Dhrupad Sansthan, Bhopal, the ‘Gurukul’ or residential institute of Dhrupad, established by the Gundecha Brothers – Ramakant, Umakant and Akhilesh Gundecha, is devoted to grooming talented Dhrupad singers, pakhawaj and veena players in Dhrupad style. Trained under Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar and Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar in the typical Guru Shishya Parampara, Gundecha Brothers want to carry forward the valuable wisdom in the same way to the generation next. The Sansthan in association with the Habitat Centre organised a Dhrupad Samaroh to showcase the young talents groomed at the institution as a tribute to Ustad Zia Mohiuddin and Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar.
The two-day festival held at the Stein auditorium, opened with Ganesh Vandana in raga Bhupali set to Sool-taal, as a group presentation. This was followed by a detailed and methodical rendering of Dhrupad in Puria-Dhanashri by Rupa Amitabh. Ajay Mishra also presented a Dhrupad in raga Bhupali before Amita Sinha, a senior disciple of Gundecha Brothers presented a soulful aalaap chari and Dhrupad in raga Jog. It was heartening to see the younger generation sincerely working at this demanding traditional style and pursuing it with full earnestness, which was proven by their tuneful renderings. Each one of them was fully aware of the raga and the tala of the compositions that they presented with full confidence.
The next evening opened with a melodious surprise, when Hannah Louise from Germany performed a full fledged aalap-jod-jhala followed by a Dhrupad composition in Raga Malkauns on Vichitra veena. Replying to what brought her to Dhrupad in general and Vichitra veena in particular, she shared her intriguing musical journey. From early childhood she used to attend Indian classical music concerts with her music loving family in Germany. Hannah was trained in western guitar but she wanted to play Indian classical music on guitar. Her wish was fulfilled on her trip to India when she started taking lessons of Hindustani music in Varanasi. A chance exposure to a Dhrupad concert made her realise this was the meditative music she was looking and longing for.
This brought her to Dhrupad Sansthan, where she has been learning Dhrupad on Vichitra veena for last three years. She chose Vichitra veena because it was quite similar to playing guitar. Hannah was ably accompanied on pakhawaj by young Anuja Borude. Asha and Pradeep Chopra presented a duet Dhrupad recital in raga Gorakh Kalyan thereafter and Saurav Brata Chakraborty performed a Yaman bandish on surbahar.
The two-day festival reached its climax with the long awaited performance by the Gundecha Brothers themselves. Ramakant and Umakant Gundecha rendered soulful Aalap and Dhrupad in raga Bageshree accompanied on Pakhawaj by Shri Akhilesh Gundecha. They concluded the festival with a fast composition in Malkauns set to Sool-tala.
