Jalsaghar is a chamber of music where greats of Hindustani such as Bismillah Khan, Begum Akhtar, Wahid Khan, Salamat Ali Khan, and Kathak danseuse Roshan Kumari assembled to make the film one of Satyajit Ray's greatest.
The movie, which portrayed a worn-out landlord who lavished on music fetes often at the cost of his diminishing income, not only spoke of deeper instincts of humans to flaunt their pompous pride but also showcased some of the finest music from the Hindustani stream, as diverse as it was enchanting.
Its no surprise that the film inspired many auteurs as well as artists and art lovers to follow Hindustani with passion. One among that was Soorya Krishnamoorthy who introduced a segment on Hindustani 20 years ago in his brainchild the 'Soorya festival' and named it 'Jalsaghar', symbolically denoting an inclusion of a chamber of music in the palatial building that Soorya festival is.
Jalsaghar grew in proportion along with the interest for the musical genre among Keralites, and now, when the Soorya festival extends for 111 days, almost a week of the festival space remains designated to Hindustani performances.
This year too, the trend is quite the same as has been over the last few years, and Soorya Krishnamoorthy's demise on September 22 has not changed the schedule, says Pradeep Thalayal, one of the organisers at Soorya festival.
The 'Jalsaghar' began this year on October 21, the Vijayadashami day, with performances of Bengaluru-based artists Vibha Hegde and Shivami Mirajkar, who began their repertoire in classic Hindustani and then went on to include popular abhangs like 'Maajhe Maher Pandari' and also staging a vocal jugalbandhi. Says Athira N, a student of Hindustani who has been following the Jalsaghar chamber concerts at Soorya since the past few years: "Both the singers explored the abhang in great detail, as they went about their jugalbandhi (musical duel) that actually brought out the beauty of Rag Shudha Kalyan with shades of Rags Bhoopali and Mand. Pandit Bhimsen Joshi had made this Sant Eknath composition, and it was lovely getting to hear it in this depth."
She feels the chances of hearing quality Hindustani music in Kerala is sparse, and only on such stages as Jalsaghar can the opportunity be got. "Carnatic students are asked to listen to as much concerts as possible and the chances are available to them easily. For the growing number of Hindustani students in Kerala, stages such are Jalsaghar are the only refuge," she notes.
The week's Hindustani schedule also included Kaushik Aithal and Omkarnath Hawaldar whose performance on October 22 too was a jugalbandhi vocal.
Instrumental jugalbandhi was be staged on October 23 where Sitar by Ustad Rafique Khan played along with Satyendra Singh Solanki's Santoor. Rafique Khan remembers being associated with Soorya for the last 20 years. "Those days, there were hardly any audience for Hindustani. I recall counting just around 50. But post COVID, when I performed, the numbers swelled and we had a full house, requiring extra chairs to be put," recalls Rafique, who feels there is a demand for teachers too in Kerala for Hindustani instrumental. "I take classes for students from Kannur and Thalassery. But I have been getting a lot of enquiries from Thiruvananthapuram too."
For this year's Hindustani line-up for the first three days, Rafique was entrusted with the task of choosing the singers with a direction to include young and emerging talents. "All the singers performing on the first two days are first-timers in Soorya and in the initial years of their career. The one who played with me, Satyendra, is also a youngster. The tabla artist accompanying us, Hemant Joshi, is hardly 20," he says, pointing at the vision of the festival to encourage young musicians.
Shivami Mirajkar and Vibha Hegde were also quite elated at being included in the Jalsaghar chamber concerts, and felt the space is filled with an intimacy that makes performing at the aesthetically done Ganesham theatre space, unique. "It was more than a stage, probably like a Baithak where the artist sings for a warm group of people, who assemble to enjoy an evening of music in a friendly environment. I am hoping to be back here for more such experiences," Shivami says.
Other concerts staged were a solo performance by Chaithra HG on October 24, and local veteran Ramesh Narayan's performance on October 25.
All the concerts were staged from 6.45 pm at Ganesham, Thycaud, which turned a chamber of music much like Jalsaghar was in the Ray movie, showcasing the splendour of Hindustani's slow and cascading flow.