Singing for the rains: Maharashtra music marathon hails the Malhars

wara Zankar, a Pune- based organisation, recently hosted what they termed a month long “Musical Marathon” in various places in Maharashtra. The series was called Swara Malhar, to bring in the rains, and was held in eight different venues, featuring more than 22 artistes. A brainchild of violinist Atul Upadhye (who incidentally runs a hugely successful academy teaching students classical music), this is the 10th year of the organisation’s existence, and admirably, concerts under this banner  have also been held outside Maharashtra; including in Baroda, Kolkata, Delhi and Chandigarh.

In Maharashtra of course the focus of classical music is always on vocal “khayal” rather than anything else, and the four sessions over a weekend featured only four instrumentalists out of 12 artistes.

What was disappointing was the fact that despite being entitled Swara Malhar, to bring the rain; many of the artistes sang other ragas, and the ones who did perform the Malhars confined themselves to Mian Malhar, Megh Malhar, Gaur Malhar and Surdasi Malhar. One was hoping to hear fairly common Malhars like Ramdasi Malhar, Nat Malhar, and Des Malhar but it was not to be. Rare Malhars like Charju Malhar, Sawani Malhar, Dhulia Malhar are now the preserve of an handful of musicians; they should present these ragas, even if briefly. The trend among musicians nowadays is to only present what they can expand on fully and for a minimum of 45 minutes; the concept of a 10-15 minute presentation of a rare raga of a smaller “shakal” is slowly withering away.

The series started with Sawani Shende, who is today making waves in the world of vocal music. She presented an interesting Mian Malhar. Her ability to assimilate the
diverse elements of her varied “taalim” is admirable, as is her usage of notes.

The next artiste, Vidushi Manju Mehta played a raga composed by her Guru Pt Ravi Shankar — a mixture of Charukeshi and Kauns that he had entitled Charu Kauns. As always, her rigid adherence to the great taalim she has absorbed is praiseworthy. On the tabla was Pt Vijay Ghate, who always enhances any recital. The last concert of the evening was by Anand Bhate who sang Kedara; the lyrics of the Ek Taal composition were rain related “sawan kee boondeeyan”. His next offering, delivered in his lovely “khuli” aawaaz was Raga Surdasi Malhar, the famous Drut “badarva barasan ko aaye” was expertly executed. Bhate ended with an “abhang” in Bhairavi, another delight.     

The next evening’s concerts were in another part of Pune. It was indeed impressive to note that there are seven to eight really good-sized auditoriums in Pune, in various areas, and the organisers used a different venue every time so the audience was different too.  Another noteworthy aspect was -apart from established popular artists, the festival also introduced new faces to Pune audiences. Mahalakshmi Chenoy is a Karnataka based vocalist, the unusual disciple of instrumentalist Pt Vishwamohan Bhatt. She shared that all the compositions she sang in Mian Malhar were composed by her Guru, including the lyrics. Creditably she has now been learning from him for around 20 years.

Rahul Sharma, worthy disciple of Pt Shiv Kumar Sharma played Megh Malhar; the tabla accompaniment by Mukundraj Dev enhanced the beautifully presented and well received recital. Rahul concluded with a lilting Pahari dhun. His serious approach to his classical music concerts is indeed admirable.

Another Rahul, Rahul Deshpande, today a star performer in Maharashtra, ended the evening’s concerts. Rahul sang Raga Madhu Kauns with élan and an inner absorption and introspection which were infectious. His concluding Thumri in Des “chaa rahi kali ghata” included lyrics from a ghazal which was a pleasing novelty. This is an old tradition of the last century, much used by Ustad Faiyaz Khan. Indeed, a satisfying concert.

Pt Shounaq Abhisheki started the Sunday morning session with a well structured intelligently presented Shivmat Bhairav. Sadly he was not permitted to render a few rare Malhars that he had planned due to paucity of time — the auditorium was available only for three hours, and there were three performers. Perhaps booking on another day, or reducing the concerts to only two artistes would have been a better option.

 Sitarist Shakir Khan who was next, presented a succinct Mian Malhar; he went straight to two gats in Jhaptaal and then a Teen Taal gat associated with Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, who recorded it in the 1960s. His clear execution, slow unhurried presentation and awareness of the importance of a sense of proportion spoke of both maturity and “tayyari”. Tabla accompaniment by Mukesh Jadhav was superb and subtle. Shakir ended with a brief Des.

The morning ended with the senior vocalist Vidushi Aarti Ankalikar Tikekar who sang Megh Malhar with her usual aplomb. With careful strokes she created a lovely “mahaul” of the raga; the melodious voices of her disciples accompanying her in unison adding to the concert. Her “bandishes” were in Jhaptaal then Teen Taal, but due to the time constraints she wound up speedily ending in a song of the season “barasan laagi badareeya room jhoom ke”, which was sung with great delicacy and feeling. This was vintage Khayal gayaki and Aarti’s beautifully rounded, honed voice added to one’s pleasure.

The evening session started with the popular Saniya Patankar, who sang Megh Malhar. Her effortless “taan” were startling. The concluding composition by Kunwar Shyam executed at great speed was reminiscent of the speed attained by instrumentalists; usually the voice cannot enunciate the lyrics with clarity at such a speed.

Amaan Ali Bangash played one of his best concerts; starting with Mian Malhar. After an “auchar” he went straight on to playing a succession of family compositions, each a treasure. His father Ustad Amjad Ali Khan’s Mian Malhar has inspired musicians over the years, and his creativity in the early 1970s in this Raga was amazing given his youth at the time. Amaan played snatches of them all, before moving into a beautiful Des. Here too he played a few traditional Senia compositions before settling into a Jhaptaal gat composed by his father. The next offering in Gaur Malhar perhaps lacked the in depth familiarity required to really bring out the best of a raga, but his confident handling of Megh, though brief, revealed his expert “taalim”. Playing first the “gat” of the Senia master Ustad Pyaar Khan, he then played its “jora” composed by the latter’s brother Ustad Jafar Khan. The discernable use of “dha” and “uttra ga” showed the colours of Senia Megh of yore, not one that is commonly known today. Amaan ended the Megh with a composition of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan.

The evening ended with the master, Pt Venkatesh Kumar, whose music is as always, solid and familiar. The festival may not have focused on the music of the monsoon, but was nevertheless very enjoyable.

Shailaja Khanna writes on music, musicians and matters of music