Monday, February 16, 2009

Baithak 12 -- A Journey through the day!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR And May the 2009 bring prosperity and more music to Dheemtanites! ! What better way to start the new year, to spend an evening where you are transported from the early morning to the late evenings in a span of three hours. It speaks volumes to say that all the artists of the evening performed with such finesse and tact that you were left wondering as to what the time of day was...

Ameya Rao started off the morning, hmm. the evening with Raag Todi and transformed us to the early morning hours of the day. His beautiful rendition of two bandishes from the Late. Pt. Ramashreya Jha, or Ramrang as we all know him, was not only a great tribute to this master composer, musician who passed away on January 1st, 2009 but also a perfect way to start the first baithak of 2009, with a prayer to Saraswathi Devi, ( Tanak Heyro Hamari Ooar) and finishng off with a wonderful druth bandish. Amit Rao was his usual best playing tabla for his brother and Shishir on harmonium supported Ameya well.

Ameya had just managed to put us into the sombre morning mood and Vikas Yendluri, made sure that we did not go back to the early hours with his amazing tabla solo with Chou Taal Ki Sawari. He held the audience spellbound with this dexterous hands wondering what hit them ( or the tabla). His kaydas and chakradaars were a treat to the ears, and Shishir again supported him on lehra with Raag Hamsadwani.

It was now the turn of Prithvi Guruprasath, to ensure that the audience still were in the morning, devine mood with a wonderful bhajan on Lord Ganapathi. Even though this bhajan was a raagmala of Hemanth and Bhatiyar , the tempo with which she sang this bhajan prepapred the audience to get set for a more gambhir, serious raag, Raag Mangal Bhairav. She rendered two bandishes in Raag Mangal Bhairav, the druth on Lord Shiva, ensured that both the father and son recieved the salutations of Dheemtana. Vikas and Shishir did not have to get off the stage, but just make way for Prithvi. Both the accompanists did wonderfully well.

Prithvi's Mangalbhairav was the last raag for the day that kept us in the wee hours of the morning, it was Priyank Desai's turn to transform us into the right time of the day, i.e. the evening. His bansuri played to the fun and frolic of the evening with Raag Bageshri. The nuances that the bansuri rendered along with the appropriate changes by Vikas on tabla kept the audience glued to the edge of the seats ( sort of since we were squating ). Both the artists not only enjoyed the performance on stage with each other, but gave an unforgetable treat.

With the stage set for the evening, Malvika Sriram, a new entrant to Dheemtana making a debut on the stage, ensured that she kept up the musical journey with a medlee of Carnatic raagas and kritis. She was very simply put, AMAZING, for a young artist her age. Her poise and style of presentation did seem like she was a veteran on the stage. She was accompanied on mridagam by Vignesh Venkataraman, again another newcomer to Dheemtana, who Dheemtana could do more with.

The conclusion of the baithak seemed like it came too early, with more raags to go to complete the day, but the time had come to end the day. The day itself was memorable with tributes to one of the greatest modern Hindustani Composer and Muscian Pt. Ramashreya Jha and salutations to Saraswathi Devi, Lord Ganesh and Lord Shiva. What a way to start the NEW YEAR!!!

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GO DHEEMTANA!!!
Website: http://www.dheemtan a.org

Attend Baithaks, Perform; Attend Baithaks, & Perform Better

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