Chandigarh, April 26: An evening of enchanting Hindustani music by duo renowned classical vocalists Vasundhara and Kalapini Komkali, wife and daughter, respectively, of legend Pandit Kumar Gandharva was inaugurated by Sh.Anil Kumar, Home Secretary UT .Also present were Finanace Secretary V.K.Singh, I.G UT P.K. Srivastava ,Secretary Cultural Affairs Sh.D.K.Tiwari , and other senior officers of Chandigarh Administration . After the inaugural dialogue by Sh.B.N.Goswami, the maestro duo took the Centre stage and commenced the recital with the exposition of Raag Hemant as they dwelt deep into raag basant to give a mellifluous performance.
The main theme of the Festival Nature/Prakriti/Qudrat found the expression in the vocal recital of Vasundhara and Kalapini Komkali as they presented lok geet, bhajan, and lighter form of thumri .The compositions were closely related to nature. The virtuoso vocalists presented seasonal melodies comprising the full year from January – December and dedicated the recital to the Nature.
Vasundhara was in her early teens, when she met Kumar Gandharva in Calcutta, who asked the talented youngster to come to Bombay for further training. World War II broke out and Vasundhara couldn’t set-out on her dream journey. Meanwhile, she established herself as a fine musician and performed regularly on All India Radio. But going to Bombay was uppermost in her mind and she finally managed to reach her destination. But to her dismay, Kumar Gandharva had no time for imparting lessons and advised her to go to Professor Deodhar, a doyen of the Gwalior Gharana. So Vasundhara trained under Prof. Deodhar for some time but later convinced Kumar Gandharva to take her on as his sishya. She also later became his life-long companion by marrying him. As a supporting vocalist to her guru and husband, she imbibed the intricate nuances and aesthetics of the genre. Together they came up with several thematic concerts such as Geet-Varsha, Geet-Hemant, Geet-Vasant, Rituraj Mehfil, Triveni and Tulsidas Darshan.
Kalapini, who trained under her illustrious parents, has established herself in the classical music firmament with her command over the genre. An active trustee of the Kumar Gandharva Sangeet Academy, Kalapini has quite a few recordings to her credit.
There will be an another Slide Lecture”Landscape after Battle-Nature in Transit by Johny ML ( a visiting Professor at National Institute of Design) at Government Museum & art Gallery at 5 pm on 27th April. The evening will be unveiled by “Uncharted Seas- A dance performance” by Aditi Mangaldas Dance Company on the same day at Tagore Theatre.