Soaked in the melange

A classical and semi-classical concert held at Bangalore International Centre, Indiranagar, recently, proved that art and music clearly have no boundaries.

Titled Raagas Everywhere, the evening saw a melange of songs from different schools which were similar in terms of structure.  The event saw Prakash Sontakke on guitars and Chaitra Sontakke on vocals. Western music and light music traditions also saw their way with Sneha Sundar on western vocals, Hrishikesh Hari on keyboard, Rohit on dholak, and Bharat, who plays Carnatic music, on guitars. The uniqueness in the concert was brought in by Veena Prasad, who interspersed the fillers between the songs. 

Her story was about two young friends united by their love for music and revolved around their conversations with each other on classical and filmi music, encounters with the City and the music that they strung together. Her stories also sometimes served as an introduction to the raga that was being sung next and sometimes, it was a trip down memory lane as she described old Bangalore, its rains and nature. 

The start to the weekend and compact space didn’t stop the crowd from coming in. Some of them stood at the back, craning their necks to get a glimpse of the artiste and sink in a strain of Suno Sajna in Shyam Kalyan raag.

The audience enjoyed the song based on raga Yaman, which is what the artiste started with and swayed to Rum Jhum and the song Piya Bhiga in Kamach raga, which is composed by Hrishikesh and was sung by him and Sneha. The songs were mainly similar in ragas, structures and aesthetics and the evening was clearly a journey of discovery, love and expression.