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Aural divinity

delightfully practical Pandit Ulhas Bapat.

A memorable santoor recital by Pandit Ulhas Bapat at Golpark in Kolkata proved once more that precision in any given subject is an eternal quest that sets a new goal after every success.

The santoor apparently reached its pinnacle in the hands of Pandits Shivkumar Sharma and Bhajan Sopori. In this folk instrument synonymous with Kashmir’s striking sight and sound, Sharma added with the help of strikers — without compromis ing with the character of his instrument — the essence of Indian classical music by incorporating the graces that set it apart from the rest: Meend (long glide from one note to another — sometimes from different octaves), gamak (also a glide but of a very small measure) and andolan (loosely, an oscillation). Sopori went a step ahead and used fingers to stretch the strings to give heavy, veena-like effect in the lower octave. He did not compromise with the actual resonance of these essential embellishments. Their followers blended the two styles. The all-inclusive aural effect was more than gratifying for the aficionados.

But the restive soul of an artiste like Bapat evidently sought path-breaking innovations to make the instrument totally self-contained, delightfully practical and yet true to its intrinsic delicate nature.

All these assets made Madhuvanti, his first raga of the evening — organised by the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture at Vivekananda hall in Golpark — very beautiful. Featherweight glides tip-toed in at every bend with gripping grace. The clarity was as convincing in the fast Teen tala composition’s mukhda (catchphrase) that flashed a dainty meend. This was facilitated by a swift rub on the string with the tail of the strikers. The raga had a touch of komal Nishad as well — a version followed by some schools.

Within seconds he moved on to Hamsadhwani and played the raga on two scales, D and C, simultaneously, giving the second scale a shadow-like appearance. A beautiful slow-medium composition in raga Janasammohini set to Jhap tala had an intriguing gait with lovely layakari thrown in.

Renowned accompanist Shubhankar Banerjee’s sensitive tabla, with his more articulate bayaan (left drum) on this occasion, matched the soft tone of the santoor even during his solo replies.

Pandit Bapat’s own method of tuning the santoor, usually a long-drawn procedure, follows chromatic structure. This helped him to twitter from one raga to another in a jiffy. He signed off with a lilting Mishra Pahadi dhun.

A nicely packaged recital seems a must these days. Though, more often than not virtuosity sways high, emotions lie low; and grey matter starves for hearty hues in such items. Most are predictable.

Mukul Shivaputra is disarmingly different. Oblivious of the present trend the son-disciple of the legendary Kumar Gandharva virtually lives with the seven notes and follows nothing except his own mood and aesthetic sense. He was in Kolkata recently and an intimate baithak at Manovikas Kendra exerted a pull on all those who prefer impulsive simplicity to soulless sophistication.

Yaman Kalyan, as delineated by him, was a reflection of his life’s philosophy — deeply emotive and devoid of restrictive idioms. Pat-Manjari was his second presentation in which five ragas unfurled like petals of a flower. His raga Bageshri was almost devoid of the deviously touched pancham.

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