Mesmerising evening of sitar recital

SD Sharma

Chandigarh, August 7

The Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Arts and Culture Among Youth (SPIC MACAY) in collaboration with the Durga Das Foundation organised a sitar recital and interaction by world acclaimed maestro Ustad Shahid Parvez with students of Strawberry Fields High School at their Einstein hall here on Tuesday.

After a warm welcome by students, staff and artistes, the revered doyen of Etawah ghrana, Ustad Shahid Parvez, took the centre stage and started tuning his sitar with curious students watching the pre-recital process in the intimate ambience of the school.

Ustad Shahid established an instant rapport with the disciplined crowd and explained the historical, structural and melodic aspects of sitar compared to its origin dating back to 13th century.

He delved deep to illustrate the ‘komal’, ‘shudh’ and ‘teevar’ swars, the ingredients to shrutis and swaras, which ultimately create ragas before defining the taal as the time cycle and not the beat alone.

Ustad Parvez elucidated the sam, matras, theka to corroborate that the tabla too has its bols, syllables and grammar as both sitar and tabla are the most dominant Indian musical instruments in the world.

Supported by Ustad Hindol Mazumdar on table, Ustad Parvez bared the melodic character of complex morning raga ‘miyan ki todi’ through an alaap, jod alaap and two compositions (gats) in medium paced (madhya lya) and fast paced (drut lya) tempos.

Students were delighted to observe how Ustad Parvez created a cohesive melody comprising of mutually embracing notes each melting into the next adjacent musical note, which wafted across the hall.

He employed bold to whispering notes in musical phrases ending in ecstatic moods. After a crisp jhalla Ustad entered into jugalbandi of swaal jawaab.

Many discerning students put up rational questions about the changing trends in music and the factors leading to supremacy of the Indian classical music, appreciated and explained by the Ustad.

Atul Khanna, Director, Durga Das Foundation, honoured the artistes.

Sartre’s classic creation adapted into Hindi play

The three-day drama festival ‘Shaguffe-2018’ was organised by the Impact Arts in collaboration with the Chandigarh Sangeet Natak Akademi (CSNA). The Punjab Arts Council and ‘Deed-ny-Deedar’, an NGO staging a Hindi play ‘Jab Raushni Hoti Hai’ at Randhawan auditorium here on Tuesday.

The opening play ‘Jab Raushni Hoti Hai’ adapted into Hindi for dramatisation by Parmanand Shahstri, was inspired by Jean Paul Sartre’s classic creation ‘The Flies’ and directed by Baninderjit Singh Bunny and assisted by Kamaldeep Kaur.

The socially relevant play, structured into century old pastoral ambience, reflected the irrational attitude, superstitious belief and gullible way of life of the poor peasantry.

The play depicted the political venture of a ruler and a religious patriarch to exploit their naivety and innocence for personal gains since the maulvi had declared all the subjects of kingdom as sinful and worthy of punishment if they ever attempted to disobey his orders and rule of the King as ordained in the Holy book.

Ravi Tej Singh Brar as Badshah, Hitesh as Auliya, Navdeep as Naujawan and Kamaldeep Kaur as Sundari essayed their roles well.