Meena Banerjee, Kolkata, AUGUST 11, 2019

The Realm of Melody

Malhar fest

The sublime vocalism of slide-guitar maestro Debashish Bhattacharya was the crescendo of Malhar festival, held at Kolkata’s venerated Vivekananda Hall recently. This celebration of monsoon through seasonal ragas was organised by the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture as part of their annual ritual essentially because, “just as rains cleanse and rejuvenate nature on the gross level, they also help human psyche to mellow down on spiritual plane,” according to Swami Supurnananda.

Bhattacharya echoed the same sentiments and literally painted imageries on the canvas of thin air with the brush of uniquely designed soundscapes dipped in the mood of Miyan Malhar. To invoke the blessings of this brooding raga, he tuned his instrument four scales lower than the usual D. This sensitive step instilled a rainsoaked mellowness in the otherwise perky and taut tonality of his self-designed, fourcoloured chaturangui which sang in the deep tones of veena, one of its most important oriental colours apart from its intrinsic western hues.

The longish alap beautifully delineated longing and romanticism that incorporated universal soundscape but within the realm of Indianraga with amazing artistry. It had steady bends of elongated meends, swaying notes, finegrained sharp moving taans, octave jumping phrases and filigree of lighter nuances along with west-leaning staccato note-clusters, chords and harmonised phrases. All these etched the monsoon sky with different dynamics of key-phrases and occasional flashes of very fast harkat exuding freewheeling youthful exuberance.

The brief jod was succinctly designed with heavy rhythmic gamaks which paved way for a dhrupad composition of Tansen. Sensitive accompanist Ujjwal Bharati’s broad-faced tabla offered saathsangat to bol-based elaborations in chautal. For the slowteental gatkari, the same tabla came up with a brilliant utthanhaving ek-hatthi (single handed) beginning, gradually joined by gamak of the base-drum and finally showering bols.

Both musicians enjoyed the ensuing layakari. A powerful tabla repartee received a dramatic reply in the form of a taan which began very softly but gradually acquired commanding tone, challenging tabla to engage in a dialogue, and closed with a tihai. The fast teental, supported by a high pitched tabla, had a taan encrusted mukhdathat inspired sprinting passages leading to jhala.

Persistent encores led Bhattacharya to play Desh Malhar. As perceived in Maihar gharana, his version of Desh incorporated Komal Gandhar in very specifically designed fleeting touch, like a beauty spot.