Shades of music

A variety of performances – from Hindustani vocals to Odissi dance recitals – were a delight to listen to and watch, complete with the crisp ‘alaap’, ‘taans’ and detailed explanations about the renditions

The 43rd Pandit Motiram Maniram Sangeet Samaroah was a blend of different forms of music and also a tribute to Pandit Aaskaran Sharma, Pandit Vithal Rao, Adesh Shrivastava, Pandit Bhikubhai Bhavsar, Som Tewari and renowned music director Ravindra Jain. The Samaroah started with a tribute to the doyen of Indian cinema Late Dr V Shantaram.

The tribute was given by his daughter Madhura Jasraj, who spoke at length about films and music around the productions of her father. She was assisted in the presentation of songs by Ankita Joshi, Rattanmohan Sharma, Pragya Sodhani Joshi, Anurag Kulkarni, Akshat Parikh and Parmeshwari Pandit.

Another day saw a Hindustani vocal recital by Suman Ghosh, a disciple of Pandit Jasraj. Later came Shekar Sen, who enthralled the audience with spiritual renditions giving detailed explanations about the bhajans sung by him, which included a bhajan composed by his mother.

He was accompanied on tabla by Pandit Ramkumar Mishra. The finale started with an Odissi dance recital by Arushi Mudgal, daughter and disciple of Madhavi Mudgal from New Delhi. This was followed by a ghazal recital by Ranjit Rajwada. The grand finale was a Hindustani music recital by Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj, who sang Raga Darbari.

The ‘alaap’ and the ‘taans’ were very crisp and clear, and the rendition surprised all the young disciples sitting on stage and the music lovers of Hyderabad. On demand from the audience, Panditji ended the night with a rendition of his famous bhajan ‘Om Namo Bhagavate Vasudevaya’ accompanied by Kedar Pandit on the tabla and Surendra Bharati on the harmonium.

By:Jaywant Naidu