After a blazing hot day, the evening was particularly muggy. The ever busy D.P. road was overflowing as usual with crazily chaotic traffic. The nearby posh and not-so-very-posh hotels, et al, were puking out reeling drunks. The typical evening in a Pune aspiring to be a mega metro!
Just a canopy away, in the scenic Keshavbaug Gardens, the world was absolutely different though. Here ruled the mellifluous trills of santoor played by a devoted artist who, moreover, dedicated the power-packed performance to the ever-alive memory of his favourite school teacher.
Yes, you are right. I am referring to the "Chaitra Dhwani" concert by Pune's promising artist, Dr. Shantanu Gokhale. He curated it in the company of his schoolmate, Saleel Savarkar. The concert began with a heartfelt tribute to the memory of the late Meena Chandavarkar, by her colleague and by her fond students, Saleel and Shantanu.
In his pre-performance speech, Shantanu spoke about the 'death, it shalt die' (to play a little with Donne's dare to death) feel when it comes to lives lived full, be it Meena Tai's or his favourite grandpa's.
His santoor performance which followed reflected this celebration of the end of life, not as a forever full stop, but as an ever anew creative exploration of meanings.
The performance was divided in to two parts. In the first part, Shatanu explored in a brilliant way the Raga Vachaspati, ( the South Indian version of Maru Bihag with a slightly different arrangement of the basic notes, right?), made famous across India by his Guru's partner, Hariprasad Chaurasia.
He explained first how the santoor performance of a classical music structure builds up. Believe me, the notes truly bloomed during his performance of the Raga. Honestly, immersed the audience felt in the melody he explored so sensitively.
In the second half, he played the mukhada's of the much admired songs from the golden era of Bollywood. Given the harsh realities of finding a vehicle back home in the late evening, I had to leave mid-way, but by then his renditions of the ever great Ganesh Vandana, the haunting Madan Mohan melodies, the naughty Naayar notes, the inimitable Shiv-Hari, and the superb RD-Kishore Kumar duo had wowed the audience.
The two hours spent in the companionship of lovely music proved how art is indeed an oasis where nothing disturbs, neither the din some meters away, nor the mosquitoes, nor the repellents. Only art, heart-felt both by the performer and the audience, wins. In brief, I cannot thank Gokhale Madam and Shantanu enough for the invite! Long lives art, beyond bounds of all sorts.
Pratima@"Music, when soft voices die/vibrates in the memory," wrote Shelley! How very true!
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