Gwalior has long been closely associated with music. It was here that king Man Singh Tomar gave a new direction to Dhrupad, and the legendary Tansen, about whom Abul Fazal wrote that no musician comparable to him was born in India in a thousand years, was buried. When Dhrupad made way for Khayal, the Gwalior gharana founded by Haddu Khan-Hassu Khan came to be regarded as the fountainhead of all other styles of Khayal singing. No wonder that the audience in this city consists of passionate lovers and true connoisseurs of music belonging to all classes of society and not confined to the upper-middle or upper classes as is the case in the big cities.
The musical ethos of Gwalior was evident during the four-day “Tansen Samaroh” that concluded on Monday. The festival is organised every year by the Madhya Pradesh government's Culture Department through its Sanskriti Parishad and Ustad Alauddin Khan Music and Arts Academy to pay a musical tribute to the memory of the legendary musician. The festival began last Friday morning with a Harikatha recital and Meelad at the tomb of Tansen. In the evening, the venue was shifted to Baijataal on the sprawling campus of the Scindias' Moti Mahal, where a stage was erected on the lake waters while the audience was seated at a considerable distance on the steps of the lake. The proceedings of the evening were flagged off with a dhrupad recital by students of the Government Madhav Sangeet Mahavidyalaya, followed by the presentation of the prestigious Tansen Award to vocalist Savita Devi.
The award ceremony was followed by Savita Devi's soulful rendering of guruvandana. She briefly sang a khayal composition of Bade Ramdas in Basant and swiftly switched over to a Khamaj thumri. She presented two more thumris in Shahana and Tilak Kamod and concluded her recital with a scintillating dadra, proving herself a worthy daughter and disciple of the great Siddheshwari Devi. She was accompanied by three of her students — Deepti Bansal, Meenakshi Prasad and Indira. Narasimhalu Vadavati from Bangalore presented Maru Bihag on clarinet and played vilambit and drut gats followed by a dhun. He acquitted himself well. Ronu Majumdar had the final word with Abhogi on his flute. Ronu has learnt from the doyen of Banaras thumri and dadra singing, the late Mahadev Prasad Mishra. He concluded his flute recital with a bandish of Mahadev Prasad Mishra.
Next morning, M. Venkatesh Kumar from Dharwad was most impressive with his rendering of Todi in a Gwalior-based Kirana style with a deep imprint of the late Bhimsen Joshi. He established the raga in the first few minutes with great sensitivity and went on to elaborate it by gradual progression of notes in the bada khayal, “Tori vhhabi man mi man bhaave”. His bahlawa, bol taan, layakari and the manner of arriving at the sam were all very charming. Like Bhimsen Joshi, he too displayed his taiyaari in long winding, intricate yet forceful taans. His sargams using double notes were also delivered with great finesse. He offered a chhota khayal in Todi and went on to render a crisp Alhaiya Bilawal followed by a bhajan. Ashish Sankriyayan sang a Multani in dhrupad style, while Rafiuddin Sabri played tabla solo. Santoor player Abhay Sopori failed to show up. Sarod maestro Biswajit Roy Chowdhury was another musician who impressed. A disciple of Amjad Ali Khan, Mallikarjun Mansur and Balasaheb Poochhwale, he chose Chhayanat, a raga not frequently attempted by instrumentalists. After offering a detailed exposition of the raga in alap, jod and jhala sections, he played several bandishes (not instrumental gats) and displayed all that he learnt from that doyen of the Jaipur gharana, Mallikarjun Mansur. He showed how madhyam should be used in this complex raga. Over the years, Biswajit has emerged as a rare instrumentalist whose sarod sings like a seasoned khayaliya. His was a truly great performance.
Pandit Ravi Shankar's disciple Sanjay Guha, too, was impressive with his Hemant, a creation of Alauddin Khan. He played a drut gat created by his guru and displayed the characteristic flavour of the Maihar style.
Ashwini Bhide Deshpande sang soulful bada and chhota khayals in Malkauns and followed it up with a roopak taal bandish and a tarana in Des. She also sang a Meera bhajan and mesmerised the discerning audience. Arati Ankalikar Tikekar, too, impressed with her Bageshri and Jogkauns. Samaresh Chaudhury (khayal), Kumud Diwan Jha (thumri and dadra), Saeeduddin Dagar (dhrupad) and Moinuddin Khan (sarangi) also left their mark.
