KARACHI, April 13: The second and final day of the Music Festival organized by the All Pakistan Music Conference saw just four artists performing at the Indus Valley, two of them were from India. It is, therefore, difficult to assume that it was a “musical festival” or an “All Pakistan” music conference in the true sense of the words. Nevertheless, it provided delight and much needed respite from the horrid happenings of the previous week when some fellow countrymen went out of tune and betala and became physical with the former chief minister of Sindh and a former federal minister who not long ago used to entertain us on the TV. Both incidents were totally unmusical and, indeed, the incidents of April 9, which precipitated the APMC to be shifted to a safer location, were utterly ungraceful. Coming to the APMC, after the flute recital by Ustad Salamat Husain – with Eid Mohammad accompanying him on the tabla – when he presented raags Bageshri and Madhwanti, young Kamal Sabri of India delighted the audience with his presentation of raags Joge, Darbari and a Thumri in Mishr Khammaj. He played the Joge composition in madhtaal of 9 matras, followed by a tarana in teentaal.

The Darbari presentation was a bandish of Patiala’s Tan Kaptan Fateh Ali Khan bandish and was very short. It was nice to see his command over the notes of the raags he presented and his great tayyari (preparedness, maturity) since we last heard him. Ustad Shabbir Husain Jhari provided sangat (accompaniment) on the tablas.

Kamal Sabri, who comes from the Rampur gharana, is the nephew of our late Ustad Hamid Husain Khan. He had earlier visited Pakistan in 1992 and 2001 and I had interviewed him at the residence of Saffia Beg (Dawn dated 20.2.2001). He told the audience that he was going to play the instrument which belonged to his late uncle.

The third artist of the evening was Naseeruddin Sami whom we hear frequently these days. He was allotted more than one and a half hour for his rendition of raag Jaldhar Kidara. It surprised some members of the audience who saw Kamal Sabri having been given only one-third of the time.

The high point of the programme was, of course, the performance of well-known Indian classical singer Ashwini Bhide Deshpande. Belonging to the Atrauli-Jaipur gharana, Ashwini is a highly educated person, having done her masters and doctorate in purely scientific subjects.

Her first presentation was raag Nand Kalyan, also known as Anandi. While she herself played the tanpura, her harmonium and tabla companions were Seema Sharodhkar and Vishwanath Sharodhkar. I have always found it more exciting to see just three or four persons on stage, for then the emphasis remains on tuneful and undisturbed performance. But, of course, this can happen only when the singer or instrumentalist is in complete control of his/her sur and taal. Ashwini possesses a cultured and sweet voice and has all the ability to explore and expand the raag. She received a thunderous applause from the appreciative Karachi audience.

Unlike other raags of the Kalyan scale, Anandi has limited scope for variations and may sound repetitive. It is also a vikr raag and goes in a zig-zag manner. The performer can drift into the realm of Bilawal scale if he does not keep an eye on the teevar madham. (The famous Lata song ‘tu jahan jahan chalay ga mera saya saath ho ga’ was composed by Madan Mohan in this raag.)

After Anandi, she sang raag Chandrakaus fixed in Roopak and Teentaal, followed by a few lovely Bhajans.