The month of September saw IMSOM present, as part of its 2002 music series, two of the finest young masters of classical Indian music – S. Soumya in a Carnatic vocal concert on September 7 and Purbayan Chatterjee in a Sitar recital on Sep 27. The concerts were enjoyed by a mixed audience numbering over 180 and 240 respectively.

Soumya has firmly established herself as one of the leading Carnatic vocalists today and is one of the most sought after artists during the immensely popular music season in Chennai, India from where she hails. A former disciple of Sangeetha Kalanidhi Dr. S. Ramanathan and Smt. Muktha, she is presently under the tutelage of her father Dr. M. Srinivasan. Her concert was eagerly awaited and true to expectations the capacity crowd at the Recital Hall at the College of St Catherine was held in raptures over two hours and a half. She was accompanied brilliantly by Neyveli Narayanan on the Mridangam and Kalpana Venkat on the violin. She began with a briskly rendered Varnam (chalamEla in Ragam nAtakuranji, Talam Adi) and continued with a series of competently rendered Krithis in Ragas manOhari, abhOgi and yadukulakAmbhOji. The highlights of the evening were definitely the two elaborate renditions – the beautiful piece rAma kathA sudhA in Ragam madhyamAvati by the great saint composer Thyagaraja, and the rAgam tAnam pallavi (RTP) in Ragam pUrva kalyAni. The former piece also saw a superb Mridangam solo from Neyveli Narayanan. Kalpana Venkat’s responses on the violin to Soumya’s vocal forays in the RTP were especially noteworthy. Throughout the concert Kalpana displayed great aesthetic judgement and responsiveness to Soumya’s singing. The classical segment of the concert saw a fine balance of different Ragas, Talas and judicious use of improvisational elements like alApana, kalpanAswarA and nerAval. A sequence of lighter pieces in a variety of Ragas rounded up the evening. The song, innu daya bAradE, composed by saint Purandara Dasa, the founding father of Carnatic music, and the concluding Tillana were rendered with finesse. The only piece that she did not perhaps do justice to was the Hindi Bhajan in sindhU bhairavi, although her pronunciation of Hindi, being an artist from South India, was remarkably good.

Later, on September 27, IMSOM featured one of India’s brightest young talents on the Sitar, Purbayan Chatterjee, with the flamboyant Abhijit Banerjee on the Tabla. Twin Cities’ audience had to wait until 2002 to hear him (his concert earlier scheduled for October 2001 was canceled in the wake of the events of 9/11). It was worth the wait. The Cowles Auditorium at the Hubert Humphrey Center was filled to capacity. Purbayan is one of the leading torchbearers of the Maihar Sitar tradition and moulds his style after that of the legendary Pandit Nikhil Banerjee, who was a long-time teacher to Purbayan’s father Partha Chatterjee, himself a noted exponent of the Sitar.

Purbayan played the Raga rAgeshri in the first half with an extended Alap and Jod for about 40 minutes. Two Gat compositions - the first in Vilambit Jhap Taal (based on the well known vocal Bandish "Pratham Sura Sadhe") and the second one in Teen Taal beginning in Madhya Laya going upto Drut Laya. Rageshri was done very well. The two Gats lasted about 40 minutes. The faster sections had some very good Layakari. One of the things to note about Purbayan's technique was his softness in the real fast passages. There was no harshness that is so typical of many other Sitarists when they attempt heavy Gamaka laden work in faster speeds. He also sang the Mukhada of the Madhya Laya Bandish to show the Gayaki Ang. The second half started with Raga Desh - two Gats - one in Vilambit Rupak and one in Madhya Laya Teentaal, going up to Ati-Drut Laya later. The Desh in Rupak was done beautifully and unhurriedly and was easily the highlight of the evening. In the Drut section they got carried away a tad and did a lengthy Sawaal-Jawaab that was not really necessary. The over indulgence in Drut and Ati-Drut didn't go well in Desh. It became a mere technical exhibition rather than a melodic exploration.

The last piece (after audience members exhorted him to play another piece) was a romantic Thumri in Mishra Pilu which was rendered well. Thankfully he stayed away from morphing it into another fast Gat again and stayed within the Madhya Laya Adha Teen Taal framework. The faster Laggi sections were handled with sensitivity by both artists without getting too carried away with speed. All in all the entire concert was done very well except for the brief departures into the high-octane pyrotechnics realm. Abhijit Banerjee played the Tabla with restraint mostly. He impresses with his clarity, speed and virtuosity on the Tabla.

Additionally IMSOM also supported a couple of Baithak concerts in September. The Baithak concerts were the traditional way to enjoy Indian classical music – in a small, cozy and intimate setting where the music was more up-close and personal. The two recent Baithaks featured rising young vocalist Mowna Ramachandra, visiting artist from Bangalore. She has trained in Hindustani classical vocal music under late Pandit Arjunsa Nakod of Dharwad and now receives advanced training from Veena Sahasrabudhe, the renowned vocalist. Mowna gave an evening concert at the residence of Dr. Ameeta Kelekar and family in Roseville on September 15 and followed it up with a concert of morning Ragas at the Fairview Community Center in Roseville on September 22. Both the concerts were thoroughly enjoyed by a highly appreciative audience. Mowna was accompanied by Vikas Falnikar on the harmonium and by A. Pavan on the Tabla in both the concerts. IMSOM hopes to bring more such events to the Twin Cities in the future.

To know more about IMSOM and its activities, please visit: www.imsom.org

-Dr. A. Pavan
(The author is a Research Scientist at Honeywell Laboratories, Minneapolis and an alumnus of the University of Minnesota. He is also a performer and teacher of Tabla, a concert organizer and a freelance music critic)