Sharma, Abhyankar cast a magic spell at ‘Swara’ fest

NAGPUR:

Music

buffs were treated with mesmerizing performances given by santoor maestro Rahul Sharma and acclaimed Hindustani classical vocalist Sanjeev Abhyankar. The event was held at the

Vasantrao Deshpande Hall

on Friday evening as part of ‘

Swara

’, a musical initiative started in 2012 to take doyens of classical music to non-metro cities.

Rahul Sharma, who has collaborated with acclaimed international artists like Richard Clayderman and Kenny G in the past, began the performance with raag Puriya Kalyan. He played the aalap, and progressed to playing jhod-jhaala. In

Dhrupad

composition, he rendered tala, Madhya laya and dhrut teen taal.

Audience showered him with enthusiastic applause, especially after he ended his performance with a jammu-Kashmiri pahadi dhun, a slow and cheerful tune. He was accompanied on Tabla by Ramkumar Mishra, who hails from Benaras Gharana.

Sanjeev Abhyankar, who has a career spanning 25 years and belongs to the Mewati gharana, is known for his rendition of Hindustani classical and devotional music. He began with singing vilambit bandish in raag Jog, whose words were, 'Nahi parat chit chain, jyahi lagi sohi jaane, sawre ki sain.' He then sang raga Gorakh Kalyan, ending the concert with a befitting performance. Ajinkya Joshi played Tabla and Tanmay Deochake played the harmonium.

A few years ago, it was rare for acclaimed artistes to visit two-tier cities. Swara had launched its maiden show in Nagpur and Visakhapatnam, and is now conducted across seven cities, spread across the year — Visakhapatnam, Trichy, Coimbatore, Lucknow, Jaipur, Benaras and Nagpur. In some cities, even local maestros are given a platform with acclaimed artistes.