Vivek Sonar (Bansuri)

Attended a concert of Vivek Sonar (Bansuri) accompanied by Ojas Adhiya (Tabla)  organized by Anubhooti at Embassy of India, Abu Dhabi, on 28th Jun 2019 with Aditi, Mihika and Mane, Patil, Thangaokar, Sambhaji, Oka families . Attendance to the concert was @ 140.

Vivek is a senior disciple of Pt. Hriprasad Chaurasia of Maihar Gharana. Ojas is disciple of Shri Mridangraj ji and belongs to Ajrada gharana.

Vivek dedicated this concert to Pt. Bhai Gaytonde who passed away previous day. Bada khayal of the concert was Raag Madhuwanti (मधुवंती), a romantic raag of Todi thaat.  It was the raag of the time of the day. 

He started with Alap followed by Jod. He played slow delicate notes and built the foundation for the badhat of raag. There was spontaneous appreciation and applause on many occasions. He demonstrated his skills in laykari as well as tantrakari. Tantrakari portion was fabulous. I realised that I did not change pose, in which I was sitting, until jod was over. At the end of jod, some one from audience said 'don't stop'. This was probably best presentation of the concert. Then he presented a composition in Madhyataal (9 matra), where Ojas joined him. 

He asked which raag would the audience like to listen next? Audience suggested Marwa. Although he did not approve of the raag because if its mood and timing, Marwa it was. Marwa the meditative sandhiprakash raag of Marwa thaat. He played it in contemplative fashion. 

Vivek then chose a peculiar raag, Raag Bhinna Shadja of Bilaval Thaat. It's also known as Kaushik dhwani. Never heard it played in a concert earlier. The gat he played was very good. This was a beautiful rendition. Towards the end of this Raag they played sawal-jawab. This was a feat to watch. Needless to say audience went ecstatic.  

  

Then he played a dhun from film Chandani, in Pahadi. It was Aditi's farmaish. Finally he played Pahadi Dhun which has birthed a number of hindi film songs. Audience was left to guess the hindi songs on this dhun.

By his choice of Raag and the presentation,  Vivek achieved a difficult feat of addressing the tastes of all kind of audience. Everyone got something of their liking. He mesmerized everyone. Vivek proved that he has the pulse of audience. 

Ojas displayed that he can play delicate, regular as well as lightening fast tabla with equal ease and finesse. He matched Vivek, stroke by stroke. 

Ojas challenged Vivek with his fluid tabla play and Vivek rose to the occasion and countered him with damdar tantrakari. It was heartening to see healthy competition on stage and it was a pleasure to watch. 

Audience was overjoyed and many came back to organizers lovingly protesting that they wanted the concert to go on for another half an hour. 

The concert lasted for 2 hours. Sound and lights were good. This was Anubhooti's 13th concert and came after a gap of one and half years. 

Trivia: Vivek informed that apart from his guru, Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia, Kishoritai Amonkar had taught Marwa raag to him.

A mesmerising evening. 

Disclosure: I am a founder member of Anubhooti.