Homes come alive with the sound of classical music, the fragrance of jasmine and the echo of applause as artistes perform in baithaks across urban India

Three years ago, when Pandit Jasraj opened his baithak evening at Sunita Budhiraja's Noida home with his famous bhajanTiharo Ghar Subas Baso, it held a special meaning for the host: She had invited the classical singer to "bless" her new home. He playfully urged Budhiraja, who changed cities every few years, not to move into a new home yet again. "He joked that he always had to sing the same bhajan as a blessing in every new home; he wanted to sing something else from then on," says the 60-year-old public relations professional whose homes have living rooms big enough to host musical evenings.

As awareness about classical music grows, the audience and the artiste are coming closer-from the ceremonial formality of the stage to the easy intimacy of the living room. Public concerts are giving way to baithaks, or private musical gatherings, where the audience sit on soft durrie-laden floor and the rustle of heavy kanjivarams and crisp kurtas blends with the fragrance of jasmine to bring classical music to life. "People get emotional. They cry, laugh, dance or go into a trance. A Canadian told me once at a baithak the music was so meditative that he was transported to another world," says dhrupad singer Ramakant Gundecha of the Gundecha Brothers who have set up an institute, Dhrupad Gurukul, on the outskirts of Bhopal. Pune-based sitarist Sameep Kulkarni remembers a baithak in 2007 in which an American listener requested him to play slow meditative music. "Sitar music flows from slow alaap to jod to jhala or fast-paced pieces. On his request, I played only slow music in the last 30 minutes, and he slipped into a trance," he says.

The artistes too are more spontaneous at baithaks. The instant reaction of the audience at a baithak is the biggest boost for Pune-based Hindustani vocalist Pushkar Lele. "Nothing can replace the impromptu and enthusiastic 'wah-wah' or 'kya baat hai' that comes the artiste's way at a baithak," he says.

From a dhrupad-jazz jugalbandi to a ghazal rendered with strains of folk, experiments set baithaks apart from large, ticketed concerts where artistes mostly stick to the playbook. "Since you get instant feedback at a baithak, you can test your composition. Moreover, the same swar combination can be sung in 25 different ways because there's no paucity of time," says Indore-based Hindustani vocalist Gautam Kale. At a baithak in Pune some months ago, he "tested" his three-raga composition based on Ilahi Jamadar's Marathi ghazal Saaz Veli Sobati La, winning thunderous applause. "I used a combination of Puriya Dhanashree, Bhairavi and Marwa in the first two lines of the ghazal, which is not easy to manage," he says. And even before he completed the second line, the audience started applauding. Lele uses a private gathering to experiment with uncommon taals. "Mostly, the listeners are often more open and knowledgeable so we can delve into pure classical music," he says.

Young artistes too feel encouraged to innovate at a baithak where the audience is less judgmental. A few months ago, Kulkarni played an English pop song, Twisted Fortune, on sitar and got instant applause from the Pune audience he was playing to. "It was a blend of the Etawah Gharana style of sitar music and Western pop, and the youngsters loved it," he says. At a private baithak with the Gundecha Brothers five years ago, Japan-born Inoue Sou, now a professional singer, was so moved by the esoteric and difficult style of dhrupad that he enrolled in their Bhopal academy to learn it.

Sitar player Sahana Banerjee at a baithak in Kolkata. Photo: Subir Halder

Across urban India, musicians and baithak organisers see an increasing interest in classical music, especially among the new generation. To make it more appealing to the youth, Kale blends a raga with a film song based on it. "While singing raga Ahir Bhairav, I slip into the popular songNaina Thag Lengeor sing a few lines ofHum Tere Binwhile performing raga Kirwani. The youngsters love that and then want to learn classical music," he says. Satish Vyas, a renowned Mumbai-based santoor player, says baithaks have helped keep classical music alive in the age of EDM and pop. "A large number of listeners get drawn to classical music by the intimate experience of a baithak," he says. Priyank Gandhi, 28, an architect, enrolled in Mumbai's Sharda Sangeet Vidyalaya for vocal classes after attending Kale's baithak last year. "He put emphasis on the harkats and murkiyan and explained the ragas in simple terms which doesn't happen in a big concert. It made classical music accessible," she says. At The Attic in Delhi's Connaught Place, baithaks get a contemporary twist- ragas in a lounge with aroma diffusers and soup inkulhads.

If senior artistes such as Pandit Jasraj and Rajan and Sajan Mishra accept baithak invitations only of friends, there are professional organisers who can bring an artiste to your home to perform for a fee. Kshitij, founded by Hindustani vocalist Anand Thakore and other artistes, brings baithaks to Mumbai homes. Manthan, a mehfil forum with member-families set up by Hindustani vocalist Sanjeev Chimmalgi, has even featured well-known artistes such as Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande and Ulhas Bapat. "People prefer an at-home performance to a public concert which you can easily watch on television. People across professions and ages want to host a musician," says sitarist Sahana Banerjee, co-founder of SwarSudha, a group that organises baithaks with budding artistes at homes. Often, baithaks become launch pads for artistes. Vyas, founder of Gunijaan Baithak in Mumbai, says talented singers such as Jaiteerth Mevundi and Omkar Dadarkar have come up only through baithaks.

Baithaks can also bridge divides other than the one between the artiste and the audience. Budhiraja remembers a baithak in Pakistan a decade ago where Pandit Jasraj concluded with Om Namoh Bhagwate Vasudevaya, the 108 names of Vishnu. "A maulvi walked up to Panditji and said, 'you made me experience Allah through your music'," she says.

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