I am beginning to marvel at the turn events can take–never imagined that I would be able to attend such kind of beautiful things in my life so easily. Epicentre has really provided me this opportunity and I just love to be there. Yesterday, on 7th of September, 2009, I happened to attend a violin concert in Hindustani Classical style and it would be fair to say that I was mesmerized.
The concert actually was pitted to be a Jugalbandi of Sitar and Violin–a unique combination of two lead artists playing different instruments and rendering music. The artists were to be Anupriya Deotale and Anwar Khurshid. But before the start of the program, it was revealed to us that Anwar Khurshid could not make it to India from Canada and therefore the night was turned into a Violin concert.
This was again my first opportunity to listen to a violinist in solo performance. The artist was accompanied by Gyan Singh on Tabla.
The artist introduced the proceedings of the evening in Hindi and told that she be performing 3 creations in Raag Jog. It is important to note here that the selection of Raga is done on the basis of time of the performance. As I know it, the artist performing Indian classical music and delivering a full-fledged Raga does not know beforehand what he/she is going to perform. The improvisation factor is like 90% in this kind of music–they just develop the creation on spot based on the mood of artist itself, mood of accompanist and the mood of the audience.
The evening had 3 creations. One was set to Vilambit Roopak Taal, which meant that Roopak Taal was withheld a bit. Vilambit is a Sanskrit word meaning delayed. The other two creations were set to Teental, which happens to be the most famous beat-cycle of Tabla.
The violinist started with the Alaap part where the Tabla does not come into play and it actually sets the mood of the evening. After that they started the creation part where Tabla accompanied the violin quite beautifully. I was very much attracted to the confidence that Tabla player was showing–he seemed to be blended in the music of violin and was delivering very refined notes.
The audience was varied demographically–there were lots of foreigners who actually happen to be close observers of violin. It is interesting to note here that violin is a western instrument in its origin but presently it is deep rooted in Indian classical music. The foreigners often have good knowledge about violin and it is important to notice their views about this performance. I would like to mention here that they were very much smiling while leaving the show and after the recital, the High Commissioner of Canada himself came to meet the artist and complimented her. He even invited her to perform at his residence if possible. This incident actually tells how beautiful the recital was.
The first creation was very nice as it was slow and steady with some showcased fastness of Tabla. In the next two creations, the artist showed their versatility and their mastery over the instruments. The violinist was literally out of the world and I was sort of taken aback that Violin could that kind of variations. Her control over speed and voice-quality was superb.
It is obvious that at the end of the concert, the artists take the speed to a crescendo where audience sort of can’t hold of it. I often feel that at that speed you seem to be losing your control while being in the audience, it is utterly amazing how artists manage that speed and still match their timings. This in fact is the beauty of Indian classical music. It is perfect and therefore everything ends well automatically.
