Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan presented a Hindustani classical vocal recital at MIT’s Wong Auditorium on Saturday, October 15 at 7pm as part of the MITHAS (MIT Heritage of Southasia) 2016 Fall season Indian classical music program series. Khan Saheb is the son of the renowned Sarangi player, the late Padmashri Ustad Shakoor Khan and a representative of the Kirana Gharana established by stalwarts such as the late Ustad Abdul Karim Khan and the late Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan. A resident Guru at the prestigious I.T.C Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkatta, India since 1980s, Khan Saheb is credited with having one of the richest collections of melodies in the khayal genre of Hindustani classical music. The talented Shri Meghashyam Keshav (disciple of Pandit Vishwanth Nakod, Pandit Udayraj Karpur, Pandit Ravindra Yavagal and Pandit Anindo Chatterjee) provided sensitive accompaniment on the tabla while the accomplished Kamal Sabri, son of the legendary Sarangi player, Ustad Sabri Khan provided support on the rich and resonant instrument, the sarangi. 45 people attended the concert with some attendees driving down from Albany and New York city to listen to the vocal music concert.

The first raga to be presented was the night melody Shuddh Kalyan that has five notes of popular raga Bhoopali in its ascent and seven notes of raga Kalyan in its descent. “Eri Maayi Piya”, a slow tempo composition set to the Jhoomra taal of 14 beats was full of graces and glide ornaments in the descent which is a characteristic feature of Shuddh Kalyan. Much to the delight of the audience, gamak taans (fast melodic passages with weighty oscillations) featured in the “antara” portion of the melody in the upper octave showed the artist’s skill in rapidly alternating musical phrases between lower, middle and upper vocal registers. In the faster paced traditional composition that followed, “Mandar baajo, baajo re”, the artist sang a variety of attractive bol-taans and sargam-taans with accented musical notes to create a modulated rendition. The tabla and sarangi artists were given opportunities to showcase their strengths in solos towards the end of the hour long presentation. Concert attendee MIT’s Associate Dean & Senior Strategic Advisor for Digital Learning, Professor MS Vijaya Kumar said “The Shuddh Kalyan presentation was refreshingly good and full of sweetness (mithaas)”.

The second raga to be presented was Raga Bihag. “Dekho Sakhi Kanhaiyya roke thaado haath” set to medium tempo 16 beat cycle teentaal began on the first beat of the cycle. The catch phrase of the raga PmGMG showing both shades of the madhyam note was repeated several times to establish the raga which sometimes tended to show a romantic mood (shringara rasa) and was at other times laden with the sadness of separation (viraha rasa). The second composition “Tumre roop hum jaane pehchaane” set to 12 beat cycle ektaal in a fast tempo had taans spanning all three octaves. The artist endowed with a strong sense of rhythm unfailingly arrived at the opening key phrase of the khayal (mukhra) at the right spot in the rhythmic cycle. It was wonderful to see the accompanying artists appreciate the vocalist who in turn encouraged them to express their individual unique touches to the team’s presentation.

The next two compositions were short and sweet and in ragas Adana and Shahana respectively. “Kalinath Chetana Karo” in ten beat rhythmic cycle jhaptaal had plenty of gamak ornamentation and the zig-zag movement characteristic phrase “PaniPaGaMaReSa” repeating often in the presentation. “Jaane man Jaane man Jaananeman” in raga Shahana was a lovely composition of the legendary Hazrat Amir Khusro that had Persian as well as rhythmic percussion syllables in it. There were engaging “sawaal-jawaab” (question and answer)  exchanges between the vocalist and the sarangi accompanist in this rendition.

The final presentation was a melodious thumri “Koyaliya kook sunaaye” set to addha teentaal of 16 beats in Raga Khamaj presented in the Punjab-Ang style of thumri presentation. It was replete with murki ornamentation and the skillful use of adjacent variant notes of rishabh, gandhar and madhyam.  The  climactic “laggi” section of the thumri presentation brought the recital to an exciting finish.

The artist Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan thanked the organizers, the accompanists and the audience by saying “Music is that which happens when an artist sings with all of his/her heart and a listener listens with all of his/her heart” (Koyi dil se gaaye aur koyi dil se sunay – gaana wahi hai! ) There could have been no better poetic way to sum up the concert that left listeners wanting to hear more music!

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