JOIN USOrganised by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) as part of the ‘Horizon’ series, this event featured popular singer Rekha Surya, who has trained under renowned artistes like Begum Akhtar and Girija Devi.
The talented musician presented a ‘Romantic Light Classical Concert’ which was a treat for the fans of Hindustani music. Rekha’s rustic voice coupled with the able performance of the talented Rahul Pophily on tabla and able Ranjan Kumar on violin had everyone enthralled. The evening had Rekha presenting an array of monsoon-related Hindustani pieces like Kajri, Jhoola, Dadra and Ghazals. Highly inspired by the works of Amir Khusro, she even rendered a few songs penned by the famous poet.
Rekha started the evening with a beautiful song in Raag Mishra Shivranjani.
“It’s a great pleasure to be here in Bangalore. This is an ancient poem shrouded in antiquity and its poet is unknown,” said Rekha. The song had a couplet of poet Kabir as well. This piece was beautiful on both its spirituality and romanticism. “All these pieces are like two sides of a coin,” explained Rekha. “There is room for both spirituality and romance. You can take it in either way,” she added as she went on to sing yet another mesmerising and catchy tune called Piya Ghar Aaye, and held the audience captivated for half an hour. Later, she sang a few ghazals like Hum Na Unke Na Woh Hamare Hain.
With an air of Sufi mysticism, each of the songs rendered by Rekha had quite an impact on the audience. Geeta Navale, a veena player, who was present at the show thoroughly enjoyed the concert. “It was an interesting session and I liked her style of singing,” said Geetha. “I also like the way she presented the songs. She explained the meaning of each of the songs extremely well,” she added. Muthu, a table artiste present at the show said, “The influence of Begum Akhtar came out in her singing. It was a refreshing evening for a City that’s starved of Hindustani and ghazal shows.”