‘3 generations concert’ to open show

Shailaja Khanna

The fifth edition of the five-day Shimla Classical Music Festival will start from September 26 and extend up to October 1, at the Gaiety Theatre. Envisaged four years ago by then Secretary, Culture, Upma Choudhary, and executed by the talented, Anita Singh, then at the Punjabi Academy Delhi, this festival has established itself as an awaited event. With the experience garnered over the past four years, the Department of Language Art and Culture is now organising the event on its own, without relying on external support.

What makes this festival distinctive is the fact that only one senior artist performs in the evening, thus giving the audience the opportunity to savour the music in its unabridged form, giving the artist the space to create music unhampered by the time constraints. This year, the format is changing slightly with four of the evenings giving a brief platform to worthy Himachal artists as well. Another novel aspect is that the festival this year is dedicated to Gandhiji, whose 150th birth celebrations commence from October 2 this year.

The festival will open with none other than the Padma Bhushan Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellow, Dr N Rajam, playing a “Three Generations Concert”; (she will be accompanied on the violin by her daughter, Dr Sangeeta Shankar, and granddaughters Kumari Ragini and Kumari Nandini). On the tabla is Pt Mukundraj Deo, who will be also performing for the first time at this festival.

 This is the first time that violin will feature at this festival, and Shimla-ites will indeed be privileged to hear the doyen herself, who has been a trendsetter on this instrument, in the north Indian tradition. (Dr Rajam initially learnt in the Carnatic idiom but later trained in the north Indian style). The second day will feature a short sitar recital by the Himachali-born, Nainital-based educator Gagandeep Hoti on sitar, a disciple of Pt Budhaditya Mukherji. This will be followed by a vocal recital by Vidushi Manjusha Patil from Pune, a singer trained in the Gwalior, Agra and Jaipur styles. Counted amongst the finest singers of her generation, Manjusha is creating waves internationally as well as in India, and has also been honoured with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Yuva award. On the harmonium accompanying her will be the dexterous Tanmay Deochake and on the tabla, Prashant Pandav.

The third evening will commence with a short flute recital by Himachal’s Shri Hari Datt Bharadwaj, disciple of Pt Ronu Mazumdar, accompanied on the tabla by Himachali Diwakar Sharma, disciple of Pt Sudhir Pandey of Banaras gharana. The main artist is Maihar gharana’s Kolkata- based Pt Tejendra Narayan Mazumdar on the sarod; he will be rendering a dhrupad-style ‘aalap’ and ‘jor’, (portions of the recital not set to rhythm) accompanied by Fateh Singh Gangwani on the pakhawaj. Later, accompanying him on the tabla is undoubtedly one of the finest tabla players of the next generation, Satyajit Talwalkar whose magical fingers have to be heard to be believed. Again, this is the first time he will be playing at this festival; though his father “Taal Yogi” Pt Suresh Talwalkar performed here in 2015.

Pt Ajay Pohankar from Mumbai, today also known as the “Thumri King” will sing on the fourth day, accompanied by two of Delhi’s most popular artists who have played at the festival earlier, Pt Mithilesh Jha on tabla and Dr Vinay Mishra on harmonium. Preceding his vocal recital will be a tabla solo by Niraj Shandil, disciple of the Punjab gharana’s erudite Pt Lakhsman Seen and Pt Sushil Jain.

The concluding day of the festival will start with a vocal recital by Hemraj Chandel, based in Joginder Nagar, disciple of the late Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan who at 102 was perhaps the oldest concert-giving vocalist. On the harmonium will be Pt Lal Chand currently teaching in Theog, and on the tabla Rajesh Bhatti.

The final concert of the festival will be a unique “jugalbandi” of this years’s Sangeet Natak Akademi awardee Carnatic flautist Vidwan Shashank Subramanium from Chennai with Maihar gharana sitariya, Mumbai- based Purbayan Chatterji. Accompanying them on mridangam will be the celebrated artists Phalgun Parupalli, on tabla Satyajit Talwalkar. Collaborating with any artist is a challenge; when it’s with a different genre of music (Carnatic and north Indian) it’s even more special. Both artists have played earlier with each other.

One hopes that Shimla residents come out in good numbers for this aural treat; in the words of Secretary LAC Dr Purnima Chauhan “we have selected the very best artistes in the hope their mastery reaches out to our younger generation who will learn to savour our classical tradition.”