed twice a year, but the one celebrated in autumn as a pre-Dashahara invocation of Mother Goddess Durga’s nine incarnations is better known as the Sharada Navaratri festival all over India, while Bengal lustily celebrates a five-day-long Durga Puja. The Sringeri Sankara Hall, Kolkata, unlike the rest of the merrymaking pandal hoppers, quietly organises aesthetically pleasing classical music and dance programs on all nine evenings every year. Like previous years, the annual Sangeet Seva began on the first auspicious evening of Navratri this year too.

On the Ashtami evening (10 October), Shreya Kolathaye, a very talented Carnatic vocalist from Mangalore, gave her melodic offerings inside the sanctum sanctorum. The solo concert was intelligently planned by her. Ragas like Kalyani, Bhairavi, and Kedar are counted among Durga and Shiva’s innumerable names and favourite places, respectively. The aptly selected rich lyrics of compositions like Shive pahi maam Ambike, Shree Kamalaambike, or the famously sung Sarva mangala maangalye perfectly suited the occasion. Kamalakanta’s Shyama Sangeet in Bengali was also well sung. Her mellifluous voice has a good range, and her clear enunciation of lyrics, especially in Sanskrit compositions, made them sparkle. The neravel taans and sargam taan patterns were very commendable, but she could do better without the extra-fast tempo to ward off avoidable slips.

The writer is a senior music critic