Kumbh of musicians and music lovers
Shriniwas Joshi
The Ketan Kala Manch (KKM) celebrated its 20th anniversary at Gaiety Theatre in Shimla with aplomb. Bhupendra Sharma, secretary of the KKM-cum-narrator for the function, rightly named the gathering as the Kumbh of Musicians, Litterateurs and Music Lovers of Himachal Pradesh. Anybody who is somebody in the field of performing arts was there and the KKM honoured all of them. Famous artistes, who are no more, such as Prem Prakash Nihalta, a great musician; Gurbachan Singh, another musician whose book of songs ‘Betaab Qualam’ was released on the occasion; Shabab Lalit, probably the greatest Urdu poet Himachal has given to the world; Dr Anup Mahajan, former Director of AIR and a writer, dramatist, poet; and Pandit Chet Ram, a renowned flutist, were remembered and their next of kin were honoured. The achievements of these luminaries, who had once shone the firmament of performing arts or literature, were remembered with respect they deserve.
The KKM that started its journey in 1999 has an academy that teaches ‘Sugam’ and classical music to students, having no age bar. There are students such as Trishu (71) and Shanti Devi (70) and both participated in the programme ‘Har Rang’ to celebrate the occasion. The academy with ‘Music is my Soul’ as its slogan started 20 years ago with 10 students. It now has 150 students. The KKM has produced students of calibre who have touched pinnacle. Kritika Tanwar was among the first 10 competitors in the Indian Idol 2013 TV show. Divya Pandey stood fifth in the song competition organised by Big FM. Another student Anurag Tanwar bagged the first prize in tabla playing. Ashwani Shandil bagged the title of Himachal Idol in 2017-18. It was all due to the efforts of Manoj Tomar, Director-cum-Principal of the institution. He is the son of Dhani Ram Tomar, a great artiste himself, who died at the young age of 50. Manoj Tomar is MA in vocal classical and tabla from the Pracheen Kala Kendra, Chandigarh. He has 40 years of experience in vocal and instrumental music. He is a good human being and is always ready to help artistes in distress.
His son Ketan, on whose name the Manch works, is a good singer too. Ketan presented ‘Raag Jog’ (Shyam Sunder, mere ghar aaye) in ‘Har Rang’. There were Hindi, Pahari and English and fusion songs in ‘Har Rang’ but the surprise item was a Bangladeshi song sung by the elders of the academy. The Bangladeshi classical music is based on modes called raags. The melodies of North Indian raags are used in composing these songs. The elders exhibited their talents well.
The girls in Pahari dress sang the song of Sati Chainkhi and made the atmosphere rather sober, because the song is such. Chainkhi was the wife of a Jaagirdaar of Rampur. He used to take part in battles. Once he went for a fight. Chainkhi waited for him and to look him out reached the top of Hatu (a peak near Narkanda at a height of 11,152 feet). She addressed the fog there to fly away so that the paths became clearer and she could see his beau coming up. Instead came his two sepoys and stood silent in front of her. She asked, “Who are the survivors in the battle?’ The reply was, “All but the Jaagirdaar”. Chainkhi then decided to commit ‘Sati’. Her brother attempted to entice her by saying that he would give her a bungalow and a cow but Chainkhi refused and committed ‘Sati’.
Basanti Devi, who has made this song immortal by singing it in her folkish voice, was present in the auditorium. She was honoured with ‘the Voice of the Summits’ award. Pundit Som Dutt Battu, the artiste who has recently been listed for the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, was also present and was duly honoured. He said, “Manoj Tomar, his wife Reeta Tomar and their son Ketan Tomar are doing a wonderful job in chiseling the performing arts in the state”.
Srikant Baldi, Chief Secretary, gave away the awards. He said, “The beauty of this award-giving function is that the KKM had invited its competitors too, which is seldom done. Rivals are kept aside but here, Manoj Tomar not only invited them but the KKM also honoured them. It is beauty that brings a sort of harmony in the field of music. Music, I believe, freshens the mind, so I have come out of the world of files to refresh myself here”. He then congratulated the organisation for doing tremendous work towards the promotion of Indian art and culture.
Tailpiece
“Music is one of the most powerful things the world has to offer. No matter what race or religion or nationality or sexual orientation or gender that you are, it has the power to unite us.” — Lady Gaga
