A harmonious blend of instruments

The Guru Shishya Parampara, held at Chowdaiah Memorial Hall recently, saw a bunch of young people presenting their talents to the music lovers of the City.

The first day of the event included a shehnai recital by Bhaskar Nath, a disciple of Pandit Jasraj, and a treat on the flute by Akash, who is training under Jayatheerth Mevundi.

The youngsters opened the show with an alaap, showcasing a harmonious blend of two different instruments — the flute and the shehnai.

Though the musicians were young, their immense confidence on the stage proved that they had performed several times before.

They were also open in appreciating each other on the stage. After an elaborate session of individual performances, the duo went on to perform together along with the tabla, adding more variety to the show.

This session was followed by the performance of popular Carnatic vocalist Sikkil Gurucharan who mesmerised the audience with his resonant voice and smooth style. He stuck to the original forms of the ragas and innovated a bit to enhance his performance.  Devika, who was watching the performance, was stunned by the talent of the young artistes.

“They are barely out of school but the confidence they had on stage was that of a veteran. It just goes on to show the hard work that has been put in by them and their gurus. Both the artistes were extremely talented and used a lot of presence of mind on the stage. It was a beautiful show,” she adds.

The second day of the festival saw Hindustani classical vocalist Prasanna Gudi, a disciple of Pandit Madhav Gudi, opening the show. Young Carnatic vocalist Sreeranjini Santanagopalan performed later in the evening.

She started her performance with a slow piece, charana, and progressed on to a faster composition, aptly supported by the artistes on the mridangam and the violin. The jugalbandi between the three was interesting. In the latter half of her performance, she sang some rare compositions by Gopala Krishna Bharthi, set in raga purvi kalyan and Kodanda Rama by Muthuswamy Dikshitar in raga kokilapriya.

The programme concluded with the performance of Carnatic vocalist T N S Krishnan, a disciple of  T N Seshagopalan. He closed the evening with an elaborate presentation of various ragas in his unique style.