Spic Macay’s prestigious programme Music in the Park staged a comeback with a bang last Saturday to mark the 100th anniversary of sponsor NDMC. Listening to Hindustani classical music in the open environs of the Nehru Park is an experience of a different kind. While it must be quite a challenge to the performers to keep their musical instruments tuned in an open-air situation, it’s nothing but bliss to the listeners who are free from the cloistered atmosphere of an auditorium and can listen to Indian music in a typically informal Indian setting. On Saturday, two well known artistes performed and offered a good account of their art.
Kolkata-based sarod maestro Tejendra Narayan Majumdar is no stranger to the Delhi music lovers. Trained for many years by the Maihar maestro Bahadur Khan, a cousin of the legendary Ali Akbar Khan, he later learnt from Ali Akbar Khan himself after the untimely demise of his guru. Thus, he has emerged as an authentic representative of the Maihar gharana. Unlike many musicians who display a relaxed attitude to the traditional time-raga theory these days, Tejendra made a most appropriate choice in raga Bhimpalasi when he began his recital at 5.30 pm. He played a tuneful alap in this audav-sampoorna raga that skips Rishabh and Dhaivat in its ascending movement and requires a most skilful and varied use of Shuddha Madhyam. Tejendra’s systematic alap was in the true Maihar style and one felt he could have gone on for some more time before he seamlessly entered the jod section and went on to present a short yet taut jhala. He played a vilambit composition followed by a drut variant and impressed with his controlled virtuosity. After playing for an hour, he asked for the audience’s permission to play a short composition as his allotted time was up. His soulful rendering of a Basant Bahar compositon offered a befitting finale to the recital. One however would have felt happier if he could play without the time constraint, as it was a most enjoyable rendering of the seasonal raga. He was ably accompanied on tabla by Ajrada gharana exponent Akram Khan.
Shubha Mudgal requires no introduction. Trained initially by great musicologist Ramashraya Jha and later by Vinay Chandra Maudgalya, Vasant Thakar, Jitendra Abhishekhi, Naina Devi and Kumar Gandharva, she has come up as a vocalist who is not afraid of exploring new areas of creativity. However, when she sings Khayal, she does not mix it with anything else. Like Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, she too carefully chose a raga that was most appropriate for the time of the day as well as the season. She presented a vilambit and a drut khayal in the evening raga Puriya Dhanshri of the Poorvi thaat. Her well-trained voice is full of gravitas, grace and timbre, but one feels a little uncomfortable with a few harkats that would suit a male singer better. However, this did not detract from the quality of her music and she presented a well-balanced version of the raga with Pancham playing its pivotal role. She also sang a few Horis and regaled the audience. Anish Pradhan on tabla and Sudhir Naik on harmonium provided good accompaniment.
