Here is a brief report of the two day classical music festival:
The festival was a 10am to 10pm, two day event divided in four sessions comprising of around 4 artists per session. For me Day 1 was more than enough to fill in the thirst of classical music performances. Day 2 was mere a nominal attendance of which I attended only 3 of 8 performances.
Session 1
Shilpa Duble : Opened the festival with Gujri Todi vilambit "Sukhar Balri" followed by Vibhas with komal rishabh "E karo mangal sadashiv naam tero" and "Pyari Pyari batiya kar-kar mohan" concluding with a Abhisheki buwa bhajan "sagun sampanna pandharichya rayaa"
Mohan Darekar : a Abhisheki buwa disciple who now trains under Pt Rajan-Sajan Mishra, presented a wonderful Zeelaf todi ( Abhisheki buwa specialty ) starting with "Tab se Jug samaan" and following up with "Daras bin suno laago Des". He concluded his short but sweet presentation with a Kabir bhajan "Saadho so satguru mohe bhaave"
Sonik Velingkar: a local flautist presented with Raag Parmeshwari alaap , gat in rupak and a gat in teentaal.
Jayashree Patnekar: was the top ticket of the opening session who presented her trademark Bahaduri Todi with bandishes "Mahadev" and "Raaj raho" followed by the Ramrang bandish "Aai mai tihari sharan". She concluded her presentation with a Bhairavi thumri "Kalan mori laagi re kanhyai" and a tarana that concluded the opening session.
Session 2
Dhananjay Hegde : Opened second session of the festival with a Bhimpalas "Ab to badi der" and "ja ja re apne mandirava" concluding with a marathi bhajan "Gurukrupevin naahi aatmadnyan"
Bhuvanesh Komkali: started with Puriya Dhanaashree "Bal gai jyot" and "Ajaraa din dubaa" followed up with a Nand Kedar bandish "aa de biraan" and concluding with a bhajan "Kudarat ki gati nyaari"
Ustad Usman Khan - Sitar was one of the top tickets of the evening session who started with an alaap in Janasammohini following up with a gat. He concluded with an alaap and dhun in Mishra Shivaranjani set to Deepchandi taal.
Aarti Ankalikar-Tikekar was the concluding artist for day one who appropriately started with Miya Malhar as the rains and thunderstorms battered Panjim - "Ata Ghumad aaye badariya garaj garaj barasan paar"
This was followed by Anand Malhar bandish of Kishori Amonkar "Barasat Ghan aayo" and a Taalmala in Malhar "Naadbramha Parameshwar" . The bhairavi tappa "Dilbahar aa bhi jaa" was icing on the cake and it seemed that she was just getting started when she had to conclude due to constrain of time !
Session 3
Anuja Zokarkar, a young budding singer of Agra Gharana, began the session 3 or the Day 2 of festival with a Bhupal Todi "Maangat Maangat aayo dar tore" and "Bhanak pari kaan aagam balam ki". This was followed by Mishra Kafi Tappa "E miyan janevaale" and "Chaandu Chandu Chalay mori baiyyan" . She aptly concluded with a Abhisheki buwa bhajan "Vishnumay jag"
I missed the rest of the morning session and a part of evening session that included
Sanjay Garud
Farooque Lateef- Sarangi
Raja Kale
Session 4
Vidya Deshpande - Kathak
Abhijeet Pohankar - Keyboard
The only performance of Session 4 that I could attend was that of Manjiri Asanare Kelkar who started with raag Jaitashree "Jab se piyu sapane me aaye" and "Bahut din bite ri aali". The second raag was Megh Malhar with "Badaravaa barasanat barasanko aaye". She concluded her presentation with a abhang of sant Tukaram popularized by Kishori Amonkar "Avagha to shakun , hrudayi devache chitta"
The finale was by Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia- Flute that I missed due to business meeting.
The highlights of my Goa Trip were :
- The Highly humid and uncomfortable heat of Panjim
- Thunderstorms that almost caught everyone by surprise and drenched the unprepared vacationers
- The daily sight of the huge vessle that was stuck on Miramar beach
- Beautiful beaches of South Goa
- Superb hospitality , food and drinks of Goa !
Here is a link to facebook photo-video album
Viva Goa ! Till next year !
