Masterful strokes' at play

On February 21, all roads in the city will lead to Chowdiah Memorial Hall— the fifth edition of the Aadi Anant Festival of Indian Music is slated to commence at the venue. This time around, the travelling multi-city festival features a nonpareil duet by Hindustani classic maestro Ustad Rashid Khan and his disciple Nagesh Adgaonkar, who will perform soulful renditions of the Rampur-Sahaswan gharana. We talk to the guru-shishya duo to delve deeper.

Prepping themselves up for the concert, which also marks their first performance in Bengaluru; the Hindustani music duo is positive about the feedback from the audience. “While I’ve been practicing and performing with Ustad Rashidji for over the last seven years, this festival marks our first stint in the city.

We’re  aware of the metropolitan vibe of Bengaluru and  the rich music and performing arts scene here.  It is going to be refreshing to perform for an energetic musically-inclined crowd,” says 27-year-old Nagesh Adgaonkar.

The duo will offer renditions individually and together to the compositions by the stalwarts of Rampur-Sahaswan gharana, in which the musical expression is dominated by the strong influence of string instruments like rudravina and sursingar.

Elucidating on what to expect, here’s what Nagesh has to say— “We will be performing bada khayal, chhota khayal and tarana in a style marked by open-throated voice, varied types of taans and appealing timbre dynamics at the concert.”

Opining about the guru-shishya equation that has undergone a gargantuan change over the years, Ustad Rashid Khan says, “It definitely has changed over the decades because it had to. The rapport has become a lot more casual, but still holds a lot of significance. There is a lot of reverence attached to the guru.

This is exactly the pattern that is maintained in both my academies SBMT in Kolkata and Sangeet Graam in Agartala (Tripura).”