Blending of notes

The curtain opened to a huge applause as maestros U Srinivas, the mandolin prodigy, and Shahid Parvez Khan, the eminent sitarist entered the stage. They wereaccompanied by veteran tabla player Yogesh Samsi and V Praveen on the mridangam.

The jugalbandi of the two maestros was a unique opportunity for the classical music lovers of the City — and the number of people at Chowdiah Memorial Hall said it all.
The programme started with an alaap from the respective artistes, who passed on the buck to each other with a polite smile.

As both of them nodded in appreciation of each other’s creative genius, the music lovers sat mesmerised, waiting and wanting more.

“I had to literally pinch myself to believe that I was seeing both Shahid Parvez Khan and U Srinivas together on one stage.  I did not want to miss such an opportunity and made sure that my children were here to see such a terrific performance as well,” says T Nagraj, who had come for the performance. As their fingers strummed magic, the audience could not help but applaud and express their appreciation of the maestros.

“What made this performance more special was the
on-stage camaraderie of the two gurus. There was no
rush to outdo one another and both of them gave space for the other to perform.

It was a pleasure to see them perform,” adds Smita, also a member of the
audience. The one-and-a-half-hour-long performance had no breaks and the audience had nothing to complain about.

While the beginning was smooth and slow-paced, the end was faster and full of complex notes, with the gayaki component of the artiste being pronounced.
Fused with mridangam and tabla, the outcome was music in its purest form.

Both the artistes showcased their individual style and gharana. Shahid Khan emphasised on the mirs, harkats and the taans and U Srinivas was eloquent with his strumming of the mandolin as he blended each note into the other.

“Khan’s sheer brilliance with the sitar is simply breathtaking. His gharana gives a lot of scope for gayaki and laykari, which is not only interesting to hear but also difficult to perform. He also improvises a lot. The South Indian audience has seen U Srinivas perform a lot of times, but we are getting to see Khan after a long time,” notes Vaidyanathan Hegde, who had come to watch the show.