A rainbow of romantic melodies – Bengal Classical Music Fest in bloom


Dhaka music lovers thoroughly enjoyed the jugalbandi tabla recital by the celebrated Pt. Anindo Chatterjee, and his son Anubrata Chatterjee. Pt. Anindo Chatterjee, an exponent of the renowned Farrukhabad Gharana, started off with Uthan and Peshkar, as Murad Ali Khan recited Raga Charukeshi on sarangi. The artiste duo played various kayda like mishra jati kayda, tisra jati kayda, along with old-school kayda composed by legendary Ustad Ahmed Jan Thirkua. Anubrata Chatterjee recited an Ajrara Gharana kayda, popularised by Ustad Habib Uddin Khan. The presentation instantly earned rounds of applause. Anubrata performed a Lucknow Gharana gaut and speedy composition by Ustad Keramat Ullah Khan. A jugalbandi recital by the father and son, followed. Pt. Anindo Chatterjee styled an old gaut, created by Ustad Masit Khan. The clarity of beat, safai and a precise permutation of bol were the main features of the recital. Anubrata recited a Pt. Jnan Prakash Ghosh rela while his father played an Ahmed Jan Thirkua tukra, and demonstrated the nuances of tha tabla, producing sounds of a conch with it. The recital also contained Punjabi Chakradar, sweet loggi, and a bit of sawal jawab.
Pt. Uday Bhawalkar performed dhrupad based on Raga Abhogi and Raga Saraswati. He slowly blossomed the melody of the ragas in the dhrupad alap part and presented immaculate bandish and bistar of the featured ragas.
Pt. Sanjoy Bandopadhyay diffused the melody of sweetness and love in his recital of Raga Shana Kanada. He adorably showcased the essence of the raga through his alap, jod, jhala presentation. He later played Raga Pilu Jongla on his sitar.
Master vocalist Ustad Rashid Khan performed Raga Lalit as the concluding artiste of the night. The Rampur-Sahaswan Gharana Ustad stood out for the emotive overtones in his melodic elaboration in mandra saptak. According to the Ustad, “The emotional content may be in the alaap, or the bandish, or giving expression to the meaning of the lyrics.” This brings a touch of modernity to his style, as compared to the older maestros, who placed greater emphasis on technique and skilful execution of difficult passages.

The Ustad’s rendition of vilambit tintaal bandish “Bhor Hi Aye Jogia Tum Alakh Jagao” and drut tintaal bandish “Kahe Sautania Dekh Birmaye” was followed by a tarana performance. His magical taankari, ragdari, mesmerising meend, murki, sargam combination, bakro and Sapat taan performance, immaculate gamak, speedy ascending and descending in three octaves, rare fondness of bolbistar and immersing in swar during the performance were outstanding. Pt. Subhankar Banerjee embellished the performance on tabla.
The maestro ended his performance with a popular thumri “Yaad Piya Ki Aaye”, shedding light on various ragas.
PERFORMING TONIGHT
AT BENGAL CLASSICAL MUSIC FEST
Vocal presentation by students of Music Dept, DU
Sitar by students of Bengal Parampara Sangeetalay
Santoor by Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma
Khyal vocals by Kumar Mardur
Sitar by Pt Kushal Das
Khyal vocals by Arati Ankalikar
Flute by Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia