On September 19, for the first time in New Zealand, the Migrant Heritage Charitable Trust Inc (Might-i) brought together the two foremost Indian classical music styles – Hindustani and Carnatic, in a Jugalbandi format. It received a tremendous response and the audience was eager to listen to the variety of instruments that were on show.
The evening, at Mt. Eden War Memorial, started with a soft melodious rendition by Shri Satish Sharma on Sarod. He played raag ‘Darbari Kanada’ and was accompanied by Shri Manjit Singh on Tabla and Todd Nachowitz on the Tanpura.
Manjit Singh then presented a group tabla performance in Teen Taal (vilambit) and then Madhya laya. Three of Manjit’s students Yash, Vinayak and Jeevan presented this group performance. It was wonderful to see such young talent coming up in New Zealand.
Noted tabla maestro Fazal Qureshi graced the occasion and despite his tight schedule he managed to spend some time at the event, encouraging the youngsters as well as highlighting the need to keep the flag of Indian Music flying overseas. He was honoured by Might-i for his contribution to Indian Music.
Manjit Sngh then rendered his solo Tabla performance which was well received by the audience. He was accompanied by Prabhsaran Singh on the harmonium. A disciple of Sardar Harmindar Singhji of the Punjab Gharana, Manjitsingh started the solo with a vilambit Teen Tal then followed that with some kayda, chakradhar Gate, and finished with a very fast rendition of the same raga. His mastery over the Tabla left the audience in awe and on that high note the first half of the show ended to a well deserved break to the audience and players to re-energise themselves.
The main event of the evening, the Jugalbandi started in the second half of the show which started with the ensemble of Tabla, Sitar, Mridangam and Violin. Todd (Tambura) and Daljitji (Tanpura) were accompanying the ensemble on stage as well. Dr Malur, started the second half by playing the famous song “Ham ko man ki shakti dena” on his violin and was accompanied by Raman Easwaran on Mridangam. This was followed by a unique Jugalbandi between the raag Dhup and Raag Mohini which are two sides of the same coin, the former in Hindustani while the later in Carnatic.
Lester Silver on his Sitar played the raag in Hindustani and Dr Malur played the Carnatic version on Violin. Interesting to note that though the raag is nearly the same, it is a Male form of the raga in Hindustani while as it is in a female form in Carnatic. The audience were left spell bound by the notations and nuances of the raga in both forms.
This was followed by Lester Silver’s solo on Sitar. Lester’s mastery of the instrument was evident as the evening wore on and it created a very harmonious atmosphere all around.
The most talked about event of the evening was the jugalbandi between the percussion instruments of Tabla and Mridangam. Ramanji and Manjitji had a go at each other and the audience couldn’t stop applauding the jugalbandi. To the delight and surprise of the audience, Dr Malur then played a Kiwi song “ Po karekare aana” on Violin which had the audience humming to its tune.
The highlight of the evening was the recital of the sufi song “Damadam Mast Kalandar” made famous by Runa Laila as well as Nasrat Fateh Ali Khan. When the entire ensemble of Sitar, Violin, Tabla and Mridangam played it to the beat, the audience joined in and were waiting for more.
The show ended with Om Jai Jagdish Hare, to commemorate the evening which was also the first day of the Navratri celebrations. The evening ended on a very high note and the audience were left with a memorable time. The audience appreciated the high quality of the concert and are looking forward to future such programs of Might-i.