KHMC, a nonprofit organisation , has been dedicatedly organizing a series of yearly free concerts with the goal of bringing together the palette of junior as well as senior Karnatic and Hindustani musicians, by providing a platform to share their talent with all the music lovers in an informal homely setting. One of such upcoming concerts is scheduled for Dec 6th, 2014 to be held at Marlborough, MA. The September concert was held in Shrewsbury MA and was generously hosted by noted musicians Smt. Uma and Shri Sankar at their charming residence, featuring a stellar lineup of Karnatic and Hindustani musicians of New England area.

The concert started with a lovely Mridangam Percussion Ensemble featuring three talented young mridangists from the school of beloved guru Shri Gaurishankar Chandrashekar. The trio of Bharathan (11), Kasinath (13) and Hari (14) mesmerised the audience with their intricate mridangam playing. They rendered a beautiful Adi Talam (8 beat cycle) composition and a charming Misra Chapu (7 beat cycle) composition. In the Adi talam presentation, Bharathan's Tisram (3 beats) variation, Kasinath's Khandam (5 beats) variation, and Hari's Misram (7 beats) variation added color and showed their virtuosity. It was wonderful to see  a flawless execution with perfect chemistry and camaraderie among them. 

Smt Bhuvana Ganesh marked the evening with her beautiful renditions starting with a varnam in Ragam Mohanakalyani by Shri Lalgudi Jayaraman followed by padams in the Ragam Nattai, Simhavaahini,Hindolam and Kurinji. The main piece of the evening was Sri Kanthimathim in Raga Hemavathy and Durusuga in Raga Saveri. She concluded with Madhuvanthi Thillana by Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman and Mangalam. It was a very pleasant surprise to have an accompaniment from Shri Srihari Rangaswamy, an extremely accomplished Mridangam and Kanjira artist who was visiting from India.  The wonderful on stage chemistry and support  by Shri Pravin and Shri Rangaswamy served to magnificently   enhance the presentation. Surya's violin was stellar and his accompaniment significantly embellished the performance.His  alapana for Saveri and Hemavathy was very  soothing and bhava laden.

In the Hindustani music junior segment, Sharon High school sophomore Sahil Shah stunned the audience by demonstrating the flawless execution of Hindustani Raags on keyboard . Sahil has been learning from  Smt Preeti Chakarborty for the past 10 years. He played Raag Marwa and Raag Purvi compositions in Madhyalaya and dhrutlaya with good command on raga and taal grammar.  He was accompanied by Shri Rajesh Pai on tabla who was remarkable.

The Hindustani senior segment was featured by the noted New England area instrumentalists, Shri Phil Kaplan on Guitar and Smt Deepali Khanzode on Sitar,  accompanied by Shri Rajesh Pai on Tabla. Shri Phil Kaplan presented vilambit and madhyalaya compositions with alaap and taans in Raag Multani and Bihag that took audience into an adventure filled with many emotional moments derived out of bhava created from an instrument. This was followed by a wonderful and rare  Jugalbandi of guitar and sitar in Raag Bageshri which sounded absolutely pleasant due to the uniquely interweaved alaaps and taan in madhyalay and dhrutlay of Teentaal. It also evoked curiosity in some percussion students from audience who asked a few questions on Hindustani taals on tabla, to which Shri Phil Kaplan and Shri Rajesh Pai responded by demonstrating and explaining to them the workings of Hindustani taal system and its comparison with Carnatic taal system. It was a valuable learning experience for audience as well.

This full day concert was witnessed by a good number of enthusiastic and appreciative audiences.  All are welcome to attend the upcoming KHMC free concerts with their friends and families to appreciate the musicians and take full advantage of the uniques event . For more details please contact Smt Durga Krishnan on 508-481-7842 .

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