The 2025 Komal Rishabh season is off to a great start. The first concert of the season featured a vocal concert by Supriyo Dutta, an established vocalist hailing from the Indore gharana. Accompanying him on the sarangi and tabla were Sangeet Mishra and Aarchik Banerjee; a young but formidable team of musicians. Our own members Anirudha Phatak and Devayani Pradhan provided support on the harmonium and tanpura.

Supriyoji commenced his performance with the raag Marwa. It was a tribute to the name of our organization “Komal Rishabh”, since Komal Rishabh is the note of utmost importance in the raag Marwa. This beautiful sunset time raag belongs to the Marwa thaat, but drops the pancham (“Pa” note) altogether. Though Marwa shares the same scale as Pooriya and Sohoni, it has a distinct “feel” due to the difference in chalan (melodic formulation), uchcharan (intonation of swar) and vadi-samvadi (mainly emphasized notes). The notes komal Re and shudha Dha are the dominant notes of Marwa. There is always a samvaad (conversation) happening between these two notes in the raag. Another interesting fact is that the shadaj (Sa) is skipped during this dialogue between these two notes and the note Ni has a weak presence. Supriyoji presented a vilambit Jhoomra (14 beat) composition, Piya Morey Anat Des Galhilo. Being an ardent fan of Ustad Amir Khan saheb, who founded the Indore gharana, I personally looked forward to listening to this style of gayaki.

It is very meditative, immersive and unhurried. Supriyoji delivered with aplomb; slowly unfolding one delicate note at a time. The Re, Dha conversation explored all the beautiful shruties (microtones) of this majestic raag. After a little mic issue was corrected, the melodious strains of sarangi filled the baitak space and added to the meditative trance. In this gayaki style, the tabla theka is soft and unobtrusive. Young Aarchik came through and provided perfect theka for Jhoomra. The intricate sargams and sapat taans (taans traversing across the octaves) were breathtakingly beautiful. It takes years and years of rigorous riyaaz (practice) to achieve this level of mastery. Kudos to all the artists for their dedication to this artform. A madhya laya (medium tempo) bandish in teentaal (16 cycle beat) came next: Guru bina gyaan na pavay. Again the artists’ technical mastery was on full display. Supriyoji demonstrated different types of taans. Even at fast speeds the taans were crystal clear. Next came Megh Malhar. Very apt for the rainy spring day in Michigan.

Two compositions, a Jhaptaal(10 beat cycle) bandish Garaje Ghata and a tarana in Ektaal (12 beat cycle) were presented. Again here, Megh and Madhmad Sarang share the same scale, so it is very important to differentiate the two while singing. Suprioji did that with his majestic andolans (oscillations) on Re and Ni thereby creating the mood of clouds swirling. It added to the charm of April showers. The taranas by Ust Amir Khan saheb are the gold standard. It was heartwarming to hear that tradition being cultivated by artists like Supriyoji. The anataras are Persian rubais (Persian verses usually quatrain, meaning they have four lines) with deep spiritual meaning. Ust Amir Khan himself composed many of Amir Khusro’s Persian taranas in various raags. It was indeed a treat to hear the Megh tarana.

Post interval, Supriyoji presented raag Jog. After a detailed aalap which explored the interplay between both the Gandhars (Ga) that is used in Jog, he sang the popular bandish in teentaal; Saajan morey ghar aaye. We were enthralled by the intricate sargam patterns, or the “Merukhand” method of improvisation which was popularized by Ust Amir Khan saheb.Merukhand involves structuring phrases around a fixed set of swaras (notes).

A brisk tarana in teentaal followed. Again, Sangeet Mishraji’s sangat on the sarangi provided an added layer of beauty and elicited a lot of “wah wahs” from the audience. Aarchik once again provided the perfect theka that was required to enhance the music. Our own Phatakji gave a very pleasant sangat on the harmonium and young Devayani should be commended for playing the tanpura steadily for the entire concert.

The concluding pieces were a Dadra, Kaisa Jaadu daar gayo re in raag Gara (relatable to the song Mohe Panghat pe Nandlal ched gayo re from Mughal-e-Azam) and a Meerabai bhajan in raag Bhairavi; Koi kahiyo re prabhu aavan kee. The “shringar ras” (romantic feel) came out gushing in Supriyoji’s rendition of the Dadra. Aarchik should be commended for his laggis (high speed repetitive compositions played in Dadras, Thumris etc). He has a bright future. The sarangi phrases were icing on the cake. The concert ended with the divine notes of Bhairavi. Like Supriyoji said, it started and ended with raags that have a prominent Komal Rishabh.

After our long winter, it was nice to meet up with KR members again and partake in this joy of listening to top grade artists in an intimate baitak setting. Many thanks to Dr. Bhagat and Geetaji for hosting the concerts. Looking forward to the next concert on May 18th. Until then, enjoy the May flowers resulting from the April showers.

Geetha Raghu