The first day of the 15th Tehzeeb Festival being held at the National Academy of Performing Arts was a joyous occasion as the raag that were performed and the way the performers chose to render them evoked the feelings of joy and exuberance.
The festival offering various genres of the Indian classical music has been organised by the Tehzeeb Foundation under music producer and patron Sharif Awan. It will end today (Sunday) with performances of some of the finest musicians of the country, including the Gwalior Gharana’s Ustad Fateh Ali Khan.
The first day of the festival began with a Khayal performance by young artiste Mehak Rashid, who rendered Alhaiya Bilawal. With a clear voice, she expounded on the raag with care ending in tarana.
At the end of the performance, the host, Kaif Ghaznavi, rightfully praised Mehak’s mother who encouraged her daughter’s musical talents and facilitated her classical music education.
The next performer was Haroon Samuel, who delighted the audience with his skill on the tabla. His performance was included in the festival as a tribute to the late Ustad Umar Hayat Khan of the Punjab Gharana of the tabla.
Awan came to the stage to introduce Samuel and inform the audience about Ustad Umar Hayat, stating that the late musician was a prominent tabla player of the Punjab gharana. He added that Ustad Umar Hayat was a multi-talented person who had also learnt calligraphy and the art of making kites. He was also a master of culinary arts.
The Tehzeeb Foundation head said it was a strange phenomenon that many great names of the Indian classical music, including Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, were food aficionados. He added that it could be because a raag was like a recipe of notes.
Samuel chose to play Jhaptaal, a rhythmic cycle of 10 beats. He demonstrated various Qaida in the taal invented by some great tabla players. The audience thoroughly enjoyed the performance.
The next performer was Ahmad Raza Khan from southern Punjab. It was announced that he belonged to the Gwalior Gharana from the maternal side and to the Patiala Gharana from the paternal side as his paternal grandfather was a student of the famed Ustad Ashiq Ali Khan.
He announced that he would render Raag Hameer in Jhoomra Taal. Later, he told The News that he sang both the vilambit (slow) and drut (fast) portions of the Khayal essentially in Jhoomra, which was surprising because the Jhoomra Taal, a cycle of 14 beats, is usually employed only in vilambit khayal.
Ahmad Raza sang Hameer beautifully and joyfully. Throughout the performance, he kept singing sargam that clearly showed the Vakr (non-linear) build of the raag. He also attempted to bring out the full spectrum of the raag on the stage by singing in Taar Saptak (upper octave) as well as going at least as low as the Kharaj of the Mandra Saptak (lower octave) and sustaining that pitch for some time.
After Hameer, the vocalist sang a Multani Kafi in Bhairavi. Although Bhairavi often evokes sadness and feelings of separation, it was mostly a joyous representation of the raag through Saraiki poetry set in the Keherwa taal, a rhythmic cycle of eight beats. As Keherwa began, a certain section of the audience started to clap with the rhythm showing their excitement.
The next performer was Ustad Mumtaz Sabzal on the banjo. He thanked the Tehzeeb Foundation for arranging such events and giving him the opportunity to play Indian classical music on the banjo. He said it was extremely difficult to present raag on the instrument because the banjo was unable to produce gamak and meendh.
With Samuel playing Teentaal on the tabla as an accompanying artiste, Ustad Sabzal said he would be playing Raag Des on the instrument.
The instrument’s shortcomings that the Ustad had described became evident in the Alaap section. However, as the tabla joined, the audience was captivated by the Ustad’s swift strokes.