KHMC  winter concert updates

- Jyoti Sharma

  Karnatic and Hindustani Music Circle (KHMC) kicked off its first concert of the year on Feb 11th, 2017 at the Center for Arts and Wellness in Westborough MA, which was recently founded by Hema Iyengar and Vandana Rao with the intention to seamlessly blend art, culture and well-being for the enrichment of our community by offering the classes and services in fine arts, music and fitness.  Having its own charm of musical ambience, this venue was a perfect place  for the local music lovers to gather and enjoy an evening filled with Hindustani and Karnatic classical music. KHMC is a non-profit organization serving the music community by playing a key role in the promotion of Indian classical music in the New England area by hosting free concert series for the local and global performing artists.

 The concert was initiated by a very melodiously gifted junior Hindustani artist  Sadhika Hiremath, who is the disciple of Surmani Shri Dattatreya Velankar.  In 2016, Sadhika had presented a full-length classical concert "Bhoomika" prior to which she also released a CD recorded with her the sisters of the 16 Vachanas in Kannada.  Sadhika began with an afternoon Raag Bhimpalasi Bada Khayal  “Abb to badi ber”, a composition set in Vilambit Ek Taal (slow paced 12 beats rhythmic cycle), followed by the Bandish “Ja ja re apne madirawa” set in Dhrut Teen Taal, a fast paced 16 beats rhythmic cycle. She then presented Raag Koushikadhwani in Madhyalay Addha Teen Taal  followed by a Tarana in Ek Taal (12 beats rhythmic cycle). The segment was concluded by reciting two beautiful bhajans “Thumaka Chalat” in Hindi and “Enu Nirupama” in Kannada. The audience thoroughly enjoyed her silken voice and the expressions that she depicted in her entire presentation. Sadhika was accompanied on Tabla by Shri Rajesh Pai, a very well known senior performer in the New England Area who had his formal training under his Gurus Shri Shrihari Marate and Shri Vittaldas Bhat. Another young talent, Kirthan Ekbote- also the student of Surmani Dattatreya Velankar- accompanied flawlessly on Harmonium.

 The Junior Carnatic segment was presented by Pranav Shankar,  accompanied by Yash Ravi on Violin and Vijay Srinivasachari on Mridangam. Pranav Shankar has been an ardent student of Carnatic music since the last 4 years. In summer of 2016, he had also performed at a Murugan temple in Chennai during Aadi Kritigai festival. Vijay Ravish has been learning Mridangam from his first guru Thillaisthanam Sri. Suryanarayanan based in Chennai (Rajappa Iyer School) and Rohan Krishnamurthy (Palani School). Yash Ravish is a student of Guru Smt. Tara Anand at the Anubhava school of music, where he learns Carnatic vocal and violin. The three of them complemented each other so beautifully and kept the audience captivated with their performance.  There were segments showcasing their individual talent as well and their performance sounded much matured at such a young age.  The concert was thoughtfully put together to explore various Ragas, various Bhaavas or emotions, at different paces and it was all delivered by Pranav, Yash, and Vijay.  They clearly filled audiences’ hearts and left them longing for more. 

 In the Hindustani senior segment, the audience got an opportunity to witness the beauty of one of the most popular string instruments associated with the Hindustani classical music genre called “Sitar”, by a highly acclaimed Sitarist of New England area, the one and only, Jawwad Noor who is also a prominent disciple of Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan, a world renowned Sitar exponent whose contribution to the world of Hindustani classical music has earned him numerous awards including prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi and Padma Shri Award. Jawwad Noor was accompanied on Tabla by Rohit Panchakshari, an extremely talented performer  in the New England area who is the disciple of Pandit Narendra Khot (disciple of Punjab Gharana maestro Ustad Allarakha Khan Saheb) and Pt. Supreet Deshpande (disciple of Farukhabad Gharana virtuoso Pt. Kiran Deshpande and Taalyogi Pt. Suresh Talwalkar). The main performance by Jawwad Noor was the evening Raga called Raga Yaman in which he played a detailed “Alap”, an extensive exploration of the Yaman scale that is arhythmic, and sets up the meditative mood for the audience to dive deep into the Raag and experience its intricate characteristic. He then extended this Alap into a “Jor Alap”, where a rhythm is established (without percussion) while the Raag exploration is continued in a mesmerising style that is historically an adaptation of the Dhrupad nom-tom Alap to instrumental music. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that such an inter-weaving of notes on Sitar, as seen in Alap and Jor - Alap, may transport  one into a musical trans-space where one may want to reside for the longer time.  Jawwad then played a composition in Madhyalaya, a medium tempo-based composition in Taal Rupak (7 beats cyclic rhythm) supported by a perfect accompaniment on Tabla by Rohit Panchakshari.The duo successfully engaged the audience in a truly magical and perfect synchronicity that one can experience between the Tabla and a Sitar. The concluding composition of this segment was a fast paced or Dhrut bandish in Teentaal which was based on a vocal composition by Ustad Amir Khan's  "Aiso sughara sundarawa balamuwa" which was gracefully received by the audience. As Jawwad himself beautifully quoted “I see the Alap as meditative, Madhyalaya as more romantic in nature, and Dhrut as communicating intensity” and one can’t agree more on this. Last but not least, in the second segment, Jawwad played a composition in Raag Rageshri in the fourteen beats cyclic rhythm taal called Ada Chautaal, which was indeed a treat for the audience to enjoy the lingering sound of Sitar chiming in their hearts that concluded the KHMC concert on a high note.

KHMC proudly hosts the free concerts that are organised with the help of the generous hosts and selfless KHMC volunteers. The next concert is scheduled on March 25th, 3 pm onwards at Lexington.

 Follow and like KHMC Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/Karnatic-Hindustani-Music-Circle-KHMC-New-England-973169612697458/

Non-members can sign-up for free to become KHMC members here.: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdSgnngGkdai7NSeLvwSADbarvpIND6g86shSLElBt5Qqbpjw/viewform

 To learn more about Center of Arts and Wellness visit www.centerforartsandwellness.com

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