Nirali Kartik’s raga rendition captivates audiences

The India International Centre (IIC) has always been promoting young and upcoming musicians by showcasing their talents in front of the invited audiences by organising music and dance concerts on a regular basis. The IIC Baithak Series is their latest endeavour to encourage and promote potential talents with promise from across the country. Initiated by Shri Shyam Saran, a Life Trustee of the IIC; the idea materialised with the first edition of the IIC Baithak presenting a Hindustani classical vocal recital by Nirali Kartik from Mumbai, performing for a sizable enthusiastic audience at the main auditorium of the IIC.

A recipient of Shreshtha Saadhak Award, Nirali has given her voice for many award winning films and documentaries apart from the You Tube videos that have won her a dedicated fan following. Born into a music loving family, she was initiated into Hindustani classical music at an early age by Shri P.G. Shinde at Saptak School of Music. Further trained under the tutelage of Shri Vikas Parikh, Nirali is presently being groomed under the guidance of Shri Sanjeev Abhyankar, himself a senior disciple of Pt. Jasraj.  

Nirali has a refined appealing voice with nearly complete accuracy of notes, but surprisingly she opened her evening concert with an afternoon raga like Bhimpalasi. Adherance to the time theory of ragas has been conventionally a mandatory rule in the inheritance of Hindustani classical music tradition. Although her taking liberty with the choice of the main raga, came as a boon in disguise for the music lovers who dont get a chance to listen to this melodious raga during the usual concerts.

The opening Alap with the chanting of “Om Shri Anant Hari Narayan…”, on just the main tonic or Madhya Shadja, expanded further like an Auchar (introductory Alap) of the raga, in the footsteps of her Guru Parampara; that created the atmosphere of Bhimpalasi for the Bada Khayal Tan bino mann bino… rendered with feeling in a flowing simplicity of neat diction. Her training was evident in the grammatically correct gradual progression of the raga, but she also seemed to follow her own sensibility in the Alap-Barhat that was interspersed with sporadic Taans even before the complete rendition of “Sthayi-Antara”. She even stopped in middle of rendering the Antara (second half of the composition) to explain the subject matter of the lyric.

The popular Chhota Khayal in Teental Ja ja re apne Mandirwa… was dealt quite creatively, with the 8-8 Matra Taans and Boltaans adorning the Mukhda or the opening phrase with remarkable variations. Nirali revelled in a variety of Taans, especially the Sargam Taans but the Aakar taans needed a little more tonal accuracy at times. Her rigorous practice was visible in her technical virtuosity but she needs to work on her lower notes, that nearly drown below Mandra Dhaivat.

The second Raga Hansadhwani could have created a comely contrast if she would have chosen a “Sandhi Prakash” or evening time raga to begin with, but it was entirely her own choice. Nirali presented Main hari re piharwa…, a composition set to slow Rupak Tala followed by a medium tempo Teentala Bandish (composition) in Hansadhwani, before presenting a Tarana composed by her Guru Sanjiv Abhyankar in raga Chandrakauns. Here again she enjoyed delivering difficult Sargam Taans with effortless ease. The Hori composition of Late Vidushi Anita Sen Sakal Brij dhoom machi… next, she confessed, was inspired by Vidushi Ashwini Bhide’s joyous rendition of the song.

In her introduction the audiences were told that “Nirali has been a pioneer in putting Hindustani Classical Music to a vast online audience by the means of videos on You Tube and has a dedicated viewership of music lovers across the globe. She has formed a music group “Maati Baani” along with her husband Kartik Shah, starting a new thread of music where Indian Classical met various forms of World Music traditions in a one-of-its-kind experiment on You Tube.”

The audience got a chance to listen to her “Maati Baani” composition also when she concluded with Boondan boondan barse meha…., based on Miyan Malhar. The sensitive touched by Vinay Mishra on Harmonium and the lively Tabla accompaniment by Amit Mishra added colour to the IIC Baithak.

The writer is a music and dance critic