Reminiscing a legendary vocalist

Shounak Abhisheki and his orchestra II Photo Courtesy: Rishabh Raghavan

Manipal: The Sangeeth Sabha Udupi, in association with Manipal University (MU) held a nine-hour festival of Hindustani classical music and bhajans at the main building here on Jan 31st. The ninth year of this festival, the Smruti Sangeetha Samaroh, was held in the memory of Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki, an iconic vocalist and composer of Hindustani classical and devotional music.

The programme featured vocal performances by some of the disciples of Pandit Abhisheki, including his son, and  Smt. Devaki Pandit, who also occupy a prominent place in the Indian classical music sphere, having performed in countries all over the world. Noted tabla player Harshad Kanitkar, and violinist Ratnakar Gokhale provided the accompaniment, along with several other musicians.

Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki has been credited as an influence that revolutionised Indian classical, semi-classical and devotional music. He also revived Marathi theatre in the 1960s with his operatic compositions. For his contribution to music, he was awarded the prestigious Padma Shree and the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, among many others. He passed away in 1998.

In his address to the audience, Dr. Muralidhar Pai, Chairman of the Cultural Committee, MU paid a tribute to the Padma Shree winning artist. “We are here to celebrate this great artist in the form of a musical festival,” he said.  “I wish that all music lovers would patronise these kind of festivals.”

The programme was heavily attended by the residents of Manipal and Udupi, but there was a conspicuous absence of students, an oddity one might consider given the fact that Manipal is home to over 20,000 of them.

“The festival is meant for all the public. All top ranking performers come here (Udupi). However, there is little response from students,” said T Ranga Pai, President of the Sabha who retired from the post of Deputy Registrar MU, last year. “There is a vicious circle we need to break. People don’t understand classical music, so they will not come.”  He plans to introduce a system of credits for students who attend, participate in and volunteer for classical musical concerts, to increase awareness of our culture. “It is one of the tasks in mind,” he told TMJ. “Talks have been happening. It has to be followed up.”

“I don’t think most students understand what is going on. The musicians go for the technical aspect and don’t try to make normal people understand the music. They should atleast tell the meaning of the words sung”, opined a student of MGM College, Uupi .

“Carnatic music is not just about divinity,” she added. “It is about worldly feelings as well. However, they only sing about the Gods and bhakti, but not every student wants to be a sadhu.”

Sub-edited by: Pavithra S Rangan