Confluence of music and the aficionados

It has been 43 years since senior Musician Hindustani Music Guru from the Mewati Gharana Pandit Jasraj has been organising an annual music festival in the land of his birth, Deccan; in memory of his father Pandit Motiram, and his father’s brother and his Guru Pandit Maniram.

Every year, it is a tradition for Pandit Jasraj ji to sing for his hundreds of fans who come from all across Hyderabad to wherever he performs, on November 30.

He also chooses to bring promising young artistes and popular singers to perform at the 3-day festival that also has his entire family in attendance.

The 44th Pandit Motiram Pandit Maniram Sangeet Samaroh is being held at CCRT open air auditorium nestled amidst the Hitech City – and in that sense the Samaroh’s shift from Old City to Hitech City has been quite eventful.

The first day of the event (on Wednesday) that featured an innovative percussion presentation – ‘Raagas on Tabla’ conceptualised by Durga Jasraj, and composer by Kedar Pandit and Pandit Jasraj’s concert was spellbinding to say the least.

The audience that came in large numbers, nodding away in delight, clapping at the right moments and exclaiming for the perfect notes could not have been better for a classical Hindustani concert.

In fact, every year one gets to see a growing bond of love and admiration between the Samaroh and the dedicated audience. This atmosphere of music, probably, enhances the experience of attending the Mewati Gharana’s annual concert.

‘Raagas and Tabla’ designed by famous artiste and disciple of Pandit Jasraj – Kedar Pandit is an effort to bring together raag and taal – vocal and the instrument in harmony with each other creating melodies and sounds never heard before.

The artistes Charudatta Phadke, Nilesh Randive and Rohit Majumdar on Tabla, Sukhad Munde on Pakhwaj, Ajay Atre on rythms and Kedar Paranjape on synthesizers, Saurabh Vartak on Flute, and Vinay Ramdasan giving vocal support kept the tempo of the concert at its peak.

Especially the penultimate piece where Bhoop raag and Deep Chand taal went to a crescendo followed by ‘Mantra’ the spiritual chants becoming one with the rhythmic beats of the tabla.

The much awaited Panditji’s performance was short but a mesmerizing one as Guruji and his disciples that included the Padmasree winner Trupti Mukherjee and Ratan Mohan Sharma presented ‘Sej Sada Jare’ in Malkauns; the tarana that somehow attained unique nuances with some of the best musicians along with the maestro coming together on one stage.

Today, the concluding day of the event will feature Ankita Joshi’s vocal followed by Bhajan Samrat Anup Jalota’s concert.