At Baajaa Gaajaa '10
Baajaa Gaajaa. A chance to truly experience music for all the music lovers in the city of Pune. Ishanya Mall was alive with music in its Aangan, Amphitheatre and Kunj on the days of 5th, 6th, 7th February, 2010. The dates for next year’s festivals are already out-4th, 5th and 6th February, 2011. So book yourselves for these three days from now itself if you haven’t gone for this year’s performances!
Santoor Maestro Pt. Shivkumar Sharma inaugurated India’s only music expo-cum-festival. Following this, Pt. Sharma, along with the organizers- Indian vocalist Shubha Mudgal and Dr. Aneesh Pradhan met the music lovers and musicians alike in person and spent quality time with them. The two co-organizers run an independent record label Underscore Records Pvt. Ltd. After this, they walked through exhibition of CDs, DVDs, books, and merchandise relating to the music at the Aangan. Some of the prominent names of the exhibitionists were Underscore Records Pvt Ltd, Furtados, Earthsync India Pvt Ltd, Bhargava’s Musik Pvt Ltd, OML Entertainment Pvt Ltd, Think Music Dreams Ent, Milind Musical, Astarbooks.com, and Svaram Musical Instruments Research Station.
Baajaa Gaajaa this year has seen a great variety of Indian music in all genres- Hindustani Classical, Carnatic Classical, Rock, Folk music of Rajasthan and Maharashtra, Pop, Indo-jazz, Fusion, etc. You name it. It was played. And that too, for no price for the listeners who came from the different parts of Pune to come and just listen to the performances, visit the exhibition, tradeshows, attend the seminars, workshops, and watch the film screenings on the different aspects of Indian music. A few of the artists who performed were Rashid Khan (Hindustani vocal),Yogesh Samsi (tabla), Sudhir Nayak (harmonium), Murad Ali(sarangi),T. M. Krishna (Carnatic vocal), R.K. Shriramkumar (violin), Bharti Singh, Amit Choubey, Sameer Dublay, Rajasthan group, Pushpa Singh, Amit Choubey, and Rohan Solomon.
Approaching renowned singer and co-organizer for the event, Shubha Mudgal on the concept of an open-to-all music festival for three days, all she had to say was ‘The musicians want a platform. The listeners want a hangout to go listen to the music. We are just creating that opportunity for both parties.’ On the part of organization, nothing seemed to be lacking-the ambience created with the shamiana-like structure for people to beat the heat, the colorful stage with huge logos of Baajaa Gaajaa on the banner, the sound systems used effectively allowing a listener to get excited from a distance and go running to see the performance…All very professional while still adding that personal touch needed to make such a large-scale event work!
With impromptu jamming sessions between Canada-based singer-cum-guitarist Rohan Solomon and tabla player Amit Choubey and jugalbandis between Snehasish Mozumdar on the mandolin and Partha Sarathi Mukherjee on the tabla, everyone seemed to be entranced by the music! Another mention worthy performance was by Swarathma, a Bangalore-based folk rock band which was a big hit on Day 2.
Despite all this, the cherry on the cake was the closing performances which were held in the amphitheatre. Motherjane, the Kerala-based progressive rock band, with their Kathakali make up that seemed to invite the audience to listen to them, gave a mind boggling performance! What made it even better was their adding a personal touch to it with Suraj, the lead vocalist, going amidst the crowds and even taking an audience member’s video camera and taping the audience as the performers saw it.
Following them was Indian Ocean, giving a remarkable performance even without Asheem Chakravarty, the band’s earlier percussionist and vocalist, who recently passed away. Their tribute to him called Melancholic Ecstasy, the band’s first piece written in 1991, was truly heartfelt and moving. The crowd swayed to their popular numbers like Bandeh and Ma Rewa, and the show ended with their famous Kandisa, leaving everyone wanting more but still feeling good. The lighting was also commendable, creating the perfect ambience for such a concert!
Three days. Excellent performances. Sheer brilliance on the part of the organizers. Eagerly waiting for 4th February, 2011. Be there!
Rohini Kejriwal
[ratings]
[image courtesy: Rohini Kejriwal]
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