Musical alliance: Raga is matchmaker for traditions

Ahmedabad: The sitar is a predominantly Hindustani instrument. The flute travels with its carry-on bag of adaptability, exhaling with equal wonder during Hindustani voyages and Carnatic explorations.
On Thursday, sitarist Pandit Kushal Das and flautist Shashank Subramanyam will help rasikas contemplate on what Manju Mehta, the Saptak legatee, calls the “aatma” (soul) of ragas.
Mehta, a distinguished sitarist, was the disciple of the immortal Pandit Ravi Shankar. “Guruji made many Carnatic ragas famous on the Hindustani stage,” Mehta told TOI. “When you speak of the Hindustani tradition or the Carnatic genre, remember that the aatma of a raga is the same in every instrument.”
When the sitar and the flute launch their dialogue, the moderator of intellectual rhythms will be the tabla stalwart, Pandit Kumar Bose. Santoor god Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, sarod divinity Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, and sitar great Ustad Shahid Parvez have turned to Pandit Bose to have a structure set for their flourishes. The ensemble’s mridangam notable will be Dr Patri Satish Kumar.
As for the duet, Saptak is known for orchestrating blockbuster alliances. In 2013, the festival put Dhrupad wizards Pandits Ramakant and Umakant Gundecha on stage with the famed Carnatic vocalists Shriramkumar and Ravikumar Malladi. At the end of the performance, young people muttered “awesome” and didn’t restrain tears — usually that reaction is provoked only when they receive the latest generation of cellphone. The cognoscenti froze into silence, letting the tingle stay in their aatmas for as long as possible.