I went through Hynotism on 16 April evening.......

Photo Courtesy : www.aditiupadhya.com

Saturday, 17th April - It was an evening for one more drown into classical music. It was also an evening where I decided to get hypnotized.

Aditi Upadhya, my Guru who changed my perspective of listening to Hindustani classical music, was performing at Canara Union in Malleshwaram.

I also went to this concert in anticipation that I could meet my Sunaad friends after a gap of around 4 years. I was not dissappointed of course. I met shankar, Lalli, Ashok, Tara Kini (she is my another Guru), Revathi, Niyati, Raji, Ram, so many of them. It was a nice re-union in Canara Union. :)

It was quite a good audience and the ambience was more like an intimate theatre where the space between the audience and the performer will be less. This provided more live wire interactions. Aditi, before beginning the concert, mentioned this as well. Aditi also dedicated that evening as a mark of respect to her father and Guru, Pt. Dinkar Kaikini who passed away a couple of months back and also to Sri. Prabhakar Rao who also passed away few days back.

Shankar Prasad, one of my very senior friend, introduced the artistes to the audience . Pt. Ravindra Yavagal, one of the brilliant Tabla artistes of the country and Dr. Ravindra Kaatoti, one of the fantastic exponents of Harmonium were accompanying Aditi for the performance. along with them, Priya, another upcoming extremely talented desciple of Aditi and Lalitha Shankar (we affectionately call her Lalli) was on Tanpura.

And the hypnotism began.

The first round of hypnotism was Raag Purvi which is an evening raag (specifically during sunset). This is a sampoorna raag which has Ga and Ni as Vaadi and Samvaadi sur. Aditi set the mood of the raag so beautifully that literally we could feel the evening. The effect of Nayya mori paar... was simply brilliant. I always wondered what is that these artistes have with which they make these renditions so brilliant. Aditi was weaving the magic with the sur and all of us were trapped into it. The rendition started giving us a kind of a graphical representation of the raag and the lyrics.

The second round of hypnotism was Bhupali. This is again an evening raag which is generally used for melonchalic moods. This raag does not have Ni (Nishad) in its structure. Aditi created the magic in this piece which is about worshipping this raag itself. The notes were connected so brilliantly that Aditi made it look very fluent. But one could realize that she was delivering an extremely tough composition with such ease. In the dhrut, she sang Nahi Maane Jashoda Tumharo Kanhaayi which took all of us Sunaadians (ex and current) into our flashbacks of Bhaav Yaatra. The wonderful aspect of Aditi's singing was that the creativity was flowing in instantly. Overall , rendition was a total "man lubhaavan"

The third round of hypnotism was sadaa suhaagan raag Bhairavi. This raag generally is rendered as a grand finale . Particularly the composition by Pt. Dinkar Kaikini "saajan ghar aaye, bhirmaaye...." wov... what a composition and singing it was. Amazing.

Aditi also performed another composition of her another Guru, the legendary Shobha Gurtu. Shobhaji is a highly respected artiste across the globe and Aditi was trained under her for up-shaastriya gaayan. It was a composition about Lord Krishna

We were all in the deep state of trans during this performance and I totally forgot that I had to leave by 8:15 PM. I refused to, as it was so enchanting and exceptional perofmance that I did not want to miss out the completeness.

One point which I must mention here is about Priya. This little girl who has come all the way from abroad to learn music under Aditi's guidance is proving to be a brilliant performer. I still remember Priya performing at the auditorium of Indian Institute of Science, NIAS, sometime in 2005 or 2006. Priya has come a long way. Even during this concert, it was very interesting and heartening to see the Guru-Shishya communication live on the stage through the sur. When Priya was singing Aditi was advising her to touch the higher note and come back. Aditi was suggesting Priya to expand the rendition a little bit to create that ambience which that Raag is supposed to create. It is these kind of Gurus who create wonders and allow their shaagirds create the wonder. Priya is already on this path.

Aditi Upadhya - A Musician or A Magician !! ??

Listening again to Aditi Upadhya after a long time .... What a divine voice!!!

Be it Bhajans, Be it Khayals, Be it Tumris, even Ghazals, she always delivers her best....

I still remember our show Bhaav Yaatra at Chowdaiah Memorial Hall / Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Mumbai / NCPA, Mumbai. I was part of Sunaad which she started along with Tara Kini.

One of the situations was about Meera and her life. Shabnam Virmaani speaks about Meera, which had set the mood. Aditi started singing the meera Bhajan.

I felt chill running in my spine. What was I experiencing? I was not sure. But it was something very strange which I had not experienced till then. I had listened to meera bhajans umpteen number of times in different voices. But this was something mesmerizing and I was almost lost in those waves. Automatically, I could sense that I was failing to control my tears listening to Aditi. I had to force myself to be back into the real world as I was on stage and I had to join my voice with others in the program. Very strange that every Bhaav Yaatra show I was part of, it was similar kind of emotion I went through.

What is that these kind of musicians do to you? I think they just evoke those thoughts which you were never even aware that it was within you. Aditi is one such singer. Even today, I feel those emotions. I think that's the power of Indian music and artistes like Aditi, takes it to a different level.

One more interesting thing is that once you are finished listening to Aditi's songs, you feel so light !!! I think that's the power of music which flows through the voices of artistes like Aditi Upadhya.

Just for curiosity, here is the website about Aditi

http://www.aditiupadhya.com/

Sunaad.....

A turning point in my life.......

2004 - I saw a call for singers in the yahoogroup culturecafe. Tara Kini, a musician and a trainer was the person who was my first contact at Sunaad, a group of singers who were aiming at promoting Hindustani classical music and reaching it to common people in a simpler and theatrical format. Aditi Upadhya and Tara Kini were the gurus for this team.

I was quite worried when I went to Aditi's house Abhiram in Malleshwara. Rehearsals were on for Bhaav Yaatra - a performance which has a blend of classical music and story telling and play which is based on Krishna's life interspersed with Meera Bai. I was dumb and shocked after listening to the entire team as they were at far higher standard from where I was. It was mind blowing rehearsal. Not sure how much I listened to their singing in my shock. After everyone left, I was asked by Tara and Aditi who sat opposite to me to sing a song. I was worried whether I will be thrown out after they listen to me. I sang one of the kannada song, which I composed some years back. I passed the exam. I started coming into the rehearsals for the show which was scheduled in Chowdaiah Memorial Hall. We had rehearsals in Aditi's house, Indira Bharadwaj's Rightlines Art Gallery, Nandini Kamat's house, Geetika's house, Chandavarkar's house.....

From then onwards, Sunaad changed my life forever. It gave an opportunity for me to get an insight into my life in a different way.

One of the rehearsals, Tara and Aditi sang their solo numbers which were part of the show. I was totally blown out... It was a different world for me.

Aditi used to explain how dhrupad singing is how the notes are and mentioning that dhrupads have notes which are gol gol... very rounded. Each note, Tara and Aditi explained the chalans and pakads (as my friend Shabnam Virmani tells, "the way we walk between the notes").

First show, with me sitting right in the front (may be because I was short :-)) and facing the audience, singing kaalia pe thaade aave mohan with Aditi and Ashok Dharbal, Revathi Upadhya singing Nahin Maane along with other singers, Kannika enacting the kaali mardhan, Shabnam narrating the story of Meera Bai and her ultra-pure devotion to Krishna, wav... an entirely dffferent world was created on stage.

Icing on the cake was when Aditi sang the meera bhajan. I just could not control my tears joy... I just cried after the show. You feel optimistic with these kind of things in a world where people are heavily into kiiling each other, harming each other and hurting each other.

Sunaad just purified my innerself and I am indebted to Tara and Aditi for being catalysts for this.