JOIN USDelhi witnessed the famous ‘UMAK Festival’ by UMAK Centre for Culture on September 14 with Pandit Debu Chaudhuri rendering his favourite instrument, the sitar. He dedicated the festival to his Guru Ustad Mushtaq Ali Khan on his 101st birth anniversary.
Pandit Debu Chaudhri who is in his late seventies astonished connoisseurs of music when he played his own rendition of Kalyani Bilawal as part of the festival.
With his diverse raagmala he mesmerised the listeners and took them to a rare musical journey and showed what training at the feet of his Guru meant. The festival also featured the renowned vocalist Begum Parveen Sultana.
Staring with alaap in shudh kalyan, Pandit Debu took the audience through his rendition of gada in vilambit in kalyani bilawal which is his own creation, madh laya in raga yaman, ek taal in raga shyam kalyaan, dhrut bihaag and ended with sohini (which had been made famous by the prem jogan ban ke in Mughal-e-Azam by Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan).
Talking about his experience and dedicating the festival to his Guru, Pandit Debu, said, “My only mission is to keep my Guru’s name alive. I wanted to show people what I have learnt from him. My heart bleeds when people don’t give recognition to him and to his work. "So, this is my effort to revive him and his art.”
Praising the audience in the festival, Pandit Debu further added, “It was a full house and we had a very selective audience. They understood the music and were highly dedicated and devoted audience. It was a very dignified programme and I was really happy with the reactions and applause we got for our performance.”
Begum Parveen Sultana enthralled the audience with her melodious voice through raga maru bihaag, megh malhaar, pahari thumri and her composition dayani bhawani in raga bhairavi.