Sound of music fills up senses at Sawai festival

PUNE: Three duets of varying emotions gave a rousing start to the 63rd Sawai Gandharva Bhimsen music festival at New English School, Ramanbaug, on Thursday.
Debutants Savani Kulkarni and Shilpa Puntambekar rendered different facets of Hindustani classical music, the flute-violin jugalbandi between Rupak Kulkarni and Pravin Shevlikar in raag Jog mixed depth with power and the sahagayan of Pandit Rajan and Sajan Mishra mellowed the evening with a soulful slow exploration of raag Nand in the Benaras gharana style.
Cousins Savani and Shilpa, the great grand-daughters of doyen Bhaskarbuwa Bakhle, dominated the first half.
Their vilambit rendition of raag Multani in the Jhumraa taal (14 beats) and a well-coordinated tarana had a surprise element. They came up with a marvellous abhang of Sant Ramdas ('Swar Rangawawa Taane') in the presence of its composer Shridhar Phadke.
It was flavoured in raag Bhoopkali, made popular by Mehdi Hassan's famous ghazal 'Ab Ke Hum Bichde'.
Kulkarni and Shevlikar chose raag Jog which suited both their instruments well.
Kulkarni, a disciple of Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia for years, was particularly impressive with a novel use of the right hand in getting microtones in fast melodic patterns. He also used four flutes to get different acoustic pitch.
The icing on the cake was provided by Akhilesh Gundecha's grand pakhawaj in the eight-beat Jhala. Ramendra Singh Solanki was up to the mark on the tabla in the slow composition set in rupak taal (the seven-beat cycle).
After the crescendo on the flute-violin in raag Jog in two compositions in Teen taal, Dehradun-based maestros Pandit Rajan and Sajan Mishra showed the soothing effect of their vocal recital on the 8,000-odd listeners.
Their "Ae Vaare Saiyya Tohe Sakal" in the vilambit Ek Taal had class written all over it.
They were well supported by Arvind Thatte's scholarly harmonium and Pandit Arvindkumar Azad's composed tabla. They ended their offering with raag Kamod and a bhajan.
The festival started with a shehnai recital of Namrata Gaikwad, the great grand-daughter of maestro Shankarrao Gaikwad. It was the first time that the festival was opened by a woman artiste. Namrata's recital was short and sweet.
Earlier, Savani and Shilpa came up with a rich and delightful combination of bol-alaaps, taans and rhythmic interplay. The latter was more evident in the tarana of raag Multani set in Ek Taal (12-beat cycle). They were accompanied by Sameer Puntambekar (tabla) and Chaitanya Kunte (harmonium). Rajendra Durkar (pakhawaj), Maooli Takalkar (taal) and Sandeep Kulkarni (flute) were also in the mix.
The lighter form of music was also played in good measure, the highlight was celebrating the 100 years of musical play 'Swayanwar' with "Ekala Nayanala Vishay Ho Zaala'.
Compere Anand Deshmukh added a feather in his cap as he started his association with the festival for the 25th year in a row. The festival continues till Sunday with recital from Niladri Kumar (sitar) and Pandit Jasraj (vocal) being Friday's main attractions.