Pune's Answer To Woodstock... Savai Gandharv Music Festival in its 60th Year, kicked off today.
It was my 17th visit to the same venue where it is held, took a bus an walked thru' labyrinthine maze of lanes to the venue at Raman Baug. I was 30 minutes late on purpose since the festival starts with a Shehnai recital, mostly upcoming new artists. The first vocalist of the day was Meena Phetarpekar,
grand daughter of Ustad Abdul Karim Khan and daughter of Sarasvatibai Rane. She seems to be having some difficulty in hitting the higher registers, and her voice does not have any special appeal. She had chosen raag Khambhavati which is rarely heard in live concerts, and it is not one of my favourites either. A bhajan on the other hand was sung very well, replete with an Anna Hazare cap-wearing warikar.
I walked around to see new changes. Plenty.
No more dust clouds that used to choke one, because twenty thousand pairs of shoes can kick up colossal dust, despite sprinkling water. Now every inch is carpeted. Wow.
The place is bigger and dimmer (not brighter) because the green bug seems to have bitten the organisers. Good good. There is a new generation CCTV with brighter screen, and the tiny cubbyhole for artists to change or hobnob with one another or entertain the trailing hordes of fans, has been increased to triple its size. Great space utilization.
Padma Deshpande who also learnt from the stalwarts like Hirabai Barodeka, Sarasvatibai Rane, snag next. She made a wiser choice, Yemen, which is a always a hit with any kind of audience. She sang well with very expressive hand gestures but her two proteges on the tanpura sang very well with robust voices. The experienced vocalist gave us two variants of the drut gat, and her lightening fast sargam seemed to have impressed the audience.
Then came the young rockstar of Hindustani shastreeya sangeet,Rahul Sharma- dressed in a jetblack ensemble, with curvy long hair. He chose Kalavati, one of the most melodious raags and one that suits the dulcet, bubbling brook sounds of Santoo. He had a very nice tabla accompanist who did not overwhelm him and both together produced a nice long an leisurely savaal-javaab rally at the end. A bit of playing to the gallery wit overuse of histrionics seemed slightly ot of the place. The audience went wild.
After some 'sanmaan' ceremonies to recognize various oldies like Pt Ajay Pohankar et al, the grand old man Pt Jasraj arrived. He seems older, slower and a tad detached. I had complained to a true blue connoisseur of Hindustani music that for the last 3-4 years his singing seems to have lost its edge. The TBC said : Naturally, he had Pt Bhimsen Joshi to raise the bar all the time -now that he is gone, poor Pt Jasraj feels all lost. Makes sense. That was healthy competition indeed.
I walked around to see new changes. Plenty.
No more dust clouds that used to choke one, because twenty thousand pairs of shoes can kick up colossal dust, despite sprinkling water. Now every inch is carpeted. Wow.
The place is bigger and dimmer (not brighter) because the green bug seems to have bitten the organisers. Good good. There is a new generation CCTV with brighter screen, and the tiny cubbyhole for artists to change or hobnob with one another or entertain the trailing hordes of fans, has been increased to triple its size. Great space utilization.
Padma Deshpande who also learnt from the stalwarts like Hirabai Barodeka, Sarasvatibai Rane, snag next. She made a wiser choice, Yemen, which is a always a hit with any kind of audience. She sang well with very expressive hand gestures but her two proteges on the tanpura sang very well with robust voices. The experienced vocalist gave us two variants of the drut gat, and her lightening fast sargam seemed to have impressed the audience.
Then came the young rockstar of Hindustani shastreeya sangeet,Rahul Sharma- dressed in a jetblack ensemble, with curvy long hair. He chose Kalavati, one of the most melodious raags and one that suits the dulcet, bubbling brook sounds of Santoo. He had a very nice tabla accompanist who did not overwhelm him and both together produced a nice long an leisurely savaal-javaab rally at the end. A bit of playing to the gallery wit overuse of histrionics seemed slightly ot of the place. The audience went wild.
After some 'sanmaan' ceremonies to recognize various oldies like Pt Ajay Pohankar et al, the grand old man Pt Jasraj arrived. He seems older, slower and a tad detached. I had complained to a true blue connoisseur of Hindustani music that for the last 3-4 years his singing seems to have lost its edge. The TBC said : Naturally, he had Pt Bhimsen Joshi to raise the bar all the time -now that he is gone, poor Pt Jasraj feels all lost. Makes sense. That was healthy competition indeed.
He chose to sing Shuddha Nat, another rarely performed raag and one which I am not very excited about. I didn't wait for the end of the concert an left early.
More tomorrow.... good night.
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