KOCHI: When rag behag began to flow from the bansuri of Hariprasad Chaurasia, the greatest living exponent of bansuri recital, audience lost themselves in the heavenly music pouring from the magical reed.
The venue was JT Pac and the mesmerising musical moments were jointly organised by the Muthoot Pappachan Foundation and the Jose Thomas Performing Art Centre.
The aalaap style adopted by the maestro, rooted in Maihar gharana, unveiled the sweetness of the rag. The spontaneous flow of behag, well supported by the timely tonal continuation by Chaurasia's beloved disciple Sunil Avachat presented a unique charm to the aalaap. The 25-minute long aalaap virtually turned to be a musical meditation as Chaurasia went very deep into the soul of behag. And listeners were able to feel the nuances of the rag as it merged with the emotion- filled aalaap.
Later Bhavani Shankar joined the maestro with his pakhawaj, a little known percussion for Keralites. Bhavani Shankar, a recipient of the Grammy Award, added a rhythmic fantasy to the musical downpour as melodious beats from pakhawaj reverberated in the theatre and enriched the sweetness of behag.
The merging of the music from Chaurasia’s bansuri rooted in Maihar gharana with the rhythm of Bhavani Shankar’s pakhawaj, entrenched in Jaipur gharana, created an indescribable elation in the minds of music buffs. It was then Vijay Ghate joined the two with his tabla.
From this point onwards the concert entered a new vista which delineated the rare beauty of roopak thaal with seven beats. When the pace of the recital reached theenthal with sixteen beats, Vijay Ghate displayed the techniques he learned from his Guru, Pandit Suresh Thalwalkar, based in Farookhabad gharana.
The conclusion of behag was met with such a huge applause from the listeners that Chaurasia had to ask them to stop as wanted to continue the concert.
Then the maestro selected his favorite rag, jog. The very beginning of the aalaap in ekthal exposed the sedative mood of the rag. By conceiving the mood of the rag, Sunil Avachat presented some ecstatic moments for the listeners.
When Chaurasia presented a composition set to dhadra thal with six beats, Vijay Ghate joined him to present the rhythmic repetition of the notes played on the bansuri.
This session, which seemed similar to the thaniavarthanam in a carnatic concert, presented some delicate moments by Chaurasia and Ghate.
Then was the mellifluous flow of malhar as per the repeated requests from listeners.
When the maestro elaborated the emotion-filled special notations, the audience easily identified it as the ever green melody ‘Innenikku Pottukuthaan..’, scored by Devarajan Master for the film Guruvayoor Keshavan.
Then was delineation of the rustic beauty of a pahadi dhun through which the musical genius took the listeners to Lord Krishna’s Vrindhavan where the young Krishna entertained villagers with his mesmerising flute.
Pahadi, the traditional folk tune popular in north Indian villages, came out from the bansuri of Chaurasia with all its delicacy and listeners moved their heads and hands in tune with the rhythmic melody of the rag.
All of a sudden the maestro took a small top flute and entered an entirely different tempo. In a vivacious manner Chaurasia played the fast pace of pahaadi set to theenthal, accompanied by a wonderful performance on tabla by Ghate.
That was the end of the musical downpour from the bansuri and the beginning of a thunderous applause from the music buffs who enjoyed the heavenly music for nearly three hours. They witnessed a performance where Chaurasia showed his love for Lord Krishna through his matchless music pouring from the magical reed.
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