The last three days have been culturally enriching, thanks to Pandit Jasraj who brought the 42nd Pandit Motiram Pandit Maniram Sangeet Samaroha to the city. For Pandit Jasraj, Hyderabad has always been special, “I owe a lot to the city. Whenever I come down, I make it a point to go and sit by my father’s samadhi as it brings me peace,” Pandit Jasraj says, with tears in his eyes.
Durga Jasraj, Pandit Jasraj’s daughter, introduced three artistes: Ankita Joshi, the youngest student of Pandit Jasraj, Ramakant Gaikwad and Pandit Rattan Mohan Sharma – artistes who were hand-picked by Pandit Jasraj himself. Ankita Joshi, has been training under Pandit Jasraj since 1999. “Not many know that the first time I performed in Hyderabad was in 1998 at the same sangeet samaraho,” she says. Ramakant Gaikwad performed in the city for the first time. The artiste who was selected by Pandit Jasraj from the competition, Vedic Heritage, was really excited. He says, “Guruji invited me personally for this event. This is a great honour,” he smiles.
For Pandit Rattan Mohan Sharma and Pandit Jasraj go a long way, after all he was raised under the tutelage of Pandit Jasraj. “Guruji is my mother’s brother and she wanted me to learn music from him, so at a young age I was sent to him,” Rattan Mohan explains.
Pandit Rattan Mohan is no stranger to Hyderabad and been given the title of Tarana-e-baadshah by the city. He laughs recollecting the moment, “Once while performing at Chowmahalla I sang the Tarana, the audience loved my performance, asked for an encore and bestowed the title upon me,” he says. During his performance this time, Rattan Mohan sang the Tarana, “How can I give it a miss? I had to perform it,” he laughs.The event this year had a qawwali performance in addition to flute, tabla and veena performances.
