Musical Wednesdays - January, 2005

The New Year’s first Wednesday recital featured vocal music by ITC SRA scholar Nilanjana Roy. Disciple of Guru Ulhas Kashalkar, she presented khayals in Raga Yaman and Raga Chhayanat. Able tabla accompaniment wa provided by Tarak Saha while Rupashree Bhattacharya manned the harmonium.

The second week’s Wednesday recital brought ITC SRA scholar Gourab Chatterjee to the microphone. Presently being trained by Guru Arun Bhaduri, he began with khayals in Ragan Shuddha Kalyan. He then sang khayals in Raga rageshree, ending with the Bhajan “Main dwar khol kar baitha hoon” Chandrabhan played the tabla while Rupashree Bhattacharya gave harmonium support.

19th January 2005 brought a visitor from Texas, USA. A student of the late Suresh Mishra and now training under Ustad Ashish Khan, Amelia has also received vocal training under ITC SRA Guru Girija Devi. She began with alap, jod and jhala in Raga Marwa, followed by vilambit and drut gats. She concluded with a dhun in Mishra Khamaj.

Musical Wednesdays – October – December , 2004

In Kolkata, October is often replete with holidays because of Durga Puja. In 2004, only one Wednesday recital could be scheduled for the month. It featured a guest artiste from Varanasi, Dr. Ritwik Sanyal. Presently Head of the Vocal Music Department of Benaras Hindu University, Dr. Sanyal belongs to the famed Dagar gharana of Dhrupad singers, trained by Ustad Zia Moinuddin Dagar and Zia Fariduddin Dagar Beginning his recital with an elaborate alap in Raga Jog, he presented a dhrupad by Nayak Bakshu set to choutala, “Pyari tere nainan”, following it up with a Baba Kali Das bandish set to teevra tala “Ved so nad”. Invoking the Goddess Durga, he sang “Daya kar dayani” in Raga Yaman, set to sooltala. His concluding item was a dhamar in Raga Bageshree “Nath chale aavat”. Tapas Das accompanied him on the pakhawaj and Rupashree Bhattacharya on the harmonium.

ITC Sangeet Research Academy organised a Bijoya Sammelan on 3rd November 2004. As has become almost customary, ITC SRA Guru Arun Bhaduri sang for the occasion. In a jubilant mood, he began with khayals in Raga Multani and then presented khayals in Ragas Durga, Anandi and Adana. He concluded with a bhajan made popular by the late Guru A.Kanan “Main dwar khol kar baitha hoon”. His accompanists were Tarak Saha on the tabla, Jyoti Goho on the harmonium and Gourab Chatterjee on vocals.

The second week’s Wednesday recital presented instrumental music. ITC SRA scholar Supratik Sengupta, presently being trained by Guru Budhadev Dasgupta, began his sitar recital with alap, jod, and jhala in Raga Puriya Dhanashree, followed by vilambit and drut gats. He concluded with a gat in Raga Rageshree. Gopal Mishra provided tabla support.

In the last Wednesday recital of November, Omkar Dadarkar presented a vocal recital. Disciple of Guru Ulhas Kashalkar, He began the evening with khayals in Raga Shree, after which he presented khayals in Ragas Anandi and Sindhura. He concluded with a bhajan. Sandip Roy Chowdhury provided tabla support while Rupashree Bhattacharya was on the harmonium.

Wednesday recitals in December began with Ranjani Ramachandran’s vocal recital. Disciple of Guru Ulhas Kashalkar, she began with khayals in Raga Puriya Dhanashree and then sang khayals in Raga Chhayanat, concluding with a Thumri. Swapan Mukherjee was her tabla accompanist while Gourab Chatterjee was at the harmonium.

On 8th December, Samarth Nagarkar, disciple of Guru Ulhas Kashalkar, began with “E ma dhan ghan re”, a khayal in Raga Bihag set to vilambit tilwada tala, after which he sang the ever-popular “Aba ho lalan main ka” set to drut teentala. Turning to Raga Yaman, he presented “Tori nazaria lage pyari” set to teentala. He concluded with Raga Desh, “Firat na fere naina” set to jhaptala and finally “Eree bansuri” in drut teentala. Aslam Khan provided tabla accompaniment while ITC SRA scholar Sandeep Bhattacharya was on the harmonium.

On 15th December 2004, Rita Ganguli, noted thumri exponent who received talim from the famed Siddeshwari Devi and Begum Akhtar, gave a vocal recital. Beginning with the pragya virahini nayika mood, she sang “More shyam na aaye” in Raga Jhinjhoti. Turning then to a mugdha virahini nayika mood, she sang “ Ayo hai phagunmasa” set to rupak tala. She then presented the dadra “Aayila Banwari” and then the popular “Nirmohi tora jiya kaise jadu dala”, after which she sang ‘Raski boond pade”. She went on to present ghazals “Hava mein raksa hai”, “Tere karib aake’, “Aake hum bichhade” and “Nazar uthake”. She concluded with Bengali poet Shakti Chattopadhyay’s famous “Abani badi aachho”. Ananda Gopal Bandyopadhyay provided excellent tabla accompaniment while Sandip Bhattacharjee coaxed tunes on the harmonium.

22nd December brought ITC SRA scholar Pampa Banerjee to the dais. Smt Shruti Sadolikar Katkar is presently training her. She sang Raga Bihag, beginning with the bada khayal “Jogiya ne man bourayo”, after which she presented “Shyam mori bindiya na niharo”. She concluded with a thumri in Raga Khamaj. Gopal Mishra played the tabla while Rupashree Bhattacharya wa a t the harmonium.

The last Wednesday of 2004 was spent listening to instrumental music. Abir Hussain, ITC-SRA scholar being trained by Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta, presented a sarod recital accompanied by Sri Ashok Saha on the tabla. He began with Raga Rageshree, presenting alap, jod and jhala followed by vilambit and drut gats set to teentala. He concluded with an introductory alap and a madhyalaya teentala gat in Raga Pilu.

International Music Day , October 1, 2004:

At ITC Sangeet Research Academy, it has become customary to celebrate International Music Day with performances by employees and their children. However, on this October 1, instead of the usual morning’s variety programme, the scholars followed it up by presenting recordings of world famous performers of different genres of music, thus ensuring that the event really portrayed music of the world. Veteran octogenarian vocalist Shrimati Dipali Nag inaugurated the programme commenting that universality is a recent concept. "In our days there was no International Music Day! This is a welcome addition to our calendar and I am looking forward to the celebrations."

The programme began with two Odissi songs presented by Raghunath Panda of the Administration Department. Shahana Khan, daughter of Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan, sang a khayal in Raga Yaman set to teentala, which was by followed by a tarana in the same Raga by Swati and Sweta Mishra, daughters of Purushottam Mishra of the Accounts Department. A.K. Bhattacharya of the Executive Director’s Department then played tunes on his mouth organ – first a Tagore song "Alo amar alo" and then the film song made popular by Mohammed Rafi "Lakhon hai nigahon mein". ITC SRA’s veteran tabaliya Lakshmi Narayan Mishra, then assuming a new role, presented a thumri in Raga Bhairavi ‘Bansuriya kaise bajayi shyam’. It was a pleasure seeing his son Purushottam accompanying him on the tabla.

The scholars led by Samarth Nagarkar, disciple of Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar, conducted the rest of the programme. In his introduction Samarth said, "Though we specialise in one form of music, it is important to appreciate the other forms." The pieces that were then played were recordings by musicians known the world over. The first was a Baul song, folk music of Bengal, sung by the great Purna Das Baul ‘Mon moina boli dharena’. A Quawali by Ghulam Fareed Sabri followed this. Next came a jugalbandi by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Pandit Ravi Shankar accompanied by Ustad Allah Rakha, a jhaptala gat in Raga Shree.

Turning now to the West, the first movement from Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto was played, followed by an interesting piece of fusion music – Raga Adana played by the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Andre Previn. It was then time to turn to jazz – perhaps the only western form that permits the improvisation that is basic to Indian classical music. A bright piece of Flamenco music came later, and the finale was provided by an orchestral composition by Yanni, played by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Acropolis. Thus on International Music Day this year, thanks to the scholars, everyone at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy paid their tribute to music of the world.