This unique Carnatic-Hindustani Jugalbandhi concert by Jayanthi Kumaresh (Veena) and Gaurav Mazumdar (Sitar) with Satish Kumar (Mridangam) and Nitin Mitta (Tabla) held at Wong Auditorium on Sunday April 24, 2005 in the midst of rainy weather was extremely soothing to the ear, which probably caused the rain gods to bless us with bright sunlight, when the concert ended!!

Jayanthi after her tutelage under her uncle, the illustrious Lalgudi Jayaraman, had perfected her skills as the sishya of Veena Maesto, the late S.Balachander. Gaurav is the typical example of a worthy sishya of the one and only Ravi Shankar.

The concert opened with an impressive raga alapana in Carnatic raga Mohanam (Bhupali in Hindustani) followed by a kirthana in Adi talam (Teen tal). This composition was embellished with long and intricate kalpana swaras by Jayanthi and Gaurav in perfect unison.

The second song of the concert, was a long and delightful exposition of Kiravani raga (Kirvani in Hindustani), which was followed by thanam by Jayanthi and jor jala by Gaurav. This part of the concert was superb, which brought out the depth of knowledge and skills of both musicians, which was well appreciated by the learned audience with repeated applause. Ragam-thanam was followed by pallavi in Adi talam which was made more sweet with delightful niraval and kalpana swaras. This piece terminated with an excellent display of Thani Avarthanam by the talented percussionists, Satish Kumar on the Mridangam and Nitin Mitta on the Tabla. They took us to great heights by their skillful support to the main artistes.

The third song, announced as the concluding one, was a rendering of Vaishnava Janotho in Rag Kamaj (Misra Khamas in Carnatic). This song was completed in style with sweet ragamalika swarams in Mohanam, Kapi, Hemavathi, and Behag.
    
With the claps and cheers for the artistes continuing, a welcome voice from the audience requested for one more song! Jayanthi and Gaurav promptly sat down with their team and gave us a soothing dagra in six speeds in Sindubhairavi raga (Bhairav in Hindustani) for the next 30 minutes. The raga alapana by both Jayanthi and Gaurav were enchanting. All in all, it was a superb display of Veena and Sitar and Boston listeners eagerly look forward to hear them again soon.

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