The Rhythm Got Us

The maddening traffic sounds hardly qualified as the lead up to this rhythm fest. Visitors streamed in at the Mahalaxmi Lawns in Karvenagar on Friday evening led on by cacophonous honking and confused hollering around the messy parking space. But once the bikes were parked and the cars dexterously made to fit into cavernous spaces,the pass-holders breezed past a check-post manned by volunteers,into musical heaven. A semi-circle of white chairs sat facing two big screens on a damp lawn. On an elevated seating area,more chairs abound,directly facing the stage. A slight delay in the proceedings was agreed upon to accomodate audience members who were dodging the heavy traffic.

When the venue looked reasonably full,Pandit Kumar Bose,Pandit Anindo Chatterjee,Pandit Suresh Talwalkar and Vidhwaan Vikku Vinayakram formally inaugurated the festival,while actor Rahul Solapurkar efficiently took over the emceeing duties. Tabla player Shubhankar Bannerjee and Srikhol vaadak Gopal Burman opened the evening with an energetic jugalbandi . The crowd was still settling in by the time they finished,when Pandit Anindo Chatterjee came on to the stage. Accompanied by his shagird of 12-years,Pandit Chatterjee embarked on a subtle,calculated rhythmic journey that left the audience swaying for more.

In the 15 minute breaks that preceded every perfomance,an exodus would head towards the food stalls. Yes,the kokum sharbat,sabudana khichdi,pav bhaji and more on offer were just as delectable as the musical fare! Once the chompfest was over,it was time for Ranjit Barot to take over. The drum beats seemed to elevate the moods of everyone to another level. Heads shook and nodded as sunny jazz beats lit up the nippy evening. For the last song,classical vocalist Mahesh Vinayakram came on to the stage to give the audience a hearty fill of the good-natured versatality of world music. In a performance that was slightly cut short by time restrictions,Barot and his band stole the show and brought out hoots and encore calls.

The evening of September 17 hosted Djembe legend Taufiq Qureshi,tabla player Bickram Ghosh with V Suresh,and Pandit Suresh Talwalkar to another rousing display of percussion magic. The last day today will be split into two segments of performances – Vijay Ghate with Bhavani Shankar,Gino Banks,and Vidhwaan Vikku Vinayakram with Selva Ganesh V,will perform in the morning,starting 9:00 am; Fazal Qureshi with Sridhar Parthasarthy,Navin Sharma and Nitin Shankar,Pandit Kumar Bose,and Sivamani will perform in the evening,starting 6:00 pm.