Pt. Harish Tiwari (Vocal)

Attended a concert of Pt. Harish Tiwari (Vocal) accompanied by Abhay Datar (Tabla) and Niranjan Lele (Harmonium) at 39th Sangeet Samrat Alladiyakhan music festival on 10th April 2016.

Harish Tiwari (Gwalior, Shyamchaurasi Gharana of Punjab and Kirana Gharana) hails from Delhi. He is disciple of Thakur Choubey, Ajeet Bhattacharya, Acharya Nandanji and Pt. Bhimsen Joshi.

Raag of the concert was evening Raag Puriya Dhanashree (पूरिया धनश्री) in Purvi That (पूर्वी थाट). He presented bandish 'Sumiro tero naam (सुमिरो तेरो नाम)' in Vilambit Ektaal. It took me long time to decipher the words, but finally I did. When he sung Aakar in higher octaves his voice became very delicate.

Second bandish was the famous drut bandish 'Payaliya jhankar (पायलिया झंकार)'. Everyone enjoyed.

He then asked the audience if they want Thumri or Bhajan. Not happy to choose one audience demanded both. So he complied.

First he sang Thumri 'Piya to manat nahi (पिया तो मानत नाही)' in Raag Mishra Kafi (मिश्र काफी).

Finally he sang bhajan (भजन) 'Roop pahta lochani (रूप पाहता लोचनी)' from Abhangwani. Audience heartily applauded him for singing a Marathi bhajan. Concert was supposed to end here, but public demanded one more and thus he concluded the concert with Bhimsenji's famous 'Tirtha Vitthal (तिर्थ विठ्ठल)'.

Organizers specifically appreciated him for singing Marathi bhajan and he politely replied that an artist belongs to everywhere.

Harishji is an accomplished singer. I particularly liked his Akars (आकार). Influence of Pt. Bhimsen Joshi on his singing was evident even to a non-expert like me. There was no need to tell that he is his disciple.

Tabla and Harmonium matched the singing stroke to stroke and note to note. Niranjan was applauded by audience.

Entertainment rating 9/10.