Gig review/ Aye Mohabbat

BY NARENDRA KUSNUR 

Concert: Aye Mohabbat, a tribute to Begum Akhtar 

Artistes: Tushar Bhatia (curator), Aditi Banerjee, Sraboni Chaudhuri Shivani Vaswani 

Details; Experimental Theatre, NCPA, March 3

Rating: *** 1/2

(Note: Picture sourced from social media - left to right, Shivani Vaswani, Sraboni Chaudhuri, Tushar Bhatia, Aditi Banerjee)

Over 48 years after she passed away, Begum Akhtar's recordings still attract a huge number of fans. Whether she sang ghazals or thumris, her style of presentation and the dard in her voice set her apart.

Akhtar's songs were played at two events held over the weekend. On Friday, the tribute show 'Aye Mohabbat' was curated by Tushar Bhatia at the Experimental Theatre, NCPA. Here, singers Aditi Banerjee, Sraboni Chaudhuri and Shivani Vaswani rendered popular compositions in the 105-minute presentation.

A much more compact event was organised at the Revolver Club, Mahim, on Saturday. Curated by Bhakti Thakoor, it was a vinyl listening session of select thumris and related repertoire of Akhtar, Rasoolan Bai, Girija Devi and Shobha Gurtu.

The NCPA programme was conducted well by Bhatia, who narrated various anecdotes about Akhtar that he had heard from others. He also talked about how her style changed over the years, her marriage and the latter part of her career.

The three singers sang a total of 14 songs, with Aditi focusing on the light classical fare, and Shivani and Sraboni mainly rendering ghazals, including classics like Momin Khan Momin's 'Woh Jo Hum Mein Tum Mein Qaraar Tha', Meer Taqi Meer's 'Ulti Ho Gaye Sab Tadbeerein', Sudarshan Faakir's 'Ishq Mein Ghairat-e-Jazbaat Ne Rone Na Diya' and a shorter version of Shakeel Badayuni's 'Mere Humnafas Mere Humnawa', minus two shers. Badayuni's immortal 'Aye Mohabbat Tere Anjaam Pe Rona Aaya' featured all three singers. Interestingly, though the show's title 'Aye Mohabbat' was meant to portray an expression of love, the term has a rather depressing connotation in the the song's context.

As an Akhtar fan, one missed her renditions of Mirza Ghalib ('Dil Hi To Hai Na Sung-o-kisht) and Faiz Ahmed Faiz ('Aaye Kuchh Abr Kuchh Sharaab Aaye'). But with the inclusion of other popular fare like 'Deewana Banana Hai To', the dadras 'Koyaliya Mat Kar Pukar' and 'Hamari Atariya', and the Bengali song 'Jochona Koreche Aari', the entire selection represented her oeuvre well. The accompaniment included sarangi, harmonium and tabla, but the musicians should have been introduced somewhere at the end.

'Hamari Atariya', which became well-known with its film version sung by Rekha Bhardwaj in Dedh Ishqiya, was one of the two songs that made it to the playlist on both days. The other one was 'Hamaar Kahin Mano Rajaji', later adapted by Madan Mohan in the film Dulhan Ek Raat Ki.

At the Revolver Club vinyl session, curator Bhakti also played Begum Akhtar's 'Nihure Nihure Baharein' and 'Nanadiya Kahe Maare Bol'. Other classics included Rasoolan Bai's 'Raske Bhare Tore Nain', Girija Devi's 'Babul Mora' and Shobha Gurtu's 'Rangisaari Gulabi Chunariya' and 'Hori Khelan Kaise Jaaon'. The small but appreciative audience enjoyed every bit. 

Both evenings were testimony to the glorious treasures created by past masters. Some of these ghazals and thumris will never fade away.