A musical feast for Mumbai

For the first time ever,Mumbai will witness a three-day festival of bandish-es of legendary composers from July 9 to 11 at the NCPAs Tata Theatre.

For the first time ever,Mumbai will witness a three-day festival of bandish-es of legendary composers from July 9 to 11 at the NCPAs Tata Theatre.
Sound Of Music: The NCPA Presents NCPA Bandish Festival of Legendary Composers will also showcase treasured works of other great composers such as Amir Khusrau Dehlavi (1253 AD),Ras Khan (c. 1541-1603),Rahim (1556 -1627) and other saint-poets and legendary figures such as Miya Tansen (d. 1589),Sadarang and Adarang (18th century AD), Muthuswami Dikshitar (1775-1835) and Papanasam Sivan (1890 1973). Their bandish-es will be presented by eminent artistes such as Umakant and Ramakant Gundecha,Ulhas Kashalkar,Bombay Jayashri,Shekhar Sen and Shujaat Hussain Khan.

This three-day festival will also showcase many forgotten couplets by these pioneers.
Khushroo N Suntook,Chairman,NCPA,says,The NCPA aims to showcase a wide repertoire from various eras and works of legendary musicians,keeping our culture significantly alive. NCPA Bandish is a step towards that. This will be an on-going festival that will be held every year in July and will feature eminent artistes from North and South India who shall present the works of selected composers.

Dr Suvarnalata Rao,Head Programming (Indian Music),NCPA,who has conceived this festival,gave the raison dêtre of the festival: In line with NCPAs commitment to preserve,promote and propagate the Indian music heritage,this festival is conceived to highlight,celebrate and cherish the vibrancy and vitality of our heritage.
Adding that these compositions are not relics of the past,she goes on,In fact,contemporary performance practices in Indian music (both Hindustani and Carnatic) are replete with compositions that can be traced back to medieval poet-musicians featured in NCPA Bandish.

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Indian music,irrespective of genre,centers on a well-structured melodic and rhythmic composition also known as bandish. It represents a central idea or base upon which the edifice of the performance is sculpted and realised. A bandish is that which is bound,encased and pre-composed in a sense. It is used both in the contexts of vocal or instrumental music.

Regarding the quality of the compositions and their relevance today,Dr Rao says,The lyrics (poetry) as well as the musical content are of highest quality and have stood the test of time. The secular and spiritual content of the poems transcend beyond the limits of time and will remain relevant for all times to come. Musically,these compositions set to various raags and taals by the composers are extremely relevant today as they give a guiding map of the melodic and improvisatory structure of the raags. Even present-day performers (across all styles and genres) find pride in drawing upon traditional compositions to lend credibility to their art.

This festival will give Mumbai audiences a chance to listen to compositions of both Hindustani and Carnatic musicians and is a first of its kind.
On July 9,Tansen will be presented by the Gundecha Brothers (dhrupad,dhamar,hori) and Adarang and Sadarang by Ulhas Kashalkar (bada and chhota khayal,tarana); on July 10,Muthuswami Dikshitar and Papanasam Sivan by Bombay Jayashri; on July 11, Ras Khan and Raheem by Shekhar Sen (doha,pad) and Amir Khusrau by Shujaat Khan (ghazal,qaul,qalbana).
The finale of the festival will be the presentations of ghazal,qaul and qalbana composed by Amir Khusrau Dehlavi by Shujaat Hussain Khan through the voice as well as the vocalised idiom of the sitar.