Gauri Pathare (Vocal)

Attended a concert of Gauri Pathare (Vocal) accompanied by Rigved Deshpade (Tabla) & Niranjan Lele ( Harmonium) organized by Anubhooti at ISC, Abu Dhabi, on 25th Nov 2017. Attendance to the concert was @ 90.

Gauri Pathare is disciple of Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki and Pandora Padmatai Talwalkar. Niranjan is disciple of Pt. Tulsidas Borkar and Rigved is a disciple of Pt. Ramdas Palsule.

Bada khayal of the concert was Raag Gawati (गावती).  Compliments to the singer for choosing off the beaten track raag. She sung bandish 'Aas lagi tumhare charan ki (आस लागी तुम्हरे चरण की)' in Taal Ektal (एक ताल). She started with a good meend and displayed all the fine nuances of the raag.

Second bandish of the raag was 'Hamari paar karo sai (हमरी पार करो साई)'. This one too was very good. Both the Bandishes were of her guru Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki.

Chota khayal of the concert was Raag Shree (श्री). She sung bandish 'Hari ke charan kamal (हमरी के चरण कमल)' in madhyalay Jhaptaal (झप ताल). I think this was originally sung by Pt. D. V. Paluskar. Second bandish of Raag Shree was Vidushi Padma Talwalkar's 'Chalore mai Ram Siya darasanko (चलो रे माई राम सिया दरसन को)' . Both the Bandishes were crisp. 

She then presented a raagmala 'Durga mata Bhavani devi (दुुुुर्गा माता भवानी देवी)'. A praise of all the goddesses. 

In the second half she switched to semi classical and presented two Hori's consecutively.  First was 'Rangi saari gulabi chunariya re (रंगी सारी गुलाबी चुनरीया रे)' in Raag Mishra Pahadi (मिश्र पहाडी) and Taal Dadra (दादरा). This song became famous after it was included in movie Gulab Gang.

Second Hori was Girija devi's 'Rang darungi Nandke laalan pe (रंग डारूंगी नंद के लालन पे) ' in Raag Tilak Kamod (तिलक कमोद). I remember that Dr. Kavita Gadgil presented this Hori in Anubhooti concert in 2014. Both these were known compositions, Gauri sung them very well; so audience liked them very much. 

She then presented two Marathi songs of Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki. First was Raag Bhoop (भूप) based, Natyageet 'Maze jeevan gane (माझे जीवनगाणे)'. With majority of audience being Marathi, this was bound to be a hit.

Second song was Raag Deshkar (देशकार) based famous 'Abeer gulal udhalit rang (अबिर गुलाल उधळीत रंग)' written by Sant Chokhamela. Audience recognized the song and applauded as soon as she started the song.

Concert concluded with a Bhairavi (भैरवी). This was again a Natyageet (नाट्यगीत)  'Kare aisi maya lawili mala (का रे ऐसी माया चालविली मला)'. This was originally sung by Jyotsna Bhole (ज्योत्स्ना भोळे) for the play 'Kone eke kali (कोणे एके काळी)' and was composed by Master Krishnarao (मास्टर कॄष्णराव). Bhairavi always stirs emotions in you that are beyond words. This was no exception. 

Gauri is a fine singer. Years of hard work is evident in her gayaki. She handled difficult patterns very well. I liked her harkat's very much. Her singing style was a blend of Kirana and Jaypur gharanas and it highlights specialities of both. She encouraged accompaniests from time to time and applauded when they did something special. She was humble and gave credit of her achievements to her Gurus.

Niranjan is one of the very talented and established Harmonium player of his generation. He was in his element and drew multiple applauds from the audience.  His Harmonium literally sang. Generally the common audience is known to applause Tabla and usually Harmonium is a distant second. Here Harmonium was applauded more than Tabla. It says a lot about the Harmonium player as well as the audience. It should be noted that many of the disciples of Pt. Tulsidas Borkar, Niranjan included, are doing very well. 

Young Rigved also deserves praise. He is an epitome of Work-Passion balance. He works in Infosys and pursues his passion with equal vigour, ignoring neither. He too was applauded by audience and Gauri. If he continues his graph, he has a great future.

Humility was the most heartening aspect of the artists. Thus they were liked off the stage too. 

Special mention should go to the audience. They applauded and encouraged the artists with well placed claps and appreciation. Gauri ji acknowledged the knowledgeable (दर्दी) audience after the concert. 

The concert lasted for little over 2 hours. Sound and lights were good. This was Anubhooti's 12th concert. It came after a gap of 1.5 years. 

Trivia: A fly was flying on the stage during the concert, occasionally troubling artists. It appeared as if it was also fluttering to the tune of music and instead of joining audience chose to be in the lime light.

A very satisfying concert.

Disclosure: I am a founder member of Anubhooti.

Pankaj Udhas (Gazal)

Attended a gazal concert by Pankaj Udhas. 

Accompanying Artists were Visual Dhumal (Keyboard), Rashid Mustafa Thirkawa (Tabla), Nirmal Pawar (Side rhythm), Nasir Sajjad Hussein (Mandolin), Ninad Mulaokar (Bansuri). Ashish Choube was in charge of Sound and Vimal Joshi handled light and stage. The program was organized by  India Social and Cultural Centre as part of their Golden Jubilee Celebrations on their roof top on 16th Nov 2017. I attended the concert with Aditi, Mihika, Sucheeta, Jayant, Pooja, Sameer, Rucha, Prakash, Gauri, Jyoti, Pratyush and Vijay.

Gaurav Sharma was called on stage to talk about Pankaj Udhas before the concert. He cracked one joke and spent few minutes on stage screaming, without giving any information about Pankaj Udhas.

Concert started with 'Aap jinke karib hote hai (आप जिनके करीब होते है)'. This song was not as good as it normally is. It was followed by Mumtaz Rashid's gazal 'Niklo na benaqab (निकलो ना बेनकाब)' and 'Diwaron se Milkar rona accha lagat hai (दीवारोंसे मिलकर रोना अच्छा लगता है)'. He then presented Anwar Farukhabadi's famous gazal 'Sabko malum hai main (सब को मालुम है मैं)'.

He then shifted to his film song from movie Sajan 'Jiye to jiye kaise (जिए तो जिए कैसे)'. He sung this one slower than the film version. He then presented one of his most famous 'Chandi Jaisa rang hai tera (चांदी जैसा रंग है तेरा)'. Audience applauded as soon as he started and continued throughout the song. 

There was a very long interval after this song that included speeches and felicitation. This long interval broke the flow of concert. This should have been done before the concert.

First gazal after the break was 'La pila de sakiya (ला पिलादे साकीया)'. Next was 'Aur aahista kijiye batein (और आहिस्ता कीजीए बातें)'. This slow song was followed by one of his most famous 'Hui mehengi bahuthi sharab ke (हुई महंगी बहुत ही शराब के)'. Keyboard player shone in this song with his fast fingers. He then sung 'Tum kitni Sundar ho (तुम कितनी सुंदर हो)'. Audience clapped as soon as he started with 'Na kajre ki dhar (ना कजरेकी धार)'.

Then he presented his most famous song 'Chitthi aai hai (चिठ्ठी आई है)' from film Naam. It was undoubtedly best song of the concert and audience experienced goose bumps.  

He then presented a medley of 'Aaiye barishon is mausam hai (आईए बारीशोंका मौसम है)', 'Sharab cheez aisi hai (शराब चिजही ऐसी है)', 'Aaj fir tumpe pyar aaya hai (आज फिर तुमपे प्यार आया है)' and 'Aye gamein jindagi (ऐ गमे जिंदगी).

Concert concluded with 'Ghungroo toot gaye (घुंगरू टूट गए)'. Musicians were introduced during this song. 

Earlier Pankaj ji said that the audience assumes that the gazal singer imbibes alcohol before the program to come in mood but the inebriation of claps of audience is more than enough for him and alcohol is not required. Well said!

Pankaj ji's voice was shaky at the start of the concert. It stabilized a lot during the concert.  Let's just say today was not the best of his days. 

All the musicians were good. Tabalji drew audience applause multiple times. Side rhythm and Bansuri was good and so was the key board. However, Sajjad Nasir was too good with mandolin. He was the pillar of concert. 

Audio system was very good. Despite it being an open air program there was no deterioration of Sound quality. But the volume of instruments was high, should have been a little low. Sometimes it became harsh and overshadowed vocals. 

Entertainment rating 7/10.