Hariprasad Chaurasia enthrals audience

Swara Raga Laya-A Confluence of Indian Music, held at the Indian Embassy lawns recently, provided a wonderful treat to the classical music lovers of Muscat. The programme was held under the auspices of Anil Wadhwa, Indian ambassador to the Sultanate.
The audience had a mesmerising evening with Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia and Dr N Ramani, masters of the bansuri and flute They were ably accompanied on the mridangam by Bombay Balaji and on the tabla by Subhankar Banerjee.
The edifice of Indian music is swara and laya. It can be said that a musician who has complete mastery of these two aspects, is called a Maha Vidwan. Raga, quintessentially captures the essence of both swara and laya and combined with the imagination of the artists, elevates the audience to a different level altogether. Swara Raga Laya was based on this theme.
Pandit Hariprasad gave the concert a superlative start with Raga Jog followed by a Bengali folk song. It could be said that the whole audience were completely engrossed and dipped in the essence of Raga Jog, and the song which followed.
Debopriya Ranadive, a disciple of Pandit Hariprasad, provided able support on the bansuri and was extremely melodious. Subhankar Banerjee, being a regular with Pandit Hariprasad, was giving the necessary fillip to the entire song and, thereby, raising the music played to a heavenly level. It was then the turn of Dr N. Ramani to start his solo performance accompanied by Bombay Balaji on the mridangam.
He aptly started the concert with endaro mahanubavulu, one of the pancharatna of Saint Tyagaraja. The percussion accompaniment for this song was exemplary with absolutely no hindrance to the imagination of Dr N. Ramani.
Thereafter, ninnuvina in navarasa kanada gave an idea of how well both Ramani and Balaji could handle speed with clarity and bhava. Nagumomu was the piece de resistance, which completely took the audience along to an elevated level.
The thani avartanam, which followed, was crisp and extremely calculative. The intricacies of laya came to the fore and it was thoroughly enjoyed by the audience. The concluding song was in Raga Desh. After the individual performances and just before Ramani could get back to the jugalbandi, Pandit Hariprasad played a festival song to coincide with the forthcoming Holi festival. This brought the audience into the mood of playing Holi.
It was then the turn of all four to get together for the jugalbandi. Raga Bhoopali (Hindustani) and Mohanam (Carnatic) was selected for elaboration.
The Pallavi that followed was set to adi taal (Carnatic) and teen taal (Hindustani). The percussion duet between Bombay Balaji and Subhankar Banerjee gave a fitting finale to the concert.