It was the fifth of the 13-day Saptak music festival - a much-respected and eagerly awaited event in the domain of classical music.
It was the fifth of the 13-day Saptak music festival - a much-respected and eagerly awaited event in the domain of classical music.
Naturally, expectations were running high. However, when the Gundecha Bros began their rendition of Abir Gulal Rang Chidkat, they completely altered the ambience in the hall - filling it with unprecedented colours of joy.
And that was not all - Pandit Shivkumar Sharma's santoor vadan silenced those present with the sheer beauty of his presentation. The evening's first session witnessed a rendition by Shirish Pandit, a city-based vocalist who was accompanied by Munjal Mehta on the tabla and Kishore Kunte on the harmonium.
During the second session, Ustad Shamim Ahmed - an artist belonging to the maiyer gharana - played raga bihag and raga jayjaywanti on the sitar. He was accompanied by Yogesh Samsi on the tabla. The Sangeet Natak Academy awardee Ahmed presented a ghatkari rhythm-centric performance as a special dedication to Saptak's late founder Nandan Mehta.
The third session saw drupad gayaki by Umakant and Ramakant Gundecha. The two are better known as 'two people but one voice.' They performed raga hameer with an intricate aalap, and rendered a dhamar with 'Abir gulal rang chhidkat' as the lyrics. The two were accompanied by Akhilesh Gundecha on the pakhwaj. The two, who have recently been awarded the Rajat Kamal Best Music Direction Award for the non-feature film category, have been coming to the city to perform at the Saptak music festival every year, since 1993.
All stars fade when the sun shines, they say. And indeed, when Pt Shivkumar Sharma and Ustad Zakir Hussain took over the Saptak stage, time stood still in the hall. A combination of the musical genius of these two would naturally enthrall music lovers, and Wednesday was no different. Not surprisingly, this session was attended by music lovers who wouldn't mind traveling across the country and the world to listen to them, and would also adjust their travel calendars accordingly.
"Since the last several years, we have not performed together at Saptak," said Sharma. "However, this year, we both mutually adjusted our dates to perform together, mainly because (Nandan) Mehta loved hearing us perform together. As a special dedication to him and the Saptak festival - today the world's longest classical music concert, we are in the city to perform together," said Sharma.
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