Author: Manjari Sinha

He also agreed with the audience that he himself wanted the veena recitals not his own speech and just recited the Sarasawti vandana ‘Ya kundendu tushaar…….’ to flag off the festival.

Shri Mohi Bahauddin Dagar gave a flying start to the veena Festival with Raga Patdeep on his Rudra veena representing the traditional Daagar Bani. Recently awarded the prestigious ‘Sanskriti Samman’ Bahauddin Dagar is the gifted son and disciple of the Rudra veena maestro the late Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar. The ‘dheer-gambheer’ sonorous tonal quality of his Rudra veena itself was remarkable. The detailed treatment of the afternoon Raga in the Aalap -jod sequence specially the gamak ang in the Mandra Saptak was riveting. It was followed by a Dhrupad composition in Chautaal , a 14 beat cycle that was ably played by Manmohan Nayak who accompanied him on Pakhavaj.

Tarangini veena, a modern innovation of Dr Suma Sudhindra was played by her next. An exponent of Emany Cittibabu Style, Suma has been a disciple of the late Chittibabu. Tarangini veena has a short Dandi for better reach in faster taans she claims, but the imbalance in its shape and the shrilled twang in its sound created somewhat negative effect. She didn’t even bother to tune the veena before starting her concert. She played a kriti in Raga Nalin Kanti and concluded with raga Simhendra Madhyam, accompanied on Mridangam by Prem Kumar and on Ghatam by Shri vishnu.

Saraswati Rajgopalan came next to play on the Saraswati veena. She rendered a reposeful aalapanam followed by tanum like the aalap-jod of Hindustaani style in raga Dharmaavati, creating the tuneful background for the Mysore vaasudevachaarya’s composition that followed in Rupak Taal of six beat cycle. Her immaculate skill and imaginative Manodharma made tremendous impact of her creativity. Another impressive artist in the carnatic style was Ganesh who came all the way from Chennai to play his Chitra veena hardly for ten minutes. He played the sublime swarjati of Shyama Shastri in raga Bhairavi and a Swati Tirunal Jaavali in raga Bihaaga and proved that music is all about sensitivity and aesthetic sense. And you can beautifully display it if you have it, even in a short while. Both were ably accompanied on the mridangam by Mr Prem Kumar of Delhi AIR and Mr Rishi on Ghatam.

Ajit Singh and Mustafa Raza played Raga Yaman and Chaarukeshi respectively onvichitra veena in Hindustaani Style accompaqnied by Hashmat Ali Khan on Tabala. The inaugural evening concluded with the enchanting Chitra veena of P. Ganesh as ”Madhurena samaapayeta.”

The second day afternoon was devoted to promote young amateur artists but there should have been some screening to maintain a certain standard and avoid mediocrity! The artists this afternoon were Shyamala Bhasker, Nalini Sampat, S vishvanathan-Sushila Ramaswamy, Prema, Geeta Mohan, Radha, S. Radhakrishnan and Chidambaram Balasubramanian. A talented member of the Hansavaahini veena Qurtret, Geeta Mohan sounded up to the mark while she played ‘Giriraj sudha..’, a piece in Shuddha Dhanyasi and a detailed aalapanam in the melodious Aabheri (Bhimapalaasi). S. Radhakrishnan from Tanjavur Bani gang and played together the Devi Stuti, but neither could impress the audience.

The program was conceived with best of intentions, but seemed to be highly disorganized. The valedictory address and the concluding speeches again talked about spirituality, but one should realize that it is evoked only by sublime music, with utmost ‘Shruti shuddhata’, which was missing most of the time, in the two day long Veena Arpanam. The festival was a success only by the enthusiastic response of the people who came in large numbers both the day.

[Photo: Saraswati Rajagopalan. Saraswati Rajagopalan is an outstanding Veena artist from Delhi. She is an A grade artist of AIR and also on the outstanding category, empanelled with the ICCR].