Dhrupad wave in Hyderabad

Dhrupad Sansthan, Bhopal, and Dhrupad Gurukulam, Hyderabad, organised a three-day festival of Dhrupad music at the Patodia Auditorium V Prasad Eye Institute, Banjara Hills.

The first day saw the inaugural concert by ‘Bihar Brothers’ Sanjeev Kumar and Manish Kumar, who presented Dhrupad vocal recital with a composition “Kesargholkerangabanohai” in raag Yaman set to Dhamartaal. This was followed by a composition ‘Shiva Shivadhyawat’ in Sooltaal with an enriching accompaniment on the Pakhawaj by Roman Das.

Then came the vocal recital by SupriyoMaitro from Jalpaigudi who sang “Sur kopramaanjaan” in Raga Jog set to Chautaal ‘Shiv Shiv Shankar Aadi Dev’ in Raga Adana set to Sooltaal. The concluding programme for the day was a brilliant exposition of rhythms on the Pakhawaj by Guru Akhilesh Gundecha and his disciples namely Dhyaneshwar Deshmukh, AnujaBurde and Deepak Tiwari accompanied on Harmonium by Atul Singh and on Surbahar by Saurabrata Chakraborty.

The second day began with a vocal recital by Rupa Amitabh singing Raga PuriyaDhanashree in two compositions set to Chautaal and Sooltaal accompanied on Pakhawaj by AnujaBurde.This was followed by a Santoor recital by Satyendra Singh Solanki playing Raga Jog accompanied on Pakhawaj by Dhyaneshwar Deshmukh. Then Ahsan Niloy from Dhaka sang a beautiful “Aayeraghuveerdheer” in Raga Bageshri set to Chautaal.

He was ably accompanied on Pakhawaj by Deepak Tiwari. The concluding session was a deep sonorous Raga Darbari performed on Surbahar by Saurabrata Chakraborty well accompanied on Pakhawaj by Roman Das.

The final day of the festival began with two musicians carrying and playing the Rudra Veena musical instrument, much larger in size than the musicians themselves. Murali Mohan Gowda from Bengaluru and HeikelMlauka from Tunisia played Raga Gange Bhushan. It was very interesting to see the patience and deep study of a student from Tunisia in an ancient musical instrument ‘Rudra Veena’.

Later, Amita Sinha Mahapatra sang Raga Hamsadhwani in Chautaal and followed it with a spiritual composition ‘Sadho mana ka maantyago’ to a good accompaniment on Pakhawaj by AnujaBurde.

The grand finale of the festival was the Dhrupad vocal duet by Ramakant and UmakantGundecha who have taken upon the task of spreading Dhrupad music in Hyderabad by setting up a formal school of music in the city. They started with Raga Saraswati, a composition ‘Prathama vandanaSaraswatikoh’ set to Chautaal followed by ‘Sharada Maa’ set to TivraTaal.

The delineation of Raga Saraswati in Dhrupad style with an ‘Alaap and Jod’ brought in a spiritual silence in the auditorium and created a very peaceful atmosphere. Gundecha brothers were accompanied on Pakhawaj by two young musicians Dhyaneshwar Deshmukh and Roman Das who also played some small solo bits.
This festival brought to the fore a lot of young talent emerging all over the country including foreign students who are taking interest in Dhrupad music as a way of life.