Delightful renditions

It was truly a unique musical experience with some of the best musicians from across the country performing under one roof.

The Teen Prahar concert brought together the best musicians from the
classical, Hindustani and Carnatic genres.

The concert that lasted for more than five hours had each musician play exclusive compositions for about an hour and half each.

The audience comprised music lovers, musicians and those who followed the work of the musicians who had come to perform.

The evening opened with Devaki Pandit, a Hindustani vocalist who sang, among her own compositions, popular ragas from the Hindustani strains.

She switched with ease between high pitches and low and performed in perfect coordination with the accompanists.

This was followed by a performance by young sitarist Purbayan Chatterjee who worked around the theme of Indian ragas.

He began with Latangi ragas, which was from heroic mood and soon switched
to a romantic mode.

Talking about his experience of performing at the concert, Purbayan said,
“You have more freedom to experiment in Indian classical music than in jazz.

I improvise a lot on stage and never conform to a set pattern. Classical music
is like a painting which looks and feels different from different angles.”

Purbayan feels that classical music is more innovative today, with
people turning to music not only as an art form but for therapeutic purposes as well.

This was followed by a performance by T M Krishna, a Carnatic vocalist who is
also known to improvise a lot on stage.

He is popular for his lively renditions and this concert too was no exception.
He performed a few of his own compositions.

“I am most comfortable with the audience in Bangalore. I always get a warm
response and it’s a pleasure returning to perform for the well-informed music lovers of this City,” he said.

The programme concluded with a performance by Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia and his students.

This was indeed a perfect ending to a mesmerising evening.  

There were a few people in the audience who sat through the entire five-hour performance and they said that they were treated to an array of styles.

Shamal Sunder, a member of the audience said, “I came here to listen to T M Krishna but it was a pleasure to sit through all the other performance.”