Journalism of Courage
After enthralling music afficianados for five days, the 65th edition of the Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav ended on a high note, with a power-packed final day. The first artiste of the day was Mahesh Kale, who started off with raag Shuddha Sarang, and the spell-bound audience could not stop applauding. Kale followed this with a bandish dedicated to his mother. He ended his performance with a tarana, dedicating it to the audience, which reciprocated with cheers and requests for ‘once more’, as Kale captured the moment on his cellphone camera.
This performance was followed by violinist Padma Shankar, who introduced the rhythmic sounds of Carnatic music into the milieu. She was accompanied by K Parthasarthy on mridangam, Harihar Sharmay on khanjira and Neela Vaidya on tanpura. She chose the ‘auspicious’ raag Hamsadhwani, and a composition by Tyaagraja, which was a musical representation of a conversation between Tyaagraja and Lord Ram. She later performed an Abhang, accompanied by Pandit Mauli Takalkar, and concluded her session with Tillana.
The next artiste was Pandit Sudhakar Chavan, a disciple of Pandit Dr Sudhakar Marathe, and an exponent of Kirana and Gwalior gharanas, who wowed the audience with raag Bhimpalasi. What he termed as an attempt at Abhang Manacha Raja (king of the mind), turned out to be one that perfectly suited the audience’s mood. Performing for the first time at Sawai, Sarang Kulkarni accompanied his father, Pandit Rajan Kulkarni, on the stage. The duo chose a bandish in raag Vaachaspati. As the proud father led the musical saga, his son propelled the melody further, and the performance concluded with thunderous applause from the audience.
Pandit Anand Bhate, a disciple of late Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, was the next artiste. He was accompanied by Sujog Kundalkar on harmonium, Bharat Kamat on tabla and Vinay Chitrav and Mukund Badrayani on tanpura. Hailing from Kirana gharana, Pandit Anand Bhate began with raag Yamankalyan, followed by a bhajan, Saubhagyada Lakshmi Baramma, which captivated the audience.
The Sawai stage was then graced by Ustad Shujat Khan, who wove a musical aura with his sitar, with Kaha aake rukne the raaste, followed by a folk song from Uttar Pradesh, Tere naino k laage katar sajni. Dr Prabha Atre, from Kirana gharana, delivered the final performance of the Mahotsav. She was accompanied by Madhav Modak on tabla, Suyog Kundalkar on harmonium and Chetana Banavat, Atindra Sadvadikar, Arti Thakur and Ashwini Thakur on tanpura. She started her performance with a rendition of raag Jogkans and ended it with a Devi Stuti in Raag Bhairavi , “Jagat janani bhava tharini”.
