The music lovers of city beautiful were treated to a scintillating Sitar recital by Ashok Kumar on the occasion of the 174th Monthly Baithak Programme organized by Pracheen Kala Kendra here today. The Bhaskar Rao Indoor Auditorium reverberated in an ebb and flow between the melodious strains from the masterful performance and the applause of the audience. Ashok kept the audience enthralled by the sheer and clean beauty of his skillful fingers racing the length of the Sitar.
Born in 1976, Ashok had love for music since childhood and he started learning technique of playing the Sitar under the tutelage of Pandit Bhim Sen Sharma of Indore Gharana. Under his guidance he honed his musical skills and developed an individual inimitable style of his own. Having received Ph.D. in music from Panjab University, Chandigarh, Ashok Kumar is a very graceful player of Sitar of young generation. He evolves a vibrant, lovely tone from instrument which is consistently tuneful and particularly adept at pulling wavy ‘harkat’ from the stretched strings.
Ashok began recital with the quiet dignity of the methodical and reposeful alap in Raga Marwa. This was followed by jod-alap and jod-jhala which were a variant of the usual Sitar playing. His touch, strokes, glides and subsequent production of tonal and microtonal effects points to his sound training. Ashok’s sensitive yet controlled handling of the instrument was testimony to his talent and dedication to music. His rhythmic and melodic vitality shone throughout his performance.
He then moved on to present to two gats. The vilambit gat followed by drut (fast) composition were set to the time cycle of 16 beats (teen taal). His beautiful rendition kept the audience wanting more. Ashok Kumar concluded his recital with a Dhun in Raga Mishra Khamaj amid thunderous applause.
He was accompanied by Divakar Sharma on Tabla.
Kendra Registrar Smt. Shobha Koser honoured the artists.