12th ITC Sangeet Sammelan, November 2004, Kolkata

Shruti, Issue 245,
February 2005
 

Twelfth ITC Sangeet Sammelan in Kolkata 

The 12th ITC Sangeet Sammelan, was held from 19th to 21st November 2004 in Kolkata. This year Bharati Deveshwar, wife of ITC Chairman Y. C. Deveshwar, presented the coveted ITC Award to Pandit Kashinath Mukherjee, a disciple of the late Ustad Vilayat Khan. Son of scholarly vocalist Shital Chandra Mukherjee and brother of renowned filmmaker Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Kashinath Mukherjee had also been close to such greats as Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Ameer Khan.

The evening began with a surbahar recital by Irshad Khan, second son of Imrat Khan. Playing his grandfather’s instrument, he began with alap, jod and jhala in raga Pooria Kalyan, and tried to emulate his grandfather’s famed style. Equally proficient on the sitar, he then took up his own instrument, presenting two gat-s in raga Jaijaiwanti. Sanjoy Mukherjee provided excellent tabla support.

Mashkoor Ali Khan, ITC-SRA’s Guru of the Kirana Gharana, was the next artist. Beginning with khayal-s in raga Suddha Kalyan, he sang Karam karo dayal kripal, in vilambit Jhoomra tala, and followed it with the famous Mandar bhajore in drut Teen tala. He then rendered raga Behag, singing Chinta na karo in Jhap tala madhyalaya, then a composition in drut Teen tala, and finally a tarana. He concluded his recital with two Teen tala bandishes in raga Khamaj. Samar Saha accompanied him on the tabla and Jyoti Goho on the harmonium. SRA scholar Sandeep Bhattacharya and student Sounak Chatterjee provided vocal support.
A sarangi recital by Sultan Khan was the last programme of the evening. Grandson of Azim Khan, both celebrated in India as sarangi players and vocalists, Sultan Khan began with raga jog, presenting a sensitive alap, a gat in vilambit Teen tala based on the popular bandish Sajan more ghar ayo and a drut gat based on the drut Ek tala bandish Ghadi pala chin. He then played and sang Dekh ni de mai ko chhab nari, a bandish in raga Seharam which he had earlier composed on request, based on Mehdi Hasan’s ghazal Janne de saiyan. Turning to folk music from Rajasthan, he sang Khush nawa hawa and concluded his recital with a lullaby, which too he first sang and then played. A line from his popular Piya basanti was his way of bidding farewell.

The second day’s programme began with a vocal recital by ITC-SRA scholar Arshad Ali Khan, grandson of the sarangi maestro Shakoor Khan. Trained by his maternal uncle Mashkoor Ali Khan (a guru at the Academy), as a child Arshad had been gi9ven the title of "Nanhe Ustad". Now 20 years old, Arshad also learns from Mashkoor Ali’s younger brother, Mubarak Ali Khan. As anticipated by stalwarts of the gharana, Arshad’s presentation of raga marwa demonstrated a level of maturity far beyond his years. Beginning with Piya more aa in vilambit Jhoomra tala, Arshad concluded his recital with a drut Teen tala bandish. Gopal Mishra accompanied him on the tabla while Rupashree Bhattacharya provided harmonium support.

The next artist was sarodiya Basant Kabra, son of the late Damodarlal Kabra and nephew of Brij Bhushan Kabra, the famous guitar player. He began with alap, jod, jhala and presented gat-s in Teen tala madhyalaya as well as drut Teen tala in raga Sree. A disciple of the famous Annapurna Devi (daughter of Ustad Allauddin Khan), the artist lived up to the expectations of the audience. He concluded with a gat in raga Manjh Khamaj set to Roopak tala, Shubhankar Banerjee provided appealing tabla support.

Vedic scholar and direct descendant of saint Vallabhacharya of the Vallabhsampradaya, Gokul Utsav Maharaj was the next to perform. An accomplished pakhawaj player and a prolific composer using the pseudonym "Madhur Piya", the arist presented raga Bageshree. Neginning with a a vilambit khayal set to Jhoomra tala, he then sang Apne garaja pakar leenhee baiyan, originally a dhrupad composition of Krishnadas of the Vallabh sampradaya, which he presented as a khayal in Ek tala, madhyalaya. He then sang a tarana in drut Teen tala. Turning to raga Kedar, he sang the popular Sughar chatur baiyan tum in Ek tala, madhyalaya. This was followed by a drut Ek tala bandish and a tarana in raga Hamsedhwani. His final item was a ‘ragamala’ in Teen tala.
The concluding artist of the evening was flute maestro Hariprasad Chaurasia, disciple of Annapoorna Devi. He presented alap, jod, jhala and gat-s in raga Malkauns. The first gat was set matra tala in madhyalaya, and the second a drut gat was set to Teen tala. His ever-popular Pahadi dhun set to Dadra tala was the concluding item of the evening.

A book on Ustad Ameer Khan, titled Sangeet ke Dedipyamaan Soorya, Ustad Ameer Khan, written by Tejpal Singh and Prerna Arora, was released by Amit Mukerjee, Executive Director, ITC-SRA.

The third day’s programme began with Drums of India, a composite percussion ensemble led by Mallar Ghosh, son of well-known musician and erstwhile member of the Experts Committee of ITC-SRA, the late Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh, The ensemble comprised Anirban Bhattacharjee (vocal), Nirmalya Dey (flute), Siddheshwar Bhowmik (harmonium), Gopal Burman (sreekhol), Somnath Roy (ghata and khanjira), Bablu Biswas (dholok, bangla dhol & pakhawaj), Ranjeev Biswas, Kaustav Bhattacharya and Mallar Ghosh (all tabla). They began with Srishti, a composition that initially featured solos using chakradhar-s and tukda-s from the repertoires of such greats as Masid Khan, Ahmed Jan Tirakhwa, Kanthe Maharaj and Jnan Prakash Ghosh. The tabla and ghata, pakhawaj, khol, bangla dhol and khanjira each played their valuable part in the final sawaj-jawab portion. The second item Lokchhando, concentrated on folk elements and featured the flute, nakare and dholok. Jnan Prakash Ghosh’s composition used by All India Radio as a signature tune for its programme Ramyageeti was also played. The final item was Pranaam, afitting finale to this ode to percussion.

The ensemble was followed by a vocal recital by famous vocalist Shruti Sadolikar-Katkar. She began her much appreciated recital with a vilambit Teen tala bandish in raga Gauri, followed by a bandish in drut Teen tala, then a vilambit Teen tala bandish in raga Maru Behag, and one in drut Teen tala, where she ably demonstrated her artistry. She then presented a Thumri in Misra Khamaj set to Deepchandi tala. She concluded with a Meera bhajan. She was ably accompanied by Anando Gopal Bandopadhyaya (tabla) and Rupashree Bhattacharya (harmonium).

Veteran violinist D. K. Datar, nephew of the late D. V. Paluskar, and a recipient of the SNA award, plays in the gayaki anga. He began with raga Suddha Kalyan, presenting a short introductory alap followed by gat-s in vilambit Ek tala, and two in drut Teen tala. He then played a drut Teen tala gat in gaga Madhukauns and finally presented a dadra in raga Misra Khamaj. His accompanists were Ratnakar Gokhale (violin) and Abhijit banerjee (tabla).

The concluding item was a vocal recital by maestros Rajan and Sajan Misra of the Benaras gharana. Trained by their father Hanuman Prasad Misra, uncle the late Gopal Misra famed for his sarangi and their grandfather Pandit bade Ram Dasji Misra, the brothers began with raga Chandrakauns. Their vilambit Ek tala bandish Paar karo mori nao was followed by one in drut Ek tala, then a madhyalaya Teen tala bandish in Malkauns, and a tarana in drut Ek tala. It was almost midnight when over 2000 people went home with the bhajan in raga Bhairavi ringing in their ears.