The Love and Peace concert, an initiative to celebrate the girl child, got off to a rousing start with a sand art presentation by Harikrishna, an artist from Hyderabad. The concert was held at Chowdiah Memorial Hall and was organised by Shruti Chaturlal of Shrutiyaaan and Pandit Chaturlal memorial society. The nimble movements of his fingers playing with the fine sand was a treat to watch. The lines and forms created by him on the theme of a girl child as a sister, wife and mother evoked the right sentiment in the audiences.
The artist was at his best as he moved on to depict the anguish of the people of the nation protesting against the Delhi gang rape. The activism-cum-movement for the victim came alive through brilliantly executed art works by this young artist. Also, Sandhya Sirsi, a Bangalore-based artist showcased a series of paintings on the ‘girl child’ theme.
The audiences were treated to an exhilarating percussion performance on tabla, Western drums and Turkish drums by Pranshu Chaturlal, the grandson of Pandit Chaturlal. Soon it was time for the father-son duo Pandit Ajay Pohankar, the doyen of Hindustani music hailing from the Kirana gharana and Abhijith Pohankar on electronic keyboard to create sheer magic.
The duo started off to a bandish recorded originally for the movie Hum Dil de Chuke Sanam, Albela Sajaniya, a perfect base for the audience to enjoy their all-time favorite Piya Baawari, a fusion experiment, that was rendered flawlessly.
Namaskara Bengaluru, said Roopkumar Rahod who managed to connect with the audience instantaneously as he joined the duo for another fusion performance .The full throttled start to the song Aankhe teri itni haseen from Anwar had music connoisseurs rejoicing.
The mood of the concert was perfect as the trio signed off with a well-orchestrated presentation with Sandese aatey hai , Woh chitti aate Hai from the movie Border. The masters were at their best as each of them hit the perfect chord in vocals and keyboards that was ably-supported by the entire team of musicians.