Anoushka Shankar (Sitar)

Attended a concert of Anoushka Shankar (Sitar). She was accompanied by Ojas Adhiya (Tabla), Prashanna Devraja (Mridangam, Ghatam & Morsing), Danny Keane (Cello & Piano), Somdutta Basu (Tanpura) and Ravichandra Kulur (Bansuri & Kanjira). I attended this concert at Dubai Opera on 20th Dec 2019 with Jayant, Sucheeta, Sameer, Rucha, Pooja, Deepa and Nandu.

Concert started with 'Voice of the moon' in midnight Raag Kirwani. This was one of the early compositions of Anoushka.

She then played a piece titled 'Jannat' which she composed more than 10 years ago. She candidly confessed that she tried to include it in various albums but it was rejected. However, she likes to play it live. There was Sawal-Jawab between Tabla and Mridangam in this composition.

It was followed by piece titled 'Red Sun' from her album 'Rise'. This was a curious piece. Cello gave the chords and purcussions were provided by bol.

Main piece of the concert was 'Shiraz'. It was a musical rendition of a 1920s silent film by same name, a fictionalised account of love story that led to building of Taj Mahal. The composition started in Raag Bihag. It was an interesting concept of narrating a story through music. There was Kanjira-Ghatam jugalbandi, Cello-Morsing jugalbandi, Tabla solo (Ojas simply dazzled everyone with his dexterity and won a long applause), Mridangam solo, Tabla-Mridangam jugalbandi, Piano solo and all of them playing together. This piece concluded with a thunderous applause. 

Then they ask got up, did Namaskar to audience,  took a bow and left.  Just like that the concert was over. Audience was flabbergasted. They could not believe that the concert was over in just 1 hour 20 minutes. Finally reality sunk in and audience reluctantly left Dubai Opera. 

Piano and Cello player had musical notes in front of him while Tabla, Mridangam and Bansuri played improviso and so did Anoushka.

This was not a typical Hindustani Classical music concert. There was no build up of Raag with Aalap-Jod-Jhala. Concert was made up of various pieces composed by Anoushka. Five instruments were playing at the same time. So it was like a cross over concert. 

Participation of Ojas was a surprise because he was married only two days ago. Hats off to his dedication and thanks to his new wife. 

Anoushka in wine red evening gown and long earrings looked gorgeous. Colours of kurtas of accompanying musicians were also chosen carefully to not disturb colour coordination, except the chilly of sari of lady on Tanpura. 

Dubai Opera is a fantastic auditorium. Very impressive. Seating is very well laid out. Everyone gets clear view of stage without obstruction. Acoustics are also excellent. Auditorium enhances the experience. 

I left the concert with a feeling of dissatisfaction. We went for the concert from Abu Dhabi to Dubai but felt that she should have given more time for the audience.

 A good concert, but too short. 

Shankar - Ehsan - Loy (शंकर एहसान लाॅय)

Attended concert of 'Shankar - Ehsan - Loy (शंकर एहसान लाॅय)'. Apart from the trio, musicians were: Soumya Shringarpure on keyboard, Abhay Sharma on Saxophone, Deepak Bhat on Dhol and purcussions, Manoj Sapre on drums, Anupam Ghate on Congo, Prasad Malelkar on dhol and side rhythm, Shyam Pinto electric guitar, Dibya Jyotinath acoustic guitar, Ashish Saxena sound. Accompanying on vocals were Raman Mahadevan and Shrinidhi Ghatate. Joe Mohan was Emcee. Shankar also played the anchor. 

This concert was organised on 28th Nov 2019 by ISC Abu Dhabi as part of annual India Fest. I attended it with Mihika, Aditi and friends. We were seated in the third row right in front of the stage. 

Concert started with Ganesh vandana 'Ekadantay vakratunday', a perfect start. He immediately went into masti mode with 'Dil Chahta hai', 'Rock on' and 'Pretty woman'. He then sung melodic 'Sajda' from film My name is Khan. Next was a Malayalam song that sounded like 'Piccha viccha nal'. It was a sweet sonng that has got Shankar Kerala state award. He also had sawal jawab with saxophone in this song. 

Then he presented 'It's the time to disco' followed by 'Baware baware baware' based on Rajastani folk and 'Bumro Bumro' from film Mission Kashmir based on Kashmiri folk. Then there was a section of percussionists,  where he also introduced the drummer, Congo player and dhol players to the audience. He also had sawal jawab with percussionists. Vocal and percussion sawal jawab was a novelty and audience enjoyed it thoroughly. I thought this would be interval,  but they skipped it and Shankar sung 'Uff teri ada'.

Then he presented a mash up of various songs including a Tamil and a Malayalam song. Request for Marathi song fell on deaf ears due to numerical inferiority of Marathi community. He also had a jugalbandi of akar with audience where he sung a taan and audience followed. Audience did pretty well and Shankar appreciated it. This knack of involving audience kept the audience always engaged and excited. He also had sawal jawab with Saxophone. To entice the audience into masti mode, he also played VVIP against back benchers, ladies against gents etc. 

Next was 'Tu dhup hai' by Raman from film Tare zamin par. Raman has sung the original song as well. Loy then played a solo keyboard piece that transposed into one of their very favorite song 'Har ghadi badal rahi hai'. Shankar then presented one of the most emotional song 'Meri ma' from Tare zamin par. Upon Shankar's recommendation entire audience was waving their mobile torches for this song. It appeared as if literally they were tare zamin par. What a sight! The song is so beautiful and touchy that it brought tears to Aditi's eyes. It was followed by 'Mere man ye bata de tu' and then a small section for Indian classical music lovers that contained variations in sargam.

As the concert approached the end he sung the sing that waltzed Shankar into limelight many years ago; 'Breathless'. Although it was very good, he could not conceal breath. Was it age? Probably he did not get enough rest before this song. Perhaps a break and then this song immediately after break would have done the trick. Last song was Galla gudiyan.

All the songs were either composed by the  trio or sung by Shankar. Shankar encouraged and applauded young talent like Shrinidhi and Abhay.

Shankar presented many variations that are not in the original soundtracks. In some songs he took additions customized for the city. Shankar's maliflous voice ke kya kehne? Everything is possible and nothing seems difficult. It was bliss!

Concert lasted 2 hours. This felt inadequate because of short duration and because you never get satisfied with Shankar. Moreover, I thought that the end was little abrupt and did not reach peak. In my opinion either Breathless or Meri ma should have been the last song. Ye dil mangta raha more.

There were no speakers at the back. Although audience did not mind, had the arrangement been made, it would have enhanced experience for all. A drone was filming the concert and audience.

A special acknowledgement for organizers and artists for starting the concert 4 minutes before time. It was a pleasant and welcome surprise. The open air seating arrangement was comfortable and not cramped. Parking arrangement was also good. 

They had installed multiple LED scenes in the background of stage. In the digital age, the background graphics were very good and designed for each song.

 A very good concert.