Local artists, Sadhana Upadhyay, Vandana Rao, Nishikant Sonwalkar, Ravi Torvi and Sivakumar Ramakrishnan presented a lovely afternoon of Hindustani Classical music at the National Heritage Museum in Lexington, MA on Sunday Oct. 23, 2011. The concert was sponsored and organized by  Neeraj & Subhash Malhotra and the World on Stage organization

"In her concerts, Sadhana generally tends to select items which thematically oscillate between the sublime and the mundane, hence, commencing and culminating with classical compositions and augmenting the middle with folk and other popular genres in various Indian languages and dialects" said the brochure.  The program certainly  kept to that trend.

She opened with  Sanskrit Verses in Raga Malkauns; The verse Yaa srisht is a composed by famous 4th century epic poet Kalidas.  This was followed by  Dhrupad also in Raga Malkauns set to Char Taal;  The words to the piece Jai Jai Sursari Ganga ……..: A hymn to the holy river Ganges, was a composition of  Sadhana.  Sadhana has a special connection with the Ganges, being born and raised in the city of Varanasi, the pilgrimage associated with the river Ganges. The composition depicts a pensive, contemplative mood.

Next Sadhana presented an Abhang composed  by the 17th century saint Tukaram . The composition depicts the Saint's experience of the ultimate reality. This was in Raga Malkauns mixed with a flavor of Bhairavi.

Following the serious compositions, Sadhana moved to a lighter tone and presented a Dadra or a hindi folk song  - Rim Jhim Barase were the poet describes a woman's yearning for her lover in the monsoon season.  The program continued with a Drut Khayal in Rag Vrindavani Saarang.

A fabulous musical ensemble  presentation in Rag Keerwani  with Ravi Torvi on the Harmonium, Nishikant Solwalkar on the table and Shiva Ramakrishnan on the flute followed.

Sadhana presented another folk song in Awadi. This was followed by Mussarrat Nazeer's version of the Punjabi song "Peeche Peeche Aaja". The song was very popular with the audience and got a tremendous response. Janaki Das Sahaya kare mho , a Tulasi Das Bhajan , Bhavani Dayani in Raga Bhairavi and a Tarana composed by Sandhana brought the concert to a conclusion.

It was wonderful to see a short and sweet Hindustani concert by Sadhana Upadhaya and her student Vandana Rao that was both informative and entertaining.  Sadhana's introductions were very helpful in making the concert accessible to a lay audience. Putting a show of this nature requires discipline and effort and it was good to see that put forth. The tremendous talent of both the singers was very visible and Lokvani wishes them a great musical future.

|