The festival of colours evokes an ambience of celebration replete with rhythm and resonance. Fittingly, the Ballygunge Maitreyee Music Circle, in association with The Telegraph, organised a musical evening, Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta Memorial Festival, at Nazrul Mancha around this time to pay homage to the sarod exponent, Buddhadeb Das Gupta. The musical tribute melded the vocal and the instrumental with the two bright stars of Indian classical music, Kaushiki Chakraborty (picture, right) and Amaan Ali Khan (picture, left), gracing the occasion.
The programme began with a vocal rendition by Kaushiki. She chose the perfect afternoon raga, Bhimpalasree, performing it in vilambit and drut kheyals. Kaushiki is one of the most prominent voices in Indian classical music at the moment and her live performances are always filled with mellifluous movements of taans, sargams and vistaars in three octaves and this event was no exception. She concluded with an enchanting hori with Ojas Adhiya providing perfect accompaniment on the tabla along with Murad Ali on the sarangi and Tanmay Deochake on the harmonium.
Next, it was the turn of the sarodiya, Amaan Ali Khan, to enthrall. He commenced his presentation with a wonderful alaap in Raga Shree, taking his time to allow the raga to bloom and flourish. He continued with the raga in vilambit and madhyalay jhamptaal and concluded with drut teentaal. Amaan’s expertise in offbeat vistaars, prolonged taans and gorgeous tihais was evident throughout the presentation. Raga Shree was followed by an arresting performance of Raga Desh. The musicality of the gats of his gharana was highlighted by the expert tabla accompaniment by Satyajit Talwalkar. Amaan and Satyajit had incredible coordination in beats and tunes in both the ragas and the audience loved their playfulness.
The programme ended with a jugalbandi between Kaushiki and Amaan, with the flow of the sarod’s music and the smoothness of the vocals captivating listeners. Kaushiki showcased the intricacies of her voice while Amaan teased out the magic of the strings with great subtlety. They performed Raga Rageshree followed by a dadra in Manjh Khamaj. Both artists spread the colours of music through their renditions and painted a memorable canvas for the audience. Satyajit and Ojas were flawless in their accompaniment of Amaan and Kaushiki.
