Strings honour the unsung heroes
Strings and percussion unite to honour unrecognised soldiers while celebrating a pioneering tabla maestro’s centenary
Music carries a rare ability to remember those whom history easily forgets. That quiet ache filled Kamani Auditorium during the 29th Amar Jyoti concert. It brought strings and percussion together to honour the unrecognised soldiers of the nation, while also celebrating a full century since the birth of Pandit Chatur Lal. He was the pioneering tabla genius whose work helped take Indian classical music and the tabla to audiences beyond India.
The sheer weight of musical history settled over the crowd the very second Grammy winner Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt ran his slide over the Mohan Veena. He played a stunning duet with Pandit Salil Bhatt on the Satvik Veena, and they relied completely on the frantic energy of Pranshu Chatur Lal to anchor the rhythm. The young musician looked fiercely determined to hammer the roaring fire of his grandfather into every single driving beat. The hall grew noticeably heavier when Banaras Gharana vocalists Pandit Ritesh Mishra and Pandit Rajnish Mishra finally let their melodies loose. Their layered voices tangled directly with the acoustics of the room to make the sacrifice of nameless fighters feel incredibly close to home.
A recently released commemorative postal stamp officially recorded the late maestro hitting the century mark, but the live performance, guided by artistic director Shruti ChaturLal, delivered the true tribute. It proved exactly how stretched skin and steel strings can speak volumes for heroes who gave up their own voices.
