Anand Bhate (Vocal)

Attended 'Diwali sandhya', a concert of Anand Bhate (Vocal) accompanied by Bharat Kamath (Tabla), Suyog Kundalkar (Harmonium) & Rajesh Damle (Narration) on 13th Nov 2015 at Indian Islamic center, Abu Dhabi with friends and family. The concert was organized by Maharashtra mandal, Abu Dhabi (MMAD). This concert was a tribute to Narayan Rajhans aka Balgandharv (बालगंधर्व) and Pt. Bhimsen Joshi (पं. भीमसेन जोशी).

First part of the concert was dedicated to Balgandharv (बालगंधर्व). Concert started with famous nandi (नांदी) 'Panch tunda nara runda mala dhar (पंच तुंड नर रुंड माळ धर)' followed by natyageet 'Ya nava naval nayanotsava (या नव नवल नयनोत्सवा)'. This section concluded with 'Vad jau kunala sharan (वद जाऊ कुणालाकुणाला शरण)' from play Sangeet Saubhadra.

Second part of the concert was dedicated to Bhimsenji. He started with 'Ramya hi swargahun Lanka (रम्य ही स्वर्गाहुन लंका)' from movie 'Seeta swayamwar' which has a classical base. Next was famous Bhavgeet  'Sakhi mand zalya taraka (सखी मंद झाल्या तारका)' written by Sudheer Moghe. This was a rare song as the more famous version is sung by Sudheer Phadke. Here he agreed for a 'once more' demand.

Next song type was abhang. There are so many that it's difficult to choose, hence he concluded the concert with a medley of abhang (अभंग श्रृंखला) that included Indrayani kathi (इंद्रायणी काठी), Maze maher pandhari (माझे माहेर पंढरी). He ended the medley with 'Chinmaya sakal hridaya (सचिनच्या सकल ह्रदया)' of Balgandharv which drew applause the moment he started it.

Anandji is an excellent singer. He sung all the songs well and made difficult ones look simple. It was evident why he is called Anand gandharv. The firat (फिरत) in his  voice is amazing. He also presented Gandharv gayki and was applauded by audience as well as musicians many times. However, I would have liked to hear a couple of songs in lower scale as well.

Musicians are well known names and were obviously good. Narrator had little scope due to shortage of time, but he made a good impression.

Audience demand of 'once more' was mostly ignored. It appeared that this was because lack of time. This concert formed part of overall program which also included some comedy items. That left little time for the concert.

Sound system was bad. Acoustics were also not good. The words, when spoken or sung fast, were garbled. The sound also echoed thereby making the experience less enjoyable and irritating the rasiks. Such concerts should be arranged in better auditoriums.

MMAD did a good job of organizing the concert. This hall does not have fixed chairs. The committee members did a good job of organizing the chairs, numbering them and making the program successful.

Audience was unsatisfied at the end. This was not because of the quality of the concert but because of lack of enough time. They found it curtailed. Audience left with a feeling of 'Ye dil mange more (ये दिल माँगे मोर)'.

Entertainment rating 8.5/10.

Musical trilogy - Girish Pande (Vocal), Parag Dhadphale (Tabla) & Dharitree Joshi (Vocal)

Attended a concert of Girish Pande (Vocal), Parag Dhadphale (Tabla) & Dharitree Joshi (Vocal) titled 'Musical trilogy'; accompanied by Meghan Shrikhande (Harmonium) & Somdatta Basu (Harmonium) on 6th Nov 2015 at Nando's restaurant hall, Dubai with Nandu, Jayant, Vivek and Satya. The concert was organized by Sur Hindol.

Concert started with Girish Pande's vocal accompanied by Parag Dhadphale and Meghan Shrikhande. He presented 'Akhiyan taras rahi' in Raag Maru Bihag (मारू बिहाग). During Aalap, the instrument volume was masking the vocal. Then he presented bada khyal 'Mora man mane na'. He concluded his section with 'Re balamwa mora' in Raag Kalawati (कलावती) followed by Marathi song 'Pratham tuj pahata'. Public demanded another song and he complied by presenting bhajan 'Ram ka gungan kariye'.

Girish sung technically correct. His Aalaps were especially good. However to me he appeared a little bit subdued. Was it because he was extra cautious or was it because of performance jitters? He appeared more at home in last two compositions. I know that he can sing even better.

Parag Dhadphale presented solo Tabla in second section. Somdatta Basu was on harmonium. He displayed humility by attributing all that would be good to his Guru and all that would be wrong to himself. His first presentation was 'Teen taal (तीन ताल)'. While audience anticipated every time, he took his own sweet time to come on sum (सम) initially. Then he played a traditional Kayda (कायदा) of Delhi gharana (दिल्ली घराना) bestowed by his Guru Pt Suresh Samant and another Kayda of Delhi guarana composed by his Guru Sudheer Mainkar. Then he presented a very old, sweet and complicated Kayda, a Rachana of Panditji followed by three compositions non stop and mesmerized the audience. Then he presented a composition that could be a fight between school kids followed by a composition of Samta Prasadji. Next he presented a Rachana (रचना) from Punjab, a few tukdas and farmaish chakradar, a novelty. He concluded with a seven matra composition from Banaras.

Parag is a well known name in Dubai and he played to his reputation of being one of the best Tabalji in Dubai. He played excellent tabla and was applauded many times. It was a joy.

Dharitree Joshi-Bapat was the performer of final session. She started the concert, expressing her respect to Guru, with Raag Bageshree (बागेश्री) in Jhumra taal. She presented Khyal (ख्याल) 'Dhoondh rahe naina' followed by drut 'Sumaran karat rahat nisadin' and tarana. Then she presented 'Kaise kaise bolat' in Raag Nat Bihag (नट बिहाग), a speciality of Agra gharana, followed by 'Jhanjhan jhanjhan payal baje'. Her next item was 'Hori hori hori khelat Nandlal', a Chatrang (चतरंग) in Adana.

Due to public demand program concluded with a natyageet 'Guntata hriday he' by Meghan Shrikhande. Although he sung well, it was out of sync with the theme of the concert. He was reluctant for this very reason but eventually complied.

Parag, Somdatta and Meghan were very good as accompanists. They did not try to outdo the main artists but demonstrated their skills and were appreciated by the singers and audience.

It was a small audience, sound system behaved, temperature was a bit high. With three performers, it was essential to have proper time management. This was not controlled and the concert became too long. Spectators started to leave in the third session. I too had to leave before formal closure.

Entertainment rating 6.5/10 but considering that the artists were local it should be upgraded to 7.5/10.