Parmeshwar Hegde (Vocal)

Attended a concert of Pt. Parmeshwar Hegde (Vocal) accompanied by Pt. Sadanand Nayampalli (Tabla - Farrukabad Gharana) and Sudhir Nayak (Harmonium - P.Madhukar Gharana) at 39th Sangeet Samrat Alladiyakhan music festival on 7th April 2016.

Parmeshwar Hegde (Kirana, Gwalior and Patiyala Gharana) hails from Bengaluru and is disciple of Pt. Basavaraj Rajguru.

First Raag of the concert was Raag Bihag (बिहाग). He went directly to bandish 'Kaise sukha sove (कैसे सुख सोवे)', with minimum aalap, in Vilambit Ektaal. Tabla instrument had some trouble and had to be tuned repeatedly. I especially liked his delicate taar swar (तार स्वर). It was followed by Tarana 'Ta da re dhim (त दा रे धीम)'.

He presented famous Bandish 'Binati suno mori (बिनती सुनो मोरी)'. Although he did not announce the Raag, it was Raag Bageshri (बागेश्री). His Taans (तान) and Aakars (आकार) were very good. He followed it with 'Sargam (सरगम)'.

Concert concluded with another composition in Raag Bageshri (बागेश्री) in Teen taal (तीन ताल);  'Badra tu ja (बदरा तु जा)'.

Pt. Nayampalli played subdued Tabla in supporting role. He did not smile even once during the concert.

Harmonium of Sudhir Nayak was excellent and was appreciated by audience and artist alike. Too good.

Concert lasted for about 1 hr 10 min.

Entertainment rating 8/10.

Ramprapanna Bhattacharya (Sitar)

Attended a concert of Ramprapanna Bhattacharya (Sitar) accompanied by Unmesh Banerjee (Tabla) at NCPA, Mumbai as part of Saz-e-Bahar festival on 2nd April 2016 with Ravi, Rekha Kaku and Alhad Kaka.

Ramprapanna Bhattacharya (Etawah Gharana) is disciple of Pt. Kashinath Mukherjee and Pt. Arvind Parikh.

He dedicated the concert to Shehnai maestro Ali Ahmed Hussain and Tabla maestro Shankar Ghosh who passed away recently. It was the birthday of Ustaad Bade Gulam Ali Khan and he announced that he will play his composition but eventually did not specify which one was it.

Chosen raag of the concert was Raag Bihag (बिहाग). Concert started with Aalap then moved into Jod, followed by Jhala.

Tabalji then joined him with Teen taal. Tabla volume was on lower side. It was rectified mid way. Ramprapanna played well and tried his best to win the audience back.

When he slid his hand over Sitar there was a sound of hand sliding over threads (Sitar version of car passing over multiple spread breakers at speed). That was a noise (रसभंग) in good music.

Ramprapanna plays well. But today rather than playing melodious or gayki Sitar he preferred to play fast notes with a lot of strumming. Audience was not very responsive, so he tried even harder. In the process the fine balance was lost.

Tabalji joined late and got about 15-20 minutes of playing time (considering short time of concert of about 1 hr) and played well.

Audience clapped exactly 4 times, including the conclusion of concert. Some also left mid way, probably they had some pressing matters to attend.

Can't post any photograph of concerts as organizers did not allow photography.

Trivia: Ramprapanna was playing at NCPA after exactly 10 years.

Entertainment rating 7/10.