Sri Guruguha Gana Vidyalaya organized a series of musical programmes, Guruguha Mandira Parikrama, to commemorate the 185th birth anniversary of Muthuswami Dikshitar. The Vidyalaya tried to explore various temples across South India and the kritis composed by Dikshitar while visiting these temples. The series commenced with a brisk rendition of the Aradhana kritis by Brinda Radhakrishnan, Gayatri Krishnamurthy, Bhanumati Rajaram, G. Aparna, V. Akshaya, S. Shiva Subramanian, Kushaj V. Iyer, K.K. Mukundh and G. Arvind Raghav ably supported by S. Ranganathan on the violin. They began with “Sri Maha Ganapatiravatumam” in Gaula followed by the kritis in ragas like Suruti, Ananda Bhairavi, Khamas, Sree, constructed in the beats of adi tala, mishra chapu as well as rupakam. They concluded with “Lalita Paramesvari” in Suruti and adi tala. The opening sequence was captivating.
The soulful vocal and veena rendition by P.R. Sivaramakrishnan, closing themes by Kolkata S. Aishwarya and Santosh Jayaram and the lovely illustrations by S. Shiva Subramanian and Ranjit Nath enriched the video. The script narration by S. Kavita, Shahana Bhattacharya, Gayatri Krishnamurthy and Rajesh Giani added a different dimension to the programme.
Similar music relief amidst the suffocation of the pandemic came from the episodes of the Swara Samrat Festival, spreading the charm of Indian classical music. In a solo presentation, Rupak Bhattacharya played teentaal on the tabla with melodious accompaniment on the harmonium by Hiranmoy Mitra. He skilfully presented different kaydas, relas, chaturang, chakradhar and the compositions of Gyan Prakash Ghosh. Sandip Chatterjee’s santoor enchanted listeners with its rhythmic rendition of Raga Yog, especially the madhyalaya and drut gats in rupak and teentaal. He also played a dhun in Mishra Khamaj and was accompanied by Subhojyoti Guha on the tabla.
Paramananda Roy’s sweet flute brought out the beauty of Raga Shankara with Chiranjit Mukherjee on the tabla. Sandipan Samajpati started his vocal recital in Raga Malkauns and continued with vilambit and drut kheyals, Samir Chatterjee on the tabla and Hiranmoy Mitra on the harmonium provided able support. A brief presentation of Abhogi touched the audience. He concluded with a thumri in Misra Manjh Khamaj. The vocalist, Dhananjay Hegde, showed command over his voice through the rendition of Raga Chhayanat with Gurumurthy Vaidya on the tabla and Sarfraz Khan on the sarengi.
In this series, the sitar recital by Shubhendra Rao came as a breath of a fresh air with Akram Khan on the tabla (picture). He played the ragas Charukauns (a combination of Charukeshi and Malkauns) and Tilak Shyam (a combination of Tilak Kamod and Shyam Kalyan), the creation his guru, Pandit Ravi Shankar, and the episode was dedicated to his birth centenary. Shubhendra was intense and soulful throughout the renditions, especially in the rupak gat of Charukauns and the gats of Tilak Shyam.
The young talents, Prateek Srivastav and Ayan Sengupta, did not disappoint listeners with their sitar and sarod combination, rendering Raga Behag supported by Debjit Patitundi on the tabla. The Bharatnatyam by Rukmini Vijaykumar with efficient support from R. Raghuram (vocal), Mahesh Swamy (flute), Srihari R. (mridangam), Sharath T.S. (nattuvangam) was an audiovisual pleasure. Rukmini highlighted the nuances of her dancing style with an impactful portrayal of various emotions in the segments which included Ragamalika, Varnam (Shiva-Parvati relationship), Javali and many more delights.
