No, before you start drawing any conclusions, I should state
that I’m just an amateur classical music lover. I do carry some level of
understanding of Sufi and Gazals. But when it’s comes to more classical forms
of this art, I knowledge limits until knowing to some of the famous vocalist
and instrumentalist or knowing some of the famous ragas (I can surely not
recognize any of them).
Having said that, I shall now contradict myself saying that
this year it was my forth sitting at Savai Gandharv Sangeet Mahotsav J.
For those who are born or turned Punekars, like me,
this should not be a not known event. And in case you too, like me, take pride
of deeming yourself an amateur classical music lover, I’m sure you must have
heard of the same. For rest, Savai Gandharv Sangeet Mahotsav is an annual event
held in Pune to celebrate classical form of Indian music. It has a legacy of
sixty years and has the honor to witness some of the maestro of musical
fraternity. Late Pt. Bheemsen Joshi was among the founder members of the event.
He used to be a regular here till as late as 2006. That all for history.
I still remember my first sitting back in 2009, I was sited
in between two older couples on both side. The average age of the room was
almost double of me. Though I was able to find some of students like me there,
but only to find later that they all were music student.
“Hei sastriya sanggetcha karyakram ahe, kutla rock show
nahi” (This is a classical music show, not a rock show). The old man
sitting next to me welcomed me this way.
“Mahit ahe” (I know), I replied. Before I could start
giving it a thought if ‘m I placed at a right place considering my age, he
again replied back “I’m happy that youngsters of your age also find interest in
such things”. The initial jinx melted off soon and we started talking. I found
that the couple is into their 30+ sitting here. They have listened to so many
great voices here and have very vivid and depth knowledge of ragas, vadya,
gahrana and stuff related.
Our brief introduction was hindered by Shankar Mahadevan who
sang the famous Tukaram’s abhang “Majhe Maher Pandhari”. I was
not able to understand the meaning of the song but as they say music needs no
language. J The
performance went on for some 2 hours and after that till date this song is a
regular in my morning playlist.
It was my first introduction to Maharashtrian Devotional
Music. In the years that followed I got chance to hear more of them from some
of the best who do it. Today, I won’t be over doing if I say that I have experinced some of the best and gained
an tasteful appetite for abhang. My personal favorite are “Tirth Vitthal Kshretra
Vitthal” and of course “Majhe Maher Pandhari”, both sung by legendry
Late Pt. Bheemsen Joshi.
This year I tried to attend a non-vocal (instrumental)
performance. I was eager to attend Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia’s performance,
but then my loyalty to my office didn’t allow me that (it was a Friday
afternoon show). Anyhow next day I attended Ustad Amjad Ali Khan’s Sarod Vadan,
yet another musically pacifying evening.
If that was not enough, I managed
a gate crash into Srinivas Joshi’s performance too. To my luck, he was
singing the same old abhang which I heard here only some 3 years back. Throughout
the performance I was trying to draw similarities between his version to his
father’s iconic version of same.
I still cannot recognize any of Ragas nor have gained
any expertise in appreciating any of these Gharana. But what Savai
has given me is an out-of-the-box experience and I plan to take it for many
more years to come.
