Anoushka Shankar’s concert

Today, I did a first - attended a concert, and the artist was not a vocalist.

I had heard a lot about Pt. Ravishankar, his master of Sitar, the impact he made in West, and how people like him, Guru BKS Iyengar etc. were ambassadors of Indian culture in western world. But, this hype was not enough inspire me into listening instrumental music. I’ve had my share of instrumentals by Bismillah Khan, Pt. Shivprasad Sharma, Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia and even the new age rage Shivamani, but the acoustic delights were serendipitous, not deliberate.

My biggest issue with listening to instrumental music was that I didn’t follow all the ragas and other nuances of music, and was likely to make a fool of myself when seated next to a more discerning audience. Neways, I decided to give my fears a rest and attended AS’s concert today. We arrived 10 minutes before the designated time at the auditorium and were handed pamphlets describing all her co-performers. Her troupe was delayed and I guessed she was held up in traffic. This indeed turned out to be the case. I hope she also registers her ire at the pathetic state of Bangalore roads and something comes out of it. But, there is another drama being enacted by the power-brokers, so VIP or no VIP, we’ll have to bear with the traffic nuisance for some more time.

The program started 45 minutes late and went on for 2 hours. The second composition, a concerted effort by the team, had everyone on the edge of their seats. In that piece, there were some jugalbandis, between the tabalchi and the violinist, the mridangam player and the flute-player, ultimately Sitar’s beaming notes subdued all other instruments, and the symphony reached a crescendo to rapturous applause by the audience. After this, all the members of the group didn’t perform together till the last piece. Combinations of performers were used in the rest of the pieces.

AS sat in the centre of the artists, indicating the centrality of her instrument in the concert. She spoke only three or four times during the concert, allowing her music to do most of the talking. I can’t use superlatives for the performance, but it was surely not a disappointment. I regret missing all the events organized by Spic-Macay. Come to think of it, two of the most popular instrumentalists of this age - Bismillah Khan and Hariprasad Chaurasia come from my neck of the woods. A good start, nevertheless.