Time To Rewind the Reels

Vadya Vrind,one of the oldest national orchestras of the country,rekindled memories of a passing era.

It was 1951,and Indian classical music was venturing into an experimental phase. The Late Pt Ravi Shankar was at the helm of the All India Radio (AIR) in Delhi,and in charge of forming Vadya Vrind a national orchestra,which would preserve Hindustani and Carnatic music traditions. With a 30-strong contingent of Indian musicians,Shankar created some of the most memorable compositions of the time. Now,62 years later,the numbers in Vadya Vrind have dwindled to 18 but the charm as the audience discovered on Friday when the orchestra played at Siri Fort for the centenary celebration of Indian cinema is intact.

Bolstered by an additional crew of freelance musicians,the orchestra attempted to recreate the aura of 100 years of Indian cinema. Their repertoire comprised several of Shankars compositions as well as new pieces created by the present director,Raas Behari Dutta,for the centenary festival.

The hour-long performance was punctuated by applause from a sparsely filled theatre,which was familiar with their music. Fifty-something-year-old tabla maestro Anup Ghosh,who has been a member of the orchestra since 1986,recalls,There was a time when we would play to packed audiences across the country. Now,we are called for ceremonial performances. The last time they performed in public was at a tribute concert for Shankar in January at the Indira Gandhi Centre for the Arts,and before that at the India Habitat Centre for a similar concert.

Shankars influence is hard to ignore. On Friday,they performed one of Shankars well-known compositions,Awakening,which symbolises a new beginning or a new day and is a melodious fusion of western and classical musical instruments.

The theme song for the 100-year celebrations,on the other hand,was a tribute to some evergreen melodies such as soundtracks from films such as Border,Roja and Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge. This piece received an enthusiastic response from the audience,obviously familiar with these iconic films.

In paying homage to Shankar,the orchestra has not altered its arrangement. As director,Shankar had included western instrumentation in the orchestra,which is still visible in the form of the clarinet,violins and the Spanish guitar. In the years after Shankar,the orchestra was carried forward by directors such as Pannalal Ghosh and sarod maestro Aashish Khan.

To wrap up the event on Friday,the orchestra rendered AR Rahmans Jai Ho accompanied by a shehnai.

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