Rhythm and monsoon blues

The eighth season of the classical music concert Monsoon Nirvana was on Saturday at Shilpakala Vedika. The eighth season aimed to explore the various facets and beauty of aadi taalam and highlight the significance of the monsoon season and the aadi taalam.

While every music composition is composed of taals, aadi taalam (or aadi taal), or the primary rhythm, is the most important among taals in Indian classical music, and particularly in Carnatic (South Indian classical) music. In fact, aadi taalam is often considered the foundation of every heart-touching rendition, especially for the monsoon ragas.

Soundscapes
With its unique line up of artistes from around the country, Monsoon Nirvana mesmerised audiences. The concert saw beautiful musical renditions by six performers: Harish Sivaramakrishnan (singer from the band Agam), Purbayan Chatterjee (on sitar), playback Gayatri Ashokan (vocalist), Mitali Vinchurkar (on tabla), Tejas Vinchunkar (on the flute) and Sumana Chandrasekhar (on the handpan and ghatam). The event started with solo tabla performance by Mitali Vinchurkar and concluded with a sitar rendition of raga Megh by Purbayan Chatterjee, before all of them took the stage for a wonderful medley of raga Revati. We spoke to a couple of them to understand a little better about the show.

Elaborating about the whole concept and how he feels it is important to host such concerts in the culturally rich Hyderabad, Kolkata-born and Mumbai-based Purbayan Chatterjee says, “I feel a city like Hyderabad, which is so culturally rich, needs classical music concerts like these more often. Even the concept of this concert is very unique-Aadi to Anant — the most important taals. With so many varied soundscape from the different performing artistes, right from flute to ghatam, the outcome was, no doubt, delightful.”

Gayatri Ashokan

A song in many forms
Vocalist Gayatri Ashokan, who is more famous as a playback singer for movies, also echoes the same sentiments about the importance of aadi taalam. “Performing in aadi taalam, which is one of the most popular taalams or rhythms in Carnatic music, requires immense taalim [training] even in Hindustani classical music,” says Gayatri.

Interestingly, Gayatri, who is also well trained in Hindustani and ghazal music, had also performed a Marathi abhanga for the first time ever on stage. Abhanga is a devotional poetry sung in praise of Lord Vitthala of the Hindu pantheon. “Singing abhanga is different and requires a particular taan in the voice and that too in Marathi. My initial training was in Pune, so I know a bit of Marathi, which helped,” shares Gayatri.

Catching the wind
Another performer at the event who was well appreciated for his rendition was flutist Tejas Vinchurkar. Tejas has previously performed with Sonu Nigam for MTV Unplugged as well as various other established artistes.

At Monsoon Nirvana, he played raag Desh on his flute, which he believes “aptly fits the barsha ritu [the rainy season]”.

In fact, Tejas, who comes from a musically inclined family, had begun his musical sojourn with the tabla and then moved on to playing the flute when he was in class VIII. What made him make the move, we wonder. “My grandfather was a vocalist and my father was a tabla player. So it was inevitable for me to join the legacy. But once I attended a classical music concert and was mesmerised by the flute. It was then I decided to learn the instrument,” says Tejas, signing off.