Versatile, vivacious Malini

SD Sharma

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Chandigarh, September 23

Endowed with rich and vibrant voice, versatile vocalist and Padma Shri recipient Malini Awasthi, despite being indisposed due to a fractured foot, enraptured the audience during the four-day folk and semi-classical music festival, organised by North Zone Cultural Centre (NZCC) at Tagore theatre here today.

Internationally renowned Malini Awasthi presented traditional formats of UP folk like kajri, dadra and thumri in Avadhi.

Opening up with an invocatory bandish “sarv mangal”, interspersed with Sanskrit shalokas, she presented a kajri, “Tarse lathiyara hamaar”, before revelling in the rainy season with “Kahe karey roopmaan” and “Banra ban kesariya”. She presented thumris like “Nigahon ne mara”, “Bicchua baaje re” and “Jigar Moradbadi’s ghazal” ‘. She emulated Girija Devi by rendering dadras immortalised by her.

The concert attained zenith as she burst into fast numbers like “Jamuniya daar mein”, which melted into boisterous “Saiyan miley larkhayia”. She won the applause as she displayed her versatility in Raga Pahadi and Raga Bhairavi.

Chief guest Dinesh Kumar honoured Malini Awasthi while Prof Saubhagya Vardhan, Director, NZCC, expressed gratitude towards the artistes and the audience.

Four-day music fest ends

The four-day music programme, “Raag Rang Utsav”, organised by the Punjab Sangeet Natak Akademi to mark the birth anniversary of Punjabi litterateur Prof Mohan Singh, concluded with a soulful Sufi rendition by Gurpreet Waris at the Randhawa auditorium here today.

Sufi singer Gurpeet Waris presented Sufi kalaams and qawwalis of mystics like Sultan Bahu, Bulleh Shah, Shah Hussain besides verses of Shiv Batalavi.

The audience on the occasion relished compositions, including “Alif allah Chambe di booti”, “Tere ishaq nachaya”, “Akhiyan udeek diyan”, “Mayein ni mayein” and many more.

Melting into hearts

Internationally renowned Malini Awasthi presented traditional formats of UP folk like kajri, dadra and thumri in Avadhi. Opening  up with an invocatory bandish “sarv mangal”, interspersed with Sanskrit shalokas, she presented a kajri, “Tarse lathiyara hamaar”, before revelling in the rainy season with “Kahe karey roopmaan” and “Banra ban kesariya”. She presented thumris like “Nigahon ne mara”, “Bicchua baaje re” and “Jigar Moradbadi’s ghazal”. She emulated Girija Devi by  rendering dadras immortalised by her. The concert attained the zenith as she burst into fast numbers like “Jamuniya daar mein”, which melted into boisterous “Saiyan miley larkhayia”.