A VOICE AS CLEAR AS SUNSHINE

HARINI RAO

Tarang - Hindustani Classical Music Concert

at Guruswamy Centre Auditorium   
It was wonderful to hear the pure and assured voice of Harini Rao accompanied by Sri Upkaar Godbole on Harmonium and Sri Srinivas Haridas on Tabla, on a cool, crisp evening at the Guruswamy Centre auditorium on Sunday the 5^th of January, 2020, thanks to 'Tarang', the organisation that has taken it upon itself to promote and expose young jewels of Indian Classical music to music lovers in the twin cities by arranging Classical music concerts.

     Harini has a very appealing stage presence and her attractive tone of voice is as clear as sunshine and equally illuminating. She sang with certainty and clarity during her imaginative elaboration of Raag Jaijaiwanti, her opening piece.  

     She wove in and out of phrases with ease and elasticity while she improvised in her expansion of the raga which began in the slow Vilambit in ektaal with the bandish: eri maai mori, going on to the speedy Drut in teentaal – bandish - laadili pyaari ye, and the Tarana in drut teentaal, using the whole repertoire of ornamentation that she had at her disposal - light and sharp murkhis, ghamaks, andolan, khatka … everything always at the right place at the right time for the right length as she elaborated on and revealed the beauty and the mood of raga Jaijaiwanti. 

     Not having heard Raga Jaijawanti before, I went home and listened to Kishori Amonkar, Ustad Rashid Khan and Pt. Venkatesh Kumar singing this raga, on youtube, all of them were masterfully rendered and fabulous to listen to, and each was very different from the other. And so, though comparisons are odious, and I am not comparing anyone with anyone, I found that Harini's exposition of raga Jaijawanti held up very well; perhaps, because of hearing the singer 'live', or, because of the vibes from the superbly attentive audience, or because of the auditorium's good sound system. Whatever it was, it was a fine performance by a singer who to my mind, is up there amongst the best.  

     Harini Rao's programme continued with her second piece which was a crisp short 'Dadra - baalam tere jhagade mein rain gayi'. She went on to sing a dramatic 'Natyageet - taarini nava vasan dhaarini in Raag tilang. Next was a meaningfully sung 'Kabir nirguni bhajan - man lago yaar fakeeri mein'. Then, a 'Kajri' – at the request by a listener - 'Barsan lagi paniyaan'. And another, at the request of a listener, 'Tappa - O miyaan janewale - raag kafi' (free flow without tabla). She then sang from her practiced performance repertoire, a devotional Vithal  'Abhang - Sundar te dhyaan in Raag yaman', and ended with 'Bhairavi - Sumiran karle mere mana'.

     Harini's musical strength is her ability to pace the music so that all the music that she performs is interesting at all points of her exposition. The whole programme was extremely thoughtful, deeply felt, and performed with great skill, a tribute to her years and years of studying and training and practice, and her rich talent, as she sang with as much enjoyment as it was to us in the audience; connecting with the audience from the stage as her voice caressed every note and coloured the minds of the audience like a rainbow.   

    Though this is more a report rather than a review, a point that could be made is that an artiste ought to stick resolutely to the set programme and not deviate from it, or if the artiste is good-natured enough to accept requests, the requested piece should be one that has been practiced well and is performance ready.

     On the whole it was a wonderful performance by Harini Rao and her seasoned and skillful accompanists, Sri Upkaar Godbole on Harmonium and Sri Srinivas Haridas on Tabla for the dream audience at this ideal little theatre in Secunderabad, the  'Guruswamy Centre Auditorium' that comfortably seats 80 people and can stretch to accommodate around 100 people, and, its first-rate sound system. Not to forget, Tarang for bringing this young jewel of Hindustani classical music for us to listen to.