15-year-old shehnai player Bhaskar Nath and Bhuvanesh Komakali enthrall audience.
The opening day of the 58th edition of the Sawai Gandharva music festival belonged to the youth. Fifteen-year-old Bhaskar Nath, a standard X student and shehnai player from New Delhi, had people eating out of his hand, bringing back memories of tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, who had also performed as a schoolboy at the same festival several decades ago.
Even the mild showers at the start of the show could not dampen the enthusiasm of the aficionados as Nath presented a rendition which had people in a thrall. A student of the Delhi Public School (DPS), Nath belongs to the famous Meerut Shehnai Gharana.
He has been trained in the shehnai, flute and harmonium at an early age under his grandfather, Pandit Om Prakash, his paternal uncle, the late Pandit Jagannath, an acclaimed shehnai player and his father, Kirana Gharana
vocalist, Pandit Vishwanath.
Bhaskar began the evening with Raag Multani and later entertained the audience with Raag Mishra Pilu. He was supported on the tabla by Charudutt Phadke.
The NextGen theme continued when the legendary Kumar Gandharva’s grandson, Bhuvanesh Komakali, appeared on stage. Trained by his grandmother, renowned vocalist, Vasundhara Komakali, Bhuvanesh showed his pedigree.
He sang Raag Puriya Dhanashree and Raag Shyam Kalyan which sent the audiences into a tizzy. In fact, he was brave enough to sing his grandfather’s difficult song, ‘Sunta Hai Guru Gyani…’ and still come out trumps.
Bhuvanesh is presently working on a project to expand the archives of Kumar Gandharva with digital technology.
The evening also had a strong local flavour when Aundh-based vocalist, Sudhakar Chavan, took centrestage. Having begun at the age of 14, Chavan has had teachers of the calibre of Sudhakar Marathe and Pandit Shreekant Deshpande of the Kirana Gharana.
Chavan’s rendition of ‘Madhuban me shyam..’ in Raag Madhuvanti set the mood for the evening after the showers, while the abhang, ‘Avagha Rang Ekachi Zala..’ added to the ambience.
The curtains on day one were brought down by the legendary flautist, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and vocalist Parveen Sultana, who mesmerised the audience with their performances.
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