One of the new initiatives taken by the Sangeet Natak Akademi recently is the early morning music sessions. Every month, on a Sunday morning, a judicious blend of North Indian and Carnatic musicians are selected and presented in different venues. Initially the venue was in the Akademi Grounds under the huge tree; it moved to the outdoor amphitheatre in New Moti Bagh. Last Sunday it was at the Akademi grounds.
As the weather changes, one is sure the need for an air conditioned space will be met.
The constant is the early morning timing to enable listeners to hear morning ragas which is rare these days. According to the time theory of ragas practiced in the North Indian system, there are times to perform all ragas.
The Akademi starts its sessions at 7-30 a.m. or latest by 8 a.m. so that one is able to hear all the Bhairavs, Lalits, Hindols, Todis. This Sunday featured all exponents from the North Indian idiom – two instrumentalists Tarun Kalita from Assam on sarod and Gaurav Mazumdar from Delhi on sitar and two vocalists – Vidushi Sumitra Guha and Nagaraj Havaldar. All four artists represent different traditions and it was a welcome change to hear four different tabla accompanists too – Ustad Akram Khan, Utpal Ghoshal, Jagannath Roy and Akhilesh Mishra.
It was interesting to hear ragas like Bairagi Bhairav and Kaushik Bhairav which are not so commonly heard nowadays. Deskar too is rarely played on an instrument and Gaurav’s first gat in adhachautaal was racy. Gurjari todi, sung by Sumitra Guha, was followed rather unusually by Bhairav by the last performer Nagarajji.
According to Rita Swamy, Deputy Secretary at Sangeet Natak Akademi, even the number of artists presented is flexible.
In some cases artists are presented in a session thus giving each artist about 30-40 minutes concert time which is enough in the case of folk artists like Hari Das Singh and party from Manipur who were featured in earlier concerts.