Sangeet Samarpan

It always reassures an art aficionado to see youngsters carry the mantle of artists’ legacy with reverence and confidence. Sangeet Samarpan a melodic obeisance to Dhyanesh Khan (1942-1991), offered by his son and disciple, Shiraz Ali Khan under the aegis of the Ashish Khan School of World Music, marked one such moment this June. Spread over two days (19–20 June), the event was organised initially at Triguna Sen Hall and later shifted to the prestigious Vivekananda Hall of Ramakrishna Institute of Culture on the second day.

Despite the paucity of time, a melodic tribute was paid in the final slot by Debanjan Bhattacharya’s melodious sarod. Accepted by Ali Akbar Khan as his gandabandh shishya at a very young age, Dhyanesh, the ustad’s Kolkata-based second son, took a young Debanjan under his tutelage. By a quirk of fate, the revered guru and the chief representative of his USA-based legendary father left this world. The onus of taking the gharana forward then fell on Amina Perera, Dhyanesh’s younger sister and the Khansaheb’s favourite daughter. An extremely erudite sarod player and guru who helped her father and brothers in every possible way, she shunned the limelight.

Her name cropped up once when Debanjan shared, “I am trying to play Ramdasi Malhar as taught by my guruma Amina Perera”. And he did so with élan. Usually, this raga stands apart from Miyan Malhar due to the application of shuddh gandhar. Different gharanas treat this in their unique way to show the Malhar anga, wherein komal gandhar plays a vital role. In this version of the raga, there was no trace of the swara, and yet there was a beautiful twist which facilitated one of the main phrases of Malhar to establish its presence without touching the komal gandhar. The short alap etched its pristine features before exhibiting rhythmic phrases beautifully joined by soft meends, and the power-packed bolkari-encrusted jhala. The Jhaptal composition had a surprising twist with its mukhda beginning with a five-and-a-half beat.

The technical prowess of the highly educated techie sarodiya was complemented on the tabla by Shubhajyoti Guha, who holds a master’s degree in applied maths and the coveted position of Akashvani’s top-ranked tabla exponent. Together, they explored the complex permutations and combinations of beats and swaras and improvised taantihais with thrilling finesse within the ten beats of the tala. This was not an easy play. But for them another gat set to a tala with eight-and-a-half beats too was a cakewalk. Finally, they landed on the smooth, familiar plane of Teental to facilitate a jhala at breakneck speed and closed with a neat tihai.

The same refined clarity was the hallmark of Shubhajyoti’s solo recital the previous evening. He was accompanied by Hiranmay Mitra, a keen student of tabla and vocal music, who is better known as a harmonium wizard. His steady melodic support set the tabla virtuoso free to fly high, and he did so from the beginning of his chosen Teental. The opening aochar presented differently designed basic phrases, decorated with innovative frills of mnemonics, which slowly gained speed. Then, kaidas appeared in varied patterns, and there was a brilliant tisra-jati in Punjab anga. Among the compositions that followed was one with ghu-rana-ga as the central phrase, in which the bayan (bass drum) played the main role in creating a unique aural effect. This varied performance was enhanced by the several compositions of legendary tabla maestros deftly reproduced by him.

Next, Shiraz, the only son of Dhyanesh and the organiser of this grand annual event, offered a melodic tribute to his doting father. Distraught over the untimely loss of his father, the young Shiraz had drifted away from raga sangeet. It was his pishima Amina who, aided by his mother, Ayesha Begham, lovingly coaxed him back to his practice and gently chiselled him into a fine sarod player with a deep understanding of raagdari.

His prowess came through evincingly in the elaborate alap of his chosen raga, Desh Malhar. A few typical phrases of Desh established the raga beautifully before the Malhar anga was explored with its signature phrases including komal gandhar in a special emotive gait. In this segment, the matured musicality of Shiraz was extremely delightful. For gatkari, he chose Miyan-ki-Malhar. A short and sweet aochar led to the gat, encrusted with skilful laya-chhandakari and sparkling with the excellent inputs of tabla exponent Ojas Adhia. They served a sweet Bhairavi dhun as the closing.

Earlier, vidushi Mita Nag, perhaps the only sitar player adhering to the dhrupad anga gayaki of Vishnupur gharana of Bengal, created a spiritual ambience with Multani, an afternoon or early evening raga with a delicate whiff of komal rishabh — almost clinging to the tonic. By her own admittance, this was her first tryst with the raga on any public platform. But barring a sporadic application of a pronounced komal rishabh, this summery raga received a highly aesthetic treatment in the middle and lower octaves during the alap and a short jod. Quite comfortable with Pran Gopal Bandopadhyay’s tabla support, Mita accomplished a Teental gatkari adorned with numerous taans, illustrating her gharana techniques that are mirrored in the playing of Pandit Ravi Shankar (Maihar gharana). This was followed by a powerful monsoon melody in Megh, replete with raga-dipped phrases and chords emulating rain droplets. The Jhaptal gatkari, highlighting bol-bannt style of dhrupad with a well-knit melody and rhythm-play by both the sitar and tabla, culminated in a brilliant jhala in Teental.       

The day commenced with a vocal ensemble by students of Charyya led by Chandrajit Pradhan, presenting several light classical compositions neatly.The stage decor evoked nostalgia with a larger-than-life image of Dhyanesh, second son of Ali Akbar Khan, whose photo adorned the left side of the stage and the image of Alauddin Khan, his father-guru and founder of the Maihar gharana near the right wing. The Ashish Khan School of World Music Vocal Ensemble, led by Dipanwita Ganguly was the opening recital of the second evening. Aishik Das (violin) played a slow Jhaptal and fast Teental gats in Suddha Sarang to the accompaniment of Mayukh Mukherjee (tabla).

Sitarist Sikha Nath, supported by A. Badrinarayan (tabla), played her version of alap-jod in Bheemplas, followed by Teental gatkaris in raga Madhuvanthi. Next, Siddhartha Bhose on the sarod entertained with a pleasant evening raga, Patadeep, duly elaborated with a delightful alap and gatkaris in slow Roopak and fast Teental. Sourabh Goho’s tabla provided all the necessary support with skilful understanding.    

Usually, participating artists of any music conference avoid repeating a raga already delineated by other performers. Here, however, Yaman was the choice of both Anjan Saha (sitar) and Soumi Majumdar (vocal), with their recitals scheduled one after the other. The only difference between the two was their medium of expression. Anjan could have done better with more clarity of thought pertaining to the key phrases of the raga during the longish alap and a neat arrival on sam that eluded him on several occasions. He was aided by Anjishnu Mukherjee, a promising young tabla virtuoso. They played slow and fast Teental gatkaris, closing with a very fast and long jhala that was, unfortunately, quite cacophonous.

Soumi Majumdar, a vocalist belonging to the Kasur Patiala gharana, began her rendition with key-phrases of Yaman. After a short aochar, she sang a few beautiful bandishes beginning with Daata garibnawaz set to slow Ektal, a composition marked with Sabrang, the pseudonym of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan. She followed it up with a bandish in medium-paced Teental, Rang laga gayo, and the famous Kinare kinare in swaying Ikwai tala. All these demand a tuneful, matured treatment, which was lacking despite the performer’s confident demeanour. Bilal Khan’s empathetic tabla did its best but Mohit Sahni’s harmonium was in dire need of tuning.

All these finer details were made perceptible throughout the production due to the high-quality sound provided by Soumitra Das.