Kojagiri Pournima was very special this year for the audiences in Auckland as the master Samvadini player, Jayant Bhalodkar, weaved his magic on samvadini (Harmonium) with his fingers. Migrant Heritage Charitable Trust Inc (Might-i) wanted to present something unique to its audiences and something that is very dear to all Maharashtrians. Marathi Natya sangeet, a gift to the international theatre is the most cherished art form of all Maharashtrians. So what better option than to present a program on Natya Sangeet?
Present amongst the audience was the noted and foremost critic of Hindustani music, Shri Mohan Nadkarni, who has now settled in New Zealand. Might-i took the opportunity to honour him at the event for his lifelong contribution as a music critic. Shri Ramanathan Natarajan, a noted IFS officer, did the honours on behalf of Might-i. Noted Maharashtrian personality, Dr Sudhakar Mayadeo honoured Shri Manohar Kulkarni, the Dadasaheb Phalke award winning cinematographer on behalf of Might-i, for his achievements in the area of cinematography.
Mohan Nadkarni also honoured Bhalodkar for his contribution towards music and his dedication towards the spread of Samvadini as an instrument par excellence.
The evening started with the famous song from Sangeet Manapaman, ‘de haata sharanagata’ in raag pilu.
This was followed by ‘sakul tarak suta’ in raag bhimpalas, from Sangeet Swayamvar. The next one was in raag deshkar, ‘ratricha samay saruni’ from the play Sangeet Saubhadra. The era of Kirloskar-Deval (1880-1910) could not have been completed with a song from Sangeet Sanshay Kallol, and Bhalodkar duly obliged by playing ‘sanshay ka mani aala’ in raag maand.
Bhalodkar highlighted that though Marathi Natyasangeet is strictly classical in format, it is not restricted to the rules of the classical format. Musicians like Govindrao Patwardhan, have taken the liberty of moving away from the notations while experimenting with melody, but have remained true to its format.
The first half ended with ‘narayana rama ramana’ from Jai Jai Gauri Shankar in nata bhairav. The journey had highlighted the songs in the eras from 1880 to 1960.
The advent of 1960s saw an emergence of a new music director, Jitendra Abhisheki. He was the first music director who experimented with Natya Sangeet in a big way. He based his compositions on a structured form and moved away from the traditional ‘bandish’ based tunes to ‘independent’ tunes which were based on classical structure, but were independent compositions.
Bhaoldkar increased the tempo of the evening when he played the raag todi based ‘so ham har damru’ from the play Mandarmala. No show of Natyasangeet is complete without the mention of the play Katyar kaljat ghusli. Late Vasantrao Deshpande has made this play immortal with his singing. There is a song in this play ‘ghei chand makarand’ which is rendered in two different ragas. It is very difficult for the musicians to play these songs one after another, but Bhalodkar reproduced both the versions with ease. The audience couldn’t hold themselves from applauding the extraordinary effort.
Bhalodkar proved to the audience that the ‘samvadini’ is an instrument par excellence and can stand on its own in a show, not a mere accompaniment. It must also be noted here that Basant Madhur, who accompanied on the Tabla, did a fabulous job.