Annual sojourn to Goa - 38th Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar Samaroha

Annual visit to Goa for Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar Mahotsav , in the first week of November, truly marked the beginning of festive season. Feast of classical music on Nov 2-3-4 was the beginning of the week that resulted into Diwali celebration Nov 5-6-7-8 .. food trails and leisurely walks along the beaches of Goa , visit to forts and also a night at casinos !

The 38th Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar Festival began with a curtain raiser titled "Indian Classical Music and its Aesthetics". This was one of the best interactive session and curtain raiser event in last 4-5 years of festival. The key takeaways were :
1) Virah ras is a dominant ras in ICM
2) "Nayika" is the key player in a Bandish
3) Most bandishes are "Female oriented" ( स्त्रीवादी ) and explore the mind of the "nayika" , though the bandishes are written mostly by males!
4) The general "bhaav" of a thumri is common .. mostly romantic
5) The ultimate goal of Sangit or ICM is Anand (आनंद ) , achieve Bramhanand ( ब्रह्मानंद ), Kaivalyanand ( कैवाल्यानंद )
6) Creativity in ICM is most important , it goes through four stages generally : Copying the guru- Imitation , Inspiration , Imbibation and then creation

The main festival was in 5 session over three days. The first session was on Friday , Nov 2nd evening Arshad Ali Khan of Kirana , vocals kicked off with Puriya Kalyan and was followed by Pt Satish Vyas, santoor with Chandrakauns closing the evening.

Day 2 - Morning session
After the local artist Veena Mopkar's efforts at Lalat Pancham came the priced concert of Dr Arun Dravid , the first and foremost disciple of Gaansaraswati Kishori Amonkar, who presented Devgiri Bilawal and Khat - a Jaipur speciality.

Pt Vishwanath Kanhere with his singing harmonium entertained the connoisseurs with Bilaskhani Todi , Hindol-Bahar and a Sarang dhun to close the morning session 

Day 2 - Evening session 

Bharathi Pratap of Agra gharana started with Dhanaashree where her previous training in Carnatic style was apparent. She enthralled the audience with her spell binding Purvi alap and Nom-Tom, a trademark of Agra ! She concluded with a Tarana

 

Dhanashree Pandit Rai was next with her bouquet of Thumris.

Pt Arnab Chatterjee of Kirana started with Shree and concluded with Hansdhwani. A strong Patiala influence of sargam ( or may be Bengal influence) was apparent inspite of Kirana training.

The Final presentation of the evening was by Pt Kushal Das whose Sitar sang like a vocalist. The perfect soft accompaniment by Ut Mohd Akram Khan was icing on the cake. Bageshree alaap , Jod and Jhala concluded the evening.

Day 3 - Morning Session

The Sunday morning starter of the day was by Shobha Chaudhary who presented Nat-Bhairav , Bilaskhani Todi bhajan and Mishra Khambavati Thumri.

Anuradha Kuber of Bhendi Bazar gharana was delight of the morning, who presented crisp Bhupaal Todi and Vrundavani Sarang.

Sarangiya Ut Moinuddin Khan with accompaniment of Ut Mohd Akram Khan on Tabla was a concert that made the Sunday morning worthwhile on the banks of Mandovi. They presented Nat-Bhairav and concluded with Bhairavi that brought a kind of serenity.

Day 3-  Evening session 
After the opening concert effort by a local artist  ( that was worth a miss and should have been dropped to give more time to senior artists that were to follow ), came a young and promising Agra torchbearer , Waseem Ahemad Khan who presented the trademark Purvi alap and Nom-Tom , a madhyalay bandish "Paar Karo naiyya mori"(पार करो नैय्या मोरी ) and a rare Agra bandish "Mathura na Jayyo" (मथुरा न जैय्यो). With the applause of audience came an impromptu Barwa , an authentic Agra style presentation.

The final vocal concert of the festival was by Pt Kedar Bodas of Gwalior and Bhendi Bazar gharana,  who presented Bhoop-Kalyan , a tarana and a tappa in Khamaj.

I did not wait for the final concert of the festival, Instrumental Jugalbandi by Pt Kumar Bose and Vidwan Thiruvaarur Bakthavatsalam.

My observation about Surashree Kesarbai Festival over last 5 years is that it is a festival that brings together top class artists and concerts from diverse spread of gharanas. Also , the arrangements for audience and auditorium is excellent and world class. However , the quality of local audience and also their numbers is abysmally low.
The best part of the festival, as I mention every year, is the brilliant compere , Dr Roopa Chari. Her command over languages and rich store of words and philosophical anecdotes keeps the festival lively for all three days!
Looking forward to the 39th Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar Samaroh in November 2019 !
 Adieu ! Viva Goa ! 

Here are the links to various related clicks and clips :

38th Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar Samaroha-2018  - clicks and clips

Curtain raiser event : A Symposium "Indian Classical Music and its Aesthetics"

Beautiful Goa - 2018

37th Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar Samaroha - Album of year 2017 

36th Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar Samaroah Album of 2016

Previous Blogposts of year 2017 and Blogpost of year 2016     

Pt Jitendra Abhisheki Festival Sept 2017 and misc photos

Viva Goa 

Dr Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary 

Goa - Miramar, Panji, Don Paula 2016

November to Remember ..Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar Samaroh 2017

I grabbed an opportunity for a second vacation of the year in Goa with 37th Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar Samaroh, Nov 3-5, 2017. Here are the links to my previous two Goa Vacations : 36th Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar Samaroh 2016 Nov 4-6 and Abhisheki Mahotsav Sept 7-9 , 2017.

Some of the highlights of my current Goa visit :
1) Enjoying some splendid beaches and hamlets of North Goa - Keri , Mandre and Harmal (against South Goa beaches around Marjorda in Sept )
2) Meeting some wonderful cats of North Goa
3) Like every Goa vacation, enjoying the great hospitality, food and drinks
4) Some memorable wonderful concerts , especially the one to remember was of Ut Irshad Khan - Surbahar on Nov 4th evening.

Here is a brief report of 37th Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar Samaroh , Nov 3-5 held at the beautiful campus of Kala Academy , Panjim Goa.

The Curtain raiser event titled "The future of Indian Classical Music" included discussion by Musicologists and performers Dr Chaitanya Kunte , Dr Shashank Maktedar and Dr Arwind Thatte moderated by Mukund Sangoram that went on for over two hours. The key takeaways were :
1) Indian Classical Music is moving from being process oriented Classical performances towards "Productization" due to various reasons from Marketing to Technology to demand of audience
2) Connoisseurs determine the sustainability of performing art ..hence the future audience would determine the type of music that would be called as "classical"
3) There is a trend moving towards smaller baithaks (Chotekhani maifils) or chamber music from big festivals
4) Good techniques of Teaching classical music and use of technology is going to be an essential feature in future training.
5) Due to universal appeal and purity of music , the instrumental music will be more acceptable and popular world wide the the vocal classical music , a trend that is already in vogue.

The festival was inaugurated with a concert by Pt Ulhas Kashalkar who presented raag Hemant and Basanti Kedar. The instrumental jugalbandi of Rakesh Chaurasia - flute and Jayanti Kumaresh- Saraswati veena who presented Madhuvanti and Hansdhwani concluded day 1 of festival.

Day 2 started with the morning concert of Devaki Pandit who presented
Lalat- घट ना लागी रे जागो जी जागो and जा जा रे जा रे बलमवा
Hindol - छनक गुंद भईलवा  and बन उपवन डोले मान ऋतू बसंत
Concluding the concert with Chaiti based on Kirwani - आली पिया बिन मोरा जिया तरपत 
The other notable concert of day 2 was of Pt Ajay Pohankar in the evening who presented Yaman in a very traditional form and was real music to ears.

The most memorable concert of the evening and of the festival was however the Saturday evening concert of Ut Irshad Khan who mesmerized the audience with his Surbahar .. the concert started by 8pm with Darbari Kanada alaap for 45 minutes that brought a pleasurable calmness in the auditorium. The power of three octaves of Surbahar and the dexterity of Ustad bringing out almost all 7 notes in one fret of Instrument was phenomenal ! The power of Dhrupad with Chautaal on Pakhawaj by Pratap Patil took the concert to another level, jod and jhala spreading all three octaves. Second raag chosen was Jhinjhoti that brought out the best of Instrument and Dhrupad style. The Ustad was in great mood and so was the audience who reciprocated with thunderous applause. The conclusion of the concert was with Bhairavi when the Ustad also sang "बाजू बंद खुल खुल जाय" and "सुनी पड़ी है नगरिया हमार , आओ नगरिया हमार"
This was the icing on the cake .. the concert that ended by 10pm ( which is midnight in Panjim's standard where concerts end by 8.30-9 !) , would be a memorable one for the houseful audience who were treated not just with a wonderful dessert but also a nice paan ( as the Ustad himself analogized it ! )
Here is a link to report of his previous performance at Sawai 2016

Day 3 , the final day of the festival began with the morning concert of Raghunandan Panshikar who presented Bahaduri Todi (महादेव) and Sukhiya Bilawal(हे देवी दुर्गे ), a drut bandish in Allaiyya Bilawal  (कवन बतारिया ) and bhajan "बोलावा विट्ठल"
Though he has good voice quality fitting light classical music , he lacks the aura ,temper, thoughtfulness, maturity , commanding voice, thinking and grandiose for expansive classical vocal concert, which was evident in his lack of badhats or expansion of raag. To be honest, he is good enough only for light classical, fails to impress as a classical vocalist now and again ! 

The better concert of the morning was by Ut Shujaat Khan - Sitar accompanied on Tabla by young masters Sapan Adharia and Mayank Bedekar. This was truly a classical concert to be enjoyed for full hour of Allaiyya Bilawal with some excellent fast tempo jugalbandis between Sitar and Tabla. Surprisingly , the Ustad did not sing any bandish and decided to conclude the concert in 1 hour only after one raag !

The other concert that I attended was the finale by Pt Venkatesh Kumar who along with Pt Vishwanath Kanhere on Harmonium enthralled the audience starting with Chaya Nat for around 45 minutes ( एरी गुन्दलावो रे मालनिया , झननन नन नन बाजे पायलिया ) , Kaunsi Kanada ( राजन के सरताज , काहे करत मोसे बरजोरी ) concluding with two bhajans ( नाम जपन क्यों छोड़ दिया , भज रे हनुमंतम )

Like every year , Dr Roopa Chari was exceptionally brilliant as a compere. I wish , other classical musical festivals too have good compere like her ! 
The festival concluded by 9pm on Sunday evening and the audience went home satisfied, full stomach with desserts and paan with a promise to meet next year in November..and that is the most important month for classical music fans of Panjim to remember!




Here is the facebook album link for some more snaps  : November to Remember

Viva Goa - 2017 !

Abhisheki Mahotsav at Kala Academy of Goa on Sept 9-10th, gave me an opportunity to visit Panjim for my early "Goa vacation". Last year , I had grabbed the occasion of Kesarbai Kerkar Mahotsav to visit my favorite "Kala Academy" of Panjim , Goa.
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 !