A soulful evening to unify power of music and peace

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K. Ramamurthy on ghatam, Harish Ch. Pati on pakhawaj, Durjay Bhaumik on tabla, P. Vetriboopathy on mridangam and Amitabh Chatter

Bob Marley once said, “One good thing about music is when it hits you, you feel no pain.” No doubt music has the power to heal all kinds of pain and take the person to a different level of happiness.

Music is vast, has no form, colour or religion. When it comes to Hindustani classical music, the roots go beyond the Mahabharat yug.
Considering the vastness of Hindustani classical music, few renowned musicians of Delhi presented an evening of soulful music. The Naad Confluence, held recently at the India Habitat Centre in Delhi, was an evening of unchained melody.
Held under the banner of HCL Concert Series in association with India Habitat Centre, Delhi, the Naad Confluence had Durjay Bhaumik on tabla, Amitabh Chatterjee on sitar, K. Ramamurthy on ghatam, P. Vetriboopathy on mridangam, Harish Ch. Pati on pakhawaj and Suchet Malhotra on world percussion.
Naad Confluence had the two-fold purpose of making Hindustani classical music more popular while uplifting its practitioners and to epitomise the unifying power of music to spread the message of peace and harmony.
Durjay Bhaumik, the leading musician of the concert, said, “India is a country of diversity, but still united. The secret of this unity is in the love and respect for each other, which we have learnt from our cultural heritage. This diversity can be seen in languages, literature, sports and above all music. We have designed our concert to have few traditional classical instruments, which are being played for over 500 years. When all these instruments were played with their own respective style, there was only one sound — music of harmony. Through this confluence of Naad (eternal sound) we not only learn to listen to each others music, but also to speak the language of harmony.”
The concert opened with a melodious alaap, Raag Bihag, followed by intrinsic rhythmic patterns in teental and drut teental. Marked by perfect co-ordination, the musicians complimented each other, which climaxed with a high-speed crescendo. When all the musicians played in unison, all barriers, definitions and prejudices were transcended. The next performance was Raga Charukeshi, which exists in the Hindustani style as Raga “Chandramauli”, followed by madhya laya teental and a question-answer session.
K. Ramamurthy, a Carnatic music exponent, who played ghatam in the concert, said, “The programme was unique in its own way. It started with vilambit laya where the tempo was very slow. In the second phase, we followed madhya laya where the tempo was double the vilambit laya. And in the third phase, duridha laya was followed where the tempo was double the madhya laya.”
Ramamurthy, who has also done many concerts for AIR and abroad, is happy to see ghatam and pakhawaj coming to the centrestage. He said, “Mridangam is an instrument that has been mostly used in Carnatic music for a long time. Instruments like ghatam are substitute musical instruments that follow mridangam and other instruments. It is good to see that these instruments have now come to the centrestage.”
Durjay Bhoumik received his first lessons on tabla at the age of six from Pandit Dulal Nutta and later by Pandit Suresh Talwalkar. He tells that it was during one of his break during school exams that he realised the importance of tabla in his life. “When I took a three months break from tabla during one of my school exams, I realised the influence and connect I have with this wonderful instrument. Music was always there in our family, but in deterrent shape. The respect towards musicians and music in our family played a big role of me getting attracted to this wonderful instrument (tabla).” Durjay feels fortunate enough to have the best gurus in his life and considers them to be the ones to motivate him to get into Hindustani classical music.
Though Durjay is blessed to have his name among the best classical musicians from India, he has great respect for Western music too. “I feel enormously blessed that I have chosen Indian classical music as this is the only music that gives you internal peace and essence of reaching to the eternal bliss. But I have great respect to the Western music and Western musical instruments, too. I believe every instrument is a medium to express your inner self. For example, tabla has become one of the most popular rhythm instruments throughout the world. It is only because the sound tabla generates always leaves an impression on the heart of the listener, thanks to legends like Ustad Zakir Hussain.”
Speaking about the fan following of Hindustani classical music all over the world and the increase in number of youths taking to this form of music, Durjay said, “Indian music has a huge following throughout the world, for which the credit goes to Indian classical music. The younger generation currently is also taking more interest in it. The number of youth in concerts has increased in the last 10 to15 years. A big credit goes to Spicmacay, a society working to promote Indian classical music among youth.”
The evening was a triumph of the brilliance of Indian classical music and a spectacular demonstration of this ancient legacy of India.