The six-day festival held in the city of Banaras to commemorate Lord Hanuman's birthday, saw many artists structure their presentations as much as possible to offer appropriate tribute to the Lord through their art.

The eagerly awaited 6 all night long festival commemorating Lord Hanuman’s birthday was held in Banaras last week. An unparalleled event, where the participation of the largely rustic audience is as much a part of proceedings as the actual performance, the perception of musicians remains, that unless Lord Hanuman permits, you cannot perform at the festival.

Most artists structure their presentations as much as possible to offer appropriate tribute to the Lord through their art — this year first time performer at the festival, Kuchipudi dancer Vanaja Uday and her troupe presented 4 items, all of which had a religious theme. The concluding two items had been specially choreographed for this performance — a brief enactment of various scenes from the Ramayana, including the abduction of Sita, and the building of the bridge to rescue her. The concluding piece was dancing to the recitation of the Hanuman chalisa, enacting out the various epithets of the Lord. For a little known Andhra Pradesh based troupe to connect so instantly with Banaras locals through Lord Hanuman was an inspiring image.

Pt Ulhas Kashalkar was quite emphatic on his perception of his duty as a performer on this, or any other stage “I have to present in the way I think is right, not according to the ability of my audience to understand my music. A lighter presentation may work better in some places, but as an artist I should not compromise; my presentation should be as per my training and temperament; only then will my music have the power to move, have “asar”. Definitely, his perception is correct; his totally awesome rendering of Raga Jog followed by Bahar left the audience literally stunned; they even forgot to clap initially, and after half a minute, when the realization impinged that that powerful concert was over, did they cry out “Har Har Mahadev” with their hands in the air!! (the typical Banarasi expression of appreciation). A welcome novelty to the concert was the amazing accompaniment on the harmonium by Milind Kulkarni. His two disciples Ojesh Pratap Singh and Hrishikesh Gangurde did not have such an active supportive role, as the master was truly in his element, and completely immersed in his music. Taal Yogi Pt Suresh Talwalkar as usual provided that extraordinarily sensitive accompaniment that enhanced the concert.  A regular listener from Bihar, who has been coming for the last 10 years annually said “over the years I have heard every morning Raga from him, from Asavari, Lalit, Bhatiyar, Bhairon, Bhairavi… great to hear him in the evening too. What a Jog he sang!”

The festival had a few first timers, including Prashant Samadhar from Mumbai who presented a somewhat disappointing concert, accompanied by flautist Devapriya.

His training despite exposure to the best Gurus, was not that much in evidence, what was apparent was his somewhat limited riyaaz. Lesser heard Pt Sugato Nag from Kolkata on the sitar was a welcome addition. Surbahar, which has become such a rare instrument today, was presented on this stage by Jaipur based Ashwin Mahesh Dalvi. Vijay Kumar Patil from Dharwar was another welcome addition.

Vidushi Shubhra Guha, again a first timer sang beautifully, despite her concert being disturbed by the temple arti at 445 am, and the continuing hailing by devotees thereafter. She appropriately started with Raga Todi, the subsequent Kalingra was most enjoyable with extensive musical repartee between the three artists, Pt Dharam nath Mishra on harmonium and Pt Samar Saha on tabla. There was an abandon, an infectious enjoyment of spontaneous improvisations linked with laya which were experienced by the then sleepy audience who were roused to visible appreciation.

Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar with Pandit Suresh Talwalkar. (Photo: Rakesh Sinha)

As always, percussion is given huge prominence in Banaras, which has its own gharana of tabla, which has included greats like Pt Anokhe Lal Mishra (whose grandson Pt Ram Kumar Mishra played too) Pt Kishan Maharaj, Pt Samta Prasad, and today in the younger generation, London based Pt Sanju Sahai. The festival featured tabla solos of Pt Anindo Chatterji, a trio with Pt Sanju Sahai and his two cousins, Vidwan Yella Venkateshwara Rao on mridangam, Pt Vijay Ghate and Parthasarathy on mridangam, Pt Suresh Talwalkar and his percussion troupe, and last but not least, the great Sivamani. He can really make music with anything; a metal plate dipped in water, a conch. It was difficult to hear all the 46 concerts the festival offers; but what was interesting was to hear the Sankat Mochan mahant Prof Vishwambhar nath Mishra’s take “this festival is really like a factory of music — we polish existing listeners by exposing them to the best musicians, create a new audience for serious classical music by bringing in popular artistes like Anup Jalota, or Sivamani, and also give a platform to new artistes. I remember introducing Pt Venkatesh Kumar almost 15 years ago, when he was not at all well known in North India.” Local Banaras artists are not forgotten, and as usual this year there was a vocal recital by Pt Ganesh Prasad Mishra,

There were memorable concerts, amongst others by Dr L Subramanium, Pt Jasraj, Pt Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Ustad Rashid Khan, Pt Tarun Bhattacharya, Pt Ronu Mazumdar, Niladri Kumar (who laudably refuses to be called Pandit) Pt Prateek Chaudhuri, Pt Pravin Godkhini, Vidushi Malini Awasthi and Banaras’s own Ritesh and Rajnish Mishra. A rare concert was by this year’s Padma Vibhushan awardee Ustad Ghulam Mustapha Khan, now retired from active singing.

It was awe inspiring to meet Rai Ranjit from Siwan, Bihar; this was his first classical music concert, even though he is in his mid thirties. He sat silently absorbing the strictly classical music concerts on offer through the night, even though he had arrived in Banaras the same evening after a 10 hour long drive. He said he loved it! Such is the magnetic quality of our music; it cannot fail to grip even a lay listener! One wishes that classical music was more freely available all over the country.