Thanks to Coolji we experienced a delightful Hindustani Music concert by Ms. Shruti Jauhari on Sunday 16 Aug 2009 at Trivandrum. We had nearly missed it because there was absolutely no announcements in the media and even the people at the venue were not very helpful in confirming the program. Before giving up we took a chance and emailed the artiste . She immediately replied confirming the program. There were about 20 people for the concert. My interest is to find out how the other 17 people came to know about the program.
Shruti came out as an intelligent musician combining rigorous academic training with practical aesthetic sense. For a Trivandrum audience that does not get to hear many HM concerts, she made it less hindustanic. Otherwise how do you explain that she offered 7 items in a concert that lasted barely 2 hours. She started with a bada khyal in Gorakh Kalyan which did not turn out to be as bada as in a typical HM concert. She did lots of excursions in the uttaranga part of the arohana emphasizing Madhyama and using Nishada and Dhaivata in attenuated measured doses. CM rasikas could have smelt Bageshree though Shruti kept the distance clear. This was followed by three bandish rich pieces in Paraj, Behag and Kalavati. The last mentioned reminded CM listeners of Malayamarutham / Valaji.
The second part of the recital had thumris - a piece in Pahadi, a bhajan in Mand and a piece in Bhairavi. During the last item we noticed something unusual. We are used to hearing a slokam / viruttam followed by a song in that raga, whereas Shruti sang the song first and then took up the slokam , probably because she felt that ending the concert with a slokam will be more effective. An interesting sidelight was the use of the instrument called swara mandal. It is a harp-like (santoor-like) instrument with about 30 tunable strings. The artist tunes the instrument for each specific raga so that strumming or plucking the strings provides a raga specific supplement to the tambura shruti .
The sharp & precise swarasthanas and easy gliding passages, obviously a result of rigorous voice culture, were a treat to hear. Every student of CM at early stages must be made to hear a few HM concerts to develop the above good practices.
Those of our members who have not sat through a full fledged live HM concert till now are strongly advised to take the earliest opportunity to attend one. This would reinforce their experience of listening to CM concerts. For example, the tabla does not just provide time beats , it adds to the passion of the passages in the concert; it takes so much part that a separate tani may not be necessary. Jain Painadathe accompanied Shruti on tabla and Sanjeev on the harmonium.
You can know more about the artiste from her website www. shruti.in