A deluge of musical notes

PUNE: Connoisseurs of Indian classical music at the Ramanbaug Prashala grounds on Saturday reached a high riding on a deluge of notes created by santoor maestro Shivkumar Sharma, vocalist Anand Bhate of the Kirana Gharana (among the most favourite disciples of Bhimsen Joshi) and Gwalior Gharana veteran Malini Rajurkar. There was an airof anticipation in the audience when Bhate took stage as he has performed onseveral occasions at the festival, raising the bar of calibre each time he hasperformed. He touched a chord with the crowd when he announced his intention topresent Raag Maru Behag. His rasiya jaao naa... in Vilambit ek taal laid outwith exuberance the romantic undertone of this popular Raag. Bhate regaled withexemplary firat' as his voice meandered with ease through all pitches. He, then,demonstrated uncanny energy presenting Tadapat raina dina... in Drut teen taaland topped it up with Khamaaj Thumri More jaadu bhare naina raseele... Bhateclosed with Soubhagyada Lakshmi Bhaarammaa... a Kannada Bhajan. He wasaccompanied by Bharat Kamat on tabla and Suyog Kundalkar on theharmonium.The mood stepped up when Anand Deshmukh compering for the20th time in a row at the Sawai announced Shivkumar Sharma as the artist tofollow. Sharma opened his recital with Raag Jhinjhoti among the favourites ofstringed instrument stalwarts, such as Ravi Shankar and Amjad Ali Khan, but notheard at Sawai for some time.The Santoor maestro chose to play abrief alaap and rushed through the jod and jhaala to save time and delve longerin the gat'. Sharma underlined the promise of santoor with a classy delicatenessthat left the audience spellbound. Vijay Ghate on tabla, completely congruentwith the maestro, added value by matching a beat with each tricky note fromSharma. It was unlikely that the crowd would let go of Sharmawithout getting to hear from him the Pahadi Dhun. Sharma obliged, restrictingthe item to about five minutes, humbly mentioning the time deadline of 10 pm,which might cut into the time meant for the next artist. GwaliorGharana exponent Malini Rajurkar came on the stage as the last artist of theevening. Rajurkar had begun her journey into the pleasant Raag Kaushik Ranjaniat the time of going to the press. Kirana Heritage, a vocal music album of AnandBhate, was released by Malini Rajurkar during the function.Earlierin the afternoon, shehnai artist Sharad Khaladkar performed Brindavani Saarangand a dhun accompanied by Sunil Khaladkar on the tabla and Abhay Kulkarni onduggi with Ram Khaladkar on shehnai. Following him was Chandrakant Limaye, whosang Raag Bhimpalas, and later Raag Chandra Mohini. He was accompanied byAtulchandra Tade on tabla and Sudhanshu Gharpure onharmonium.Bhimsen, Raj Thackeray present at the showKirana Gharana doyen Bhimsen Joshi braved his health problems tomake an appearance at the festival. Helped by volunteers of the Arya SangeetPrasarak Mandal, Bhimsen listened to Shivkumar Sharma's santoor sitting in a carthat drove him in. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray spent close toan hour at the Sawai on Saturday.