Purists of Hindustani classical music swear by sur and taal and identify them as the base of vocal and instrumental music. Keeping this in mind a concert was held by Ravindra Katoti on Sunday at Ghokhale institute. Ravindra Katoti, founder member of the Bijapure Harmonium foundation, took a bold step by not including a percussion player in the ensemble. The stage looked rather unusual with the absence of a tabla or an alternative percussion instrument.
Ravindra katoti , the lead Harmonium player was accompanied by two supporting harmonium players and a one leg harmonium player on the stage. The real challenge was to orchestrate the compositions for the time cycle.
The concert picked up tempo with Raag Madhuvanti. The ensemble then moved on to explore the mood of the monsoon rains through Raag Megh with the tempo varying between the sound of a rain drop to the thunderous torrential rains.
The rest of the presentations were a journey to a world of music, thus transporting the listener to a state of trance.
The concert elevated the spiritual senses of the audience to a level from where it was difficult to return.
Ravindra Katoti was absolutely in sync with the eccentricity of Western classical musical legends including Beethoven who constantly broke the rules of conventional music to write new rules for others to follow.
