If the inaugural evening of the National Music Festival at the Rabindra Mandap here on Tuesday was a celebration of artists of Kolkata, the second evening on Wednesday was an ode to Odisha with the visiting artists from Carnatic music offering their concert to Lord Jagannath and poet Jayadev, while Odisha’s talented instrumentalists receiving limelight. Moreover, in contrast to the solo concerts of the first evening, the second evening was exclusively for jugalbandis (duet presentations).
The star performers of the evening were two sisters in their mid-20’s – Anahita Ravindran and Apoorva Ravindran – from Chennai who have aptly been awarded the title of Rising Stars recently by a prominent music society of Mumbai. Excitement was in the air for the sisters as Anahita had created ripples among the city’s artists as a teenager-vocalist for legendary Vyjayantimala Bali’s Bharatanatyam concert seven years ago at the same Rabindra Mandap.
And the duo lived up to their reputation as the most visible emerging young talents of Carnatic music performing across the globe earning critical acclaim.
More than 250 years ago, Oothukkadu Venkata Kavi, one of the greatest music composers of Carnatic music, had composed a piece in praise of Odisha’s 12th century saint-poet Jayadev and his immortal creation Gita Govind. The singer-siblings of Chennai had aptly chosen the composition for their concert in the land of Jayadev. They also presented Jayadev’s astapadi “Rase Harimiha vihita vilasam” that has been quite popular in Odishi dance concerts. “We are in performing in the land of Lord Jagannath and poet Jayadev tonight. We feel blessed and our concert is our offering to them,” revealed Anahita.
Along with their accompanying artists – Shruthy Sarathy on violin and Akshay Anand on mridangam - Anahita and Apoorva made a team of immensely talented youngsters and literally made for each other. Unaffected by the thin audience, the team presented their one and a half hours long concert with highest degree of professionalism and enthusiasm that earned them much appreciation.
Earlier, Odisha’s young and accomplished instrumentalists – Sandip Rout and Jabahar Mishra, both serving the Utkal University of Culture as faculty members - staged a fantastic duet concert of sarod and flute ably accompanied by Odisha’s popular table player Kulamani Sahoo. Interestingly, Sandip, who is an accomplished tabla player, was seen equally adept with sarod. Their jugalbandi of the string and wind instruments comprised impressive rendition of raag Charukeshi followed by an enchanting dhun set to raag Pilu.
The festival is organised by the Bhubaneswar Music Circle.