Ahmedabad:
Music lovers of Ahmedabad spent a rejuvenating week-end swaying to the soulful music rendered by renowned sitar
vadak Krishna Mohan Bhatt and Grammy award winner Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. They were in the city as part of the two-day music concert organised by the Saptak School of Music at Gajjar Hall, which began on Saturday.
The event was organized to celebrate the 90th birth anniversary of Pt. Ravishankar Maharaj, the legendary sitaritst and guru of Bhatt brothers and Manju Mehta, founder of Saptak.
Around six music performances took place in the two-day concert where artists played
ragas and
bandish composed by Ravishnakarji. On Sunday, the programme began with a 30-minute chorus performance by a group of 16-Saptak students who played raga Tilakshyama - composed by Ravishankarji. The chorus performance had the audience mesmerised.
Later Pt. Krishna Mohan Bhatt, accompanied by Pruthvi Raj Mishra, performed at the event. "I had planned to play Kameshwari for the city's discerning audience. Kameshwari
raga is Guruji's exquisite creation. However, that raga is complex by nature and requires a sombre mood which did not fit the ambience. Hence, I instantly altered my plans and performed raga Man Manjari," Bhatt said.
Marking the grand finale of the concert Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt played raga
Shyam Kalyan. After playing the raga composed by Ravishankarji, Bhatt presented two Rajasthani folk music
dhun compositions. He was accompanied by Ram Kumar Mishra on tabla. The most remarkable feature of his performance was a vocal recital of '
Kesariya Balam' - one of the most popular Rajasthani folk music narrations.
"This was a rare occasion to pay tribute to my guru with whom I share about a 30-year-old association. Hence, I wanted to perform something new," said an overwhelmed Bhatt, who seldom sings on stage and is known for playing Mohan Veena.
Parth Sarth Chaudhary, a sarod player and Subhendu Rao, a sitar player had earlier performed a duet during the opening session of the concert on Saturday. They played raga Hemant and later presented
raga Kirwani. The duo was accompanied by Akaram Khan, a tabla
vadak. In the second session of the concert on Saturday, vocalist Samresh Chaudhary began his performance with Gunji Kanda and concluded it with Jog Kauns.
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