Atmosphere at the opening session of the 66th Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav – the annual bonanza of Indian music in Pune – was that of high expectations from a stalwart like Begum Parveen Sultana. There are no prizes to guess the septua generian legend of Hindustani Classical Music did not let her fans down. She began unrolling Raag Jog in her disarming style and went on to present “param sukh paayo” – a bada khayal (also vilambit, in the music jargon) to highlight the intricacies of this early night raag which evoked an enthusiastic response from the crowd.
The short composition “sukh dukh dono” which followed, was meticulous as it was very soothing to the ears. Left with twenty odd minutes more to go, Begum Saahiba chose to cede to popular demand for a tarana and presented an astounding one set to raag Hans Dhwani. Also in demand was her Marathi “Rasika Tujyach Saathi” and a Bhairavi raag number Dayani Bhawani. She complied. Mukundraj Deo on Tabla and Shrikant Achaarya on harmonium offered a very supportive accompaniment.
The session opened with a Shehanai recital by Aurangabad (Maharashtra) based Kalyan Apar. He started his performance with Raag Gawati. He was accompanied by Navaj Mirajkar and Sanjay Apar on Tabla, Anil Todkar, Shekhar Paranjpe and Nivrutti Apar on Shehnai, Jagdish Acharya on Surpeti, Tulshiram Atkare on Swarmandal and Vaishnavi Awdhani and Vaishali Kuber on Tanpura.
Kalyan Apar also performed a very famous Bhajan ‘Maze Maher Pandhari’ which is written by Sant Eknath and sung by Pt. Bhimsen Joshi. Mauli Takalkar accompanied him on Taal (टाळ).
He was followed by Vocalist Ravindra Parchure. He started the performance with Raag Bhimpalas and also presented different Bandish compositions in Raag Shri. He was accompanied by Pravin Karkare (Tabla), Suyog Kundalkar (Harmonium), Shivdeep Garud and Sukrut Gondhalekar (Tanpura).
After that, Pt. Basant Kabra gave an amazing Sarod performance. He dedicated his performance to his Guru and great Sitar player Annapurna Devi. He performed Raag Puriya Dhanashri. He was accompanied by Sudhir Pande (Tabla), Akhilesh Gundecha (Pakhawaj) and Parv Tapodhan (Tanpura).
A theme calendar of this year’s Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav- ‘Swar Sadhak 2019’ was released at the hands of Vocalists Shriniwas Joshi, Shaunak Abhisheki, Pt. Raghunandan Panshikar, Anand Bhate and Uday Bhawalkar. This calendar features photos of different vocalists by renowned photographer Satish Paknikar.
A book written by Dr. Nagraj Rao Hawaldar named ‘Bharatratna Pt. Bhimsen Joshi- The voice of the people’ was also released on the first day of the event.
A dedicated U-tube channel named ‘Bhimsen Studios’ is going to be started by Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal. The channel will feature interviews of different artists in the field of music. An announcement of this U-tube channel was made by Mukund Sangoram, Trustee, Arya Sangeet Prasarak Mandal on Wednesday, in the event ‘Antaranga’, which is a part of Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen Mahotsav.
Listener’s choice for the day, however, was Vocalist Prasad Khaparde. He opened with raag Kedar and charted effortlessly through the pleasant nuances of this night raag. Khaparde’s maturity and command over the aspects of Kedar was remarkable. The drut composition “nanda nandan, kaanha re” was a veritable assertion of someone claiming his due in the arena of Indian Classical Music. In the latter part of his performance he sang the bhajan, ‘Raam Bhajo Bhai.’ He was accompanied by Pt. Ramdas Palsule (Tabla), Milind Kulkarni (Harmonium), Hrishikesh Shelar and Shivaji Chamnar (Tanpura).
