The fruit of dedication
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Pandit Sangameshwar Gurav and Kaivalya Kumar Gurav enthralled Varanasi audiences.
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PHOTO: DINESHSETH
INDEPENDENT, NOT ALONE Kaivalya Kumar Gurav in a concert.
Quite spontaneously, musicians who have only pored over their art night and day all their life in the guru-shishya parampara evoke the subtle and finer aspects of Khayal gayaki. After a long time, the classical music lovers of Varanasi enjoyed the experience of having a guru and shishya together on the same stage recently. They were Pandit Sangameshwar Gurav and Kaivalya Kumar Gurav of the Kirana gharana from Dharvad. It was an acknowledgement of their musical calibre as well as status in the world of music. Before the sensitive audience at the Besant Theosophical Society, Kaivalya Gurav enunciated the raga Puria Dhanashri. His father and guru was with him. Senior tabla player of Varanasi, Pandit Eshwar Lal Mishra, was there to embellish the programme with appropriate accompaniment.
Sedate approach
Old effervescence has given place to sedate deliberation. Kaivalya does not look for easy options. The initial wavering on the Aadhar Shadja provided the first indication of his sadhana. It took some minutes for the vocalist to get a grip of this fundamental swara. By choosing this sandhya prakash raga, he made his intentions clear.
He was prepared to traverse the tricky and circuitous paths of an exacting melody at the very start. Also, one feels some of our ragas, especially those using Teevra Madhyam, like Madhuwanti, Shyam Kalyan and Hamir, have fallen well in line with the regional musical temperament in Karnataka or Dharvad regions. They do not seem to have a particular fancy for the use of shruti. Instead they like to revel in ragas with erect notes.
The pivotal Teevra Madhyam provides maximum aid in spinning a revolving fast taan. Pandit Kaivalya Kumar is one of those lucky few to have many gifted qualities: a natural high pitched, mellifluous voice and a mastery of murki and speedy taans. His technical draft of the raga was unassailable. He laid deserved emphasis on the Rishabh to establish its affinity with the Puri thaat. The raga is an amalgamation of Dhanashri and Puria. Dhanashri is of the Kafi thaat.
He made Ma, Re, Ga, and Re, Ni clear to establish the beauty of this raga. Also he clearly drew the demarcating line between Puriya Dhanashri and Jaitshri by highlighting the descending phrase. The vistar of the domination note Rishabh was illustrated through permutations from diverse approaches and angles. A similar pattern marked his illustration of the Teevra Madhyam. To add spice to his father's naturally slow utterances, he injects crisp sargams. It has been his favourite device. However, to make a small and repetitive raga look spacious, he seemed to extend the vistar in the purvaang too much. The programme was organised by Kala Prakash.
GAUTAM CHATTERJEE
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