SD Sharma
Chandigarh, October 16
In the three-day vocal and sitar recital festival, which ended with a soulful performance by vocalist Arshad Ali at the Randhawa auditorium today, the art lovers had a rare glimpse of perfection in music as six prominent artistes regaled the audience with their performance.
Arshad Ali brought out the melodic character of raga puriya through a reposeful aalap and slow-paced vilambit composition “Tu Hai Malik Mera” before his next drut bandish “Mori Aaraz suno”. After another fast-paced bandish “Chamak pag payal” he concluded his recital with a bandish in raga des. His weaving of musical phrases was a treat to watch, which left the audience spellbound.
Earlier, young sitar exponent Dhruv Bedi of Imdadakhani Ghrana gave a serene start to his performance with an adroit mastery over the instrument and knowledge of the ragas. The disciple-son of Jagdeep Singh Bedi, internationally renowned sitar maestro, and a protege of Pandit Budhaditya Mukherje, Dhruv presented a popular raga shudh kalyan to unfold the mysteries of it with maturity and perfect expansion.
Dhruv captivated the audience with his pure skill, deft handling of the raga, lightening speed of taans in the next drut composition in the raga bihag. He concluded his recital with captivating composition tappa, set to raga kafi amidst thunderous applause.
The artistes were accompanied by Zuheb Khan and Zaheen Khan on tabla and Paromita Mukherjee on harmonium.