The Second Day ....... at Sawai

After missing the first day i was right on time for the evening session of the second day .It started with Kamlakar Naik whose rhythmic aalap Baaje More Paayaliya in Raag Barva, before he switched to Hoon Jo Gayi in the rare Raag Ramgauri. But it was the bhajan Sab Jhooti Jag Ki Mehmani in Raag Bhimpalas that set the evening’s musical pace.

As vocalist Padma Deshpande took over in an aalap in ek taal in Raag Shudh Kalyan, she showed off her perfect tonal balance with the fast-paced taana, Mandarva Bajo Re. Added to that, the perfect rendition of Roop Bali To Tar Shardul Saacha in Raag Kaafi (from the Marathi musical Sangeet Swayamwar) made for an exquisite set of whirling taanas.

There was a loud appaluse when it was announced that Pt.Shivkumar Sharma was to take the stage .The recital started with a very rare Raag Rasik Priya — one of his favouriteswith . In fact, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi arrived just in time for the first half of Sharma’s recital. Deconstructing the raag with a slow aalap, jor and jhala and, Sharma then presented three of his compositions in roopak taal and teen taal.

The performance was a perfect symbiosis of his santoor with accompanist Aneesh Pradhan’s tabla beats. Sharma even presented his signature Raag Pahari when he got a ‘once more’ from the audience.

Then came the surprise packeage of the evening and i will not be wrong if that would be of the 54th Sawai Gandharva festival.When it was announced that Kaushiki Chakravarty was to take the stage half of the Punekar's typical..... went out to have tea as if it was a tea break party or something and there were more ppl outside the pandal than inside .

And the same crowd was back to their seats in not more than 15 minutes into the recital including myself and thats the best thing i did to get back to my seat .Because what was heard after that was the most mesmering performance i have ever listened to in my life .

Kaushiki Chakravarty ...... mesmerising the audience .......

She had a perfect control over the aalaps and tanas in Raag Rageshri, the highlight of her performance being the Boltana Sab Sukh Deho and a thumri in Raag Pahari that won her many an accolades.

Then to evening came Sangeet Martand Pandit Jasraj whose presence made the whole crowd in a common wave of praise.He started his rendition of Jai Jai Shri in Raag Jaijaiwati accompanied by Kedar Pandit on the tabla and Appasaheb Jalgaonkar on the harmonium.He was in his usual jolly mood of pleasing the audience and he did that to the best.Its just he beeing on the stage the crowd gets attracted to his aura and then rest when he sings ...... ohhhhhhhhhh yes he is GOD to say ...... with the Shankarachyarya recitals ...................Panditji led the audience to a musical climax with the fast-paced bhajan Govinda Damodara before ending his recital with the pleasantly slow-paced Nirajani Narayani in Raag Bhairavi.

The programme started at sharp 4:00pm and ending at 1:15 am with the Bhairavi of Panditji.It was the time limit that made both the audience and Panditji to come to the end of the day ..He was eager to sing more and the people like me never want to get up and leave.