In the time of Romeo and Juliet, young men in Italy played the mandolin as they serenaded their sweethearts in the balconies. The instrument has undergone many modifications since then, growing in popularity all over the world. In India, the mandolin emerged on the Carnatic Music scene in the 1980s courtesy Uppalapu Shrinivas, who modified it for Indian classical music.
Thus, the audience interest was high on the fourth day of the Saptak Music Festival at LD Arts College in Ahmedabad, where Shrinivas’s younger brother Uppalapu Rajesh joined Purbayan Chatterjee for a mandolin-sitar Jugalbandi in Raag Kirwani, with Kumar Bose on the tabla and Patri Satish Kumar on the mridangam. The Jugalbandi certainly did provide a contrast between the two string instruments, with the Carnatic mandolin sounding rather muted in comparison to the crisp, clear notes of the sitar.
The other star performance of the evening was Pandit Venkatesh Kumar, who arrived on stage in a Covid mask, reminding us that the virus that brought the Saptak concerts to a stop for two years is still out there. But once he took off the mask and began to sing, the audience forgot all else and was swept away by the Pandit’s powerful voice.
Venkatesh Kumar is best known for his devotional songs and his repertoire on Thursday included the ever-popular Ram Ratan Dhan Payo. The maestro was accompanied by Keshav Joshi on the tabla and Vinay Mishra on the harmonium.
The first performance of the evening was Harvinder Sharma on the sitar, accompanied by Rohen Bose on the tabla. Rohen Bose later returned to the stage to release the cover of his soon-to-be-released book Tablawala, which a biography of his uncle Kumar Bose. Speaking on the occasion, Vidushi Manju Mehta said Kumar Bose has been a part of Saptak since 1984. “This book narrates the experiences of a musician on the road to success. Everyone should read it for the insights it offers,” she said.
The book narrates Kumar Bose’s early sojourns in Ahmedabad, where he met many great musicians of the day at the Mehta’s house. “We gained a philosophy of life from these impromptu mehfils,” Kumar Bose said. “The classical music environment has changed over the years and it will be up to the reader to gauge whether the past I describe is better than the present.”
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