MILAPFEST Music for the Mind and Soul concert series held at the Royal Philharmonic, Liverpool on the 31st of March 2007.
Vijay Rajput - Vocal
Rakesh Joshi - Harmonium
Sanju Sahai - Table
Jasdeep Singh - Vocal support and Tambura
1. Raag Vrindavani Sarang - two compositions - approx 30 mins
- Vilambit Ek Taal
- Drut Teen Taal
2. Raag Basant - two compositions - approx 35 mins
- Teen Taal
- Drut Ek Tal
BREAK
3. Dadra[?] - song on a holy theme - sounded like Pahadi
4. Raguvara Thumako - Tulsidas Bhajan
5. ??? - A composition based on Radha singing on her lonliness while Lord Krishna is not present.
6. Jo Bhaje Hari - Bhairav [CM's Sindu Bhairavi]
7. Hari To - ??
A nice and pleasant Spring afternoon in Merseyside. Sri Vijay Rajput gave a very entertaining performance at the Phil. The hall as the last time was full by the time the concert started. Rougly about 100 odd people, again a predominantly caucasian audience. He was introduced as a disciple of the famous Pandit Bhimsen Joshi [one of my all time favorites] and it showed thro out the performance. His voice was well set.
Started off with Vridavani Sarang, the slow composition did not give an adequate take off IMHO [kala kattala if you know what I mean], the raga was established very well. The concert started getting interesting with the second composition. The medium paced krithi was nice to hear and the tabla player baught more life with some scintillating korvai's. The solo in the end was well received.
Next came Raga Basant which was *brilliant*. Right from the word go, the vocalist and the table player were in so much sync it was wonderful to watch. Both compositions were nicely handled and the afternoon sun shine, a slight breeze extra made the afternoon raga even moe enjoyable. Sri Sanju Sahai's trasition when moving from the first song to the second was a pleasure to hear. Again a short thani was played which was well enjoyed by the crowd.
After the break, one song afetr the other came, none noteworthy, apart from the Sindhu Bhairavi number which he said was a Joshi special. It was rendered nicely with Joshi-ish touches.
A very nice afternoon, with the usual South-Indian restaurant providing food and refreshments. I went with a friend called Derek who works from Her Majesty's Govt. He said he will give his impression on the concert as it's the first time he has been to a HM concert. He did mention in the end that he throughly enjoyed the tabla. I iwll post his view as soon as I get the email from him.