Chandigarh, May 13:Very few musicians are born with a happy alliance of nature and nurture or more properly, of heredity and individual brilliance.Sharbari Banerjee, the shining star of the Indian Classical Music horizon, is blessed with the correct concoction of the two. She was in city on the invitation of Pracheen Kala Kendra to give her Vocal recital on the occasion of Kendra’s 129th Baithak Programme. Sharbari is the daughter of Joyashree Banerjee who was a professional singer and started learning from her at a tender age. Thereafter, she got rigorous training under the tutelage of Dr. Prem Prakash Johri of Kirana gharana and Mrs. Anita Roy of Rampur Seheswan school of music. It goes to the credit of Bholanath Mishra to train her in light classical music e.g. Bhajan, Thumri, Dadra, Tappa, etc.Dr. Banerjee’s music is a beautiful soul searching combination of Kirana Gharana and Rampur Seheswan Gharana, where she mesmerizes audiences with enchanting melody and strength of both. She is stirred by the old masters, but she reshapes her nostalgia into fresh sounds, reinventing and personalising every raaga while adapting the earlier melodic styles. She has also done Ph.D. in Music under Sitar maestro Pandit Debu Chaudhury from Delhi University.She commenced her recital in ‘Raga Rageshree’. Her rendering of three compositions “Ye Sakhi naina lage…” and “Naina bhaye deewane” were set to the slow beat Ek Tala followed by fast Rupak tala “So ban hunn nahi deyatt rasiya”. These were redolent with many charmingly conceived phrases. Sharbari sings with a well cultivated voice and feeling.
Her next rachana “Jaavo tum Shyam…” was composed in ‘Raga Shyam Kalyan’, set to Madhya laya Teen taal. At every twist and turn, she maneuvered to reveal her individual musical capability. Her rendering was bold and with a very clear tunefulness which received applause from the audience.
Tarana (Tare dani deen tara), her next item, was delineated as leisurely and gently. She then poured out her soul in Dadra “Koyaliya mat kar pukar”. The emotive bol-banav combined with the phrasal sequences of the melody was very touching.
She concluded her recital with a Bhajan “Dhan bhaag sewa ka avsar paayo…” Here, Sharbari’s elusive and multi-dimensional prowess brought out the haunting quality of the composition.
The ace percussionist of Delhi, Mustaffa Hussain, provided excellent support on the Tabla, while Muralidhar excelled on the Harmonium. Pushpita Sen and Taposi accompanied her on Tanpura.