Bolava Vitthal concert series with essence of carnatic RA-GA

[vinayakkharat]

hello all,
Recently during the season of Ashadi ekadshi the abahnga concert series named of ' Bolava Vitthal' was arranged by Pancham Nishad Organization in cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata, Nashik, Delhi etc. Various artist like Rahul Deshpande,Jayatirtha Mevundi, Devaki Pandit, Anand Bhate of Hindusthani stream present abhangas...and the carnatic gems Ranjani-Gayatri performed this year too again creating their own space in this series.And yes in Kolkata Smt Kaushiki Chakravarty sung abhangas in this series for the first time.
Now coming to Abhangas in carnatic music, as far as i know Abhagas are no very new to Carnatic music. though they were not present in mainstream music but did exist in Thukkada segment of few singers.,abhangs were sung by Legends Like MS Subbulakshmi, M L Vasanthakumari and many other singers like respected Aruna Sairam, O.S. Arun etc...Though Abhang gayaki is famous among leading hindustani classical singers from old time...It is Ranjani-Gayatri who have given a new life to abhangas in Carnatic music,the effect is as seen that many new upcoming singers are seen singing abhangas.
Abhangas are written by legendary saints like Dnyaneshwar,Tukaram,Eknath in Marathi in praise of lords Vitthala(krishna). Though Marathi is a sister language of Sanskrit and all the consonants and vowels are same as sanskrit,yet marathi is very tricky because it has two variants for few consonants like ''cha'' ''ja'' '' jha'' and ''La''(variant ''zh'' in tamil). This is a very tricky part as only the one who is speaking marathi from long(or knows it well) can only know the use of right variant by experience. The use of exact variant is important otherwise its as equal as using a different consonant and changes the meaning of word.Hence the singers have to be very careful while singing abahngas in pronunciations.This makes me appreciate the efforts of Singers who are non-Maharashtrian and still sing abhangas with full enthusiasm.
on 9th July 2014 Ashadi ekadshi the concert was in Shanmukhananda Hall Mumbai,in auditorium packed with rasikas and intresting was the presence of noticeable south indian Rasikas.The concert began with mahamantra Samkirtan of varkari sect of vitthala which is ''Jay jay ram krishna hari'' by the singers Rahul Deshpande, Jayatirtha Mevundi, and Ranjani-Gayatri and Anand Bhate.Then a brief introduction speech was given by the conceptualizer of this series Mr Shashi Vyas.
After this every singer in the same respective order got to sing four abhangas. Pandharicha vaas sung by Rahul reminded me of PT Bhimsenji,also his Kanada raja Pandharicha got a once more.Jayatirtha mevundi flew with different colours of abahngas,and his Bhagyada lakshmi baramma was a huge hit in the concert,which got once more too.The concert was concluded by shri Anand Bhate.
After a small interval Ranjani-Gayati duo grabbed the stage and took hold of mind of listeners with their very popular Roop Phata Lochani in raaga Maru bihag.
at the beginning as per told in introduction to their session they wanted to sing new abhangas this time,but few rasikas had already requested the organizers that ranjani gayatri should sing Bolava vitthal and Pandhaiche bhoot mothe so they requested so to the singing Duo.The second abhanga was ''Je ka ranjale ganjale'' a refreshing tune and rendition,though mainly belonging to carnatic stream here the detailed exploration swarasahityam was done in Hindustani style with perfect pronunciations and the rasikas showed their appreciation by nodding and frequent applauds after some beautiful places,this abhanga was another big hit in this concert.then came the soul of the concert...the abhanga on which the concert is named ''Bolava Vitthal Pahava Vitthal'' with its deep touchy meaning,they concluded their session with their trademark abhanga 'Pandhariche Bhoot mothe' in raga Chandrakauns creating an mesmerizing end of their session. Its great to see this leading carnatic duo creating such a strong space with abhangas and other Hindi bhajans in the field of Indian music as we know very few musicians do such adventures and success them...
The success of Ranjani-Gayatri lies in their hardwork,serious treatment to the different subjects,and this is reflected in the appreciation and demands of Rasikas. Abhangas being one of the connecting links of Hindustani and Carnatic music such concerts are treats to the listeners.Let the music be celebrated...let the singers and listeners get to taste the divinity of music...

i couldnt take good pictures of this concert hence posting the pic of past year just for an idea
https://www.facebook.com/Ranjani.Gayatr ... =1&theater

Thank you,
Vinayak Kharat.

[rshankar]

Thank you for that report of what seems to have been a very interesting concert. I agree with your comments on the sisters! Every aspect of their performance is 'professional' - the hard work and the seriousness with which they take their job/craft is overlooked by many.
Having said that, it is only fair to ask you to duck, because this report could bring out the 'duelling' talents of some of our members!!

PS: I am very interested in hearing Smt. Kaushiki's performance from Kolkotta!

[rajeshnat]

Now coming to Abhangas in carnatic music, as far as i know Abhagas are no very new to Carnatic music. though they were not present in mainstream music but did exist in Thukkada segment of few singers.,abhangs were sung by Legends Like MS Subbulakshmi, M L Vasanthakumari and many other singers like respected Aruna Sairam, O.S. Arun etc...Though Abhang gayaki is famous among leading hindustani classical singers from old time...

It is Ranjani-Gayatri who have given a new life to abhangas in Carnatic music,the effect is as seen that many new upcoming singers are seen singing abhangas.

Vinayak Kharat
While practically the rasikas of that generation who heard mss and mlv did not know the difference between say a hindi bhajan and a marathi abhang , I would still give the credit of this statement(marked in red) that it was only aruna sairam who gave a new life of abhangs in CM and not RG sisters . RG just followed what Aruna did . OS Arun is a stylish googly abhang singer
- I am personally not a big fan of abhang.

[cienu]

Thank you Vinayak for the detailed report. ☺ I have attended in Bangalore the "Bolava Vittala" series Organised by the most meticulous Shashi Vyas for the last 2 years. However I could not attend this years concert as I was travelling.
The combination of Jayateerth Mevundi, Anand Bhate, Rahul Deshpande and RaGa is truly electrifying and I am sure you had an exhilarating experience.
Do continue to share your thoughts on the rasikas forum more frequently.!