The perfect guru pranam

The setting for a morning concert couldn’t have been better than the glistening water of Tank Bund in all its glory and listening to beautiful renditions by Dr Ashwini Bhide Deshpande. As rows of chairs were still being arranged and backdrop was being set, guests pour in way before the scheduled time to capture the best possible seat to hear Dr Ashwini paying a tribute to the legendary vocalist Kishori Amonkar (fondly known as Kishori Tai) who had passed away this month. The concert was organised by Surmandal at the Sailing Annexe on Sunday.

Dr Ashwini, daughter of renowned Hindustani vocalist Manik Bhide and the torchbearer of the Jaipur Atrauli Gharana from Mumbai, while giving an insight to her connection with Kishori Tai, says, “My mother was a singer and was among the prime artistes who toured with her. I had the fortune to learn music from my mother and indirectly from Kishori Tai.”

As she started Raag Bahaduri Todi with Dev Mahadev Parvati pati Mahadev and Pashupatinath Shankara Shambhu, hundreds of audience went into devotional trance. The concert continued past the scheduled time due to the audience demands for one more song by the artiste and ended with the Mharo Pranam, a favourite of Kishori Tai.

“Even though I have not performed much in the city compared to Delhi and Kolkata, whenever I receive an invitation to perform, I never miss the chance,” she says when asked about her Hyderabadi connection.

Tollywood director and sound designer K. Viswanath too had come to pay his tribute to Kishori Amonkar and listened to the beautiful jugalbandi of raagas and taals by Dr Ashwini.