A bouquet of impressive performances at the recent Sa Ma Pa Sangeet Sammelan 2009 held in New Delhi.
“Music is the best medicine for any kind of ailment,” said Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad inaugurating the Sa Ma Pa Sangeet Sammelan 2009 the other day. He was also there to honour L. Subramaniam and Mahant Veerbhadra Mishra with the Sa Ma Pa Vitata Award for their contribution to Indian classical music and culture and Raj Begum with the Sa Ma Pa Sher-e-Kashmir Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah Award for her immense contribution to Kashmiri folk music.
Three music critics received the Sa Ma Pa Acharya Abhinavgupta Samman, instituted this year as a special award for scholars, critics and journalists.
The Sa Ma Pa Sangeet Sammelan 2009, held in three sessions at Kamani auditorium, saw talented musicians from the younger generation share the platform with the senior stalwarts. L. Subramaniam unfortunately could not make it due to ill health on the inaugural evening, but his gifted son and disciple, Ambi Subramaniam, was there to enthrall the audience with his vibrant violin along with V. Ramana Murthy on the mridangam and Akram Khan on the tabla with Desai on the morchhang.
Thoughtful selection
Abhay Rustam Sopori's thoughtful selection of raga Gavati for his santoor recital was brilliant in the sense that it opened with the swaras Sa Ma Pa, ascending to Komal Nishad and Taar Shadja, creating a musical pun with the Sa Ma Pa (Sopori Academy of Music and Performing Arts). During the alap-jod, he managed to deploy even meend and gamak — which are unthinkable in an instrument like the santoor — with his innovations on the instrument and its playing technique.
The slow composition was set to the difficult tala Pancham Sawari of 15 beats, where Rafiuddin Sabri and Sarit Das also took turns to show their prowess on the tabla. The faster composition was set to Teen tala where Abhay also sang the bandish before playing it.
The evening opened with Ragini Rainu, a gifted disciple of Pandit Bhajan Sopori, rendering a couple of Sufi qalams of Baba Bullehshah composed by her guru in Mishra Kafi and Ahir Bhairav.
The morning session next day had Swar-Laya Samvaad co-ordinated by Pandit Vijay Shankar Mishra focusing on “Sangeet Mein Sahitya” where Shantanu Bhattacharya and Debashish De rendered compositions based on the variations of raga Todi. Pandit Bhajan Sopori was the senior artist of this session. He played raga Bheem on the santoor. The brilliant accompaniment by Kumar Bose on the tabla was the added attraction of his riveting recital.
Besides, Mashkoor Ali Khan gave a sumptuous vocal recital of the famed Kirana gayaki with the captivating Khandmeru permutations and combinations in raga Bihag during the bara khayal in slow tempo Jhumra . The chhota khayal in Teen tala was followed by a captivating composition in drut Ek tala. Shahana that came next had a lovely composition of Amir Khusro before Khan concluded with a bandishi thumri in Khamaj.
The evening session opened with raga Yaman Kalyan on the sarod, played by Amaan Ali Khan, who had Fateh Singh Gangani on the pakhawaj and Mithilesh Kumar Jha on the tabla for percussion support. He also played a number of old compositions in raga Desh and Charukeshi.
The festival concluded with Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt who played Hem-Khem, the typical raga of the Maihar gharana. Ram Kumar Mishra on the tabla enhanced the ‘mohini' of Bhatt's Mohan veena.
