What a concert !

10th feb evening will be etched in my memory , because of 3 people . Before I mention the names of these 3 people, I would like to say that this was a musical concert held at Koramangala indoor stadium .3 of us had been there along with hundreds of others . (well,3 seems to be the magical no !! ) Kaushik , Shamee and myself will remember this evening (i am really sure !!) for a really really lonnnng time !! The 3 people were

1. Pandit Birju Maharaj : Even at that age, he gave a performance that was brilliant .Damn the mike system ,coz' of which we couldn't hear him speak, but then his movements were still there in all graciousness !!! They were subtle and beautiful ,not too much power though(Obviously coz' of the age ) and janta had come to see him !!! You could say that from the kind of applause he got for each of his steps and movements .

2. Shaswati Sen : His student , and man ,was she good !!! Her grace and poise was there for all to see. The way she said the "bol" was also outstanding and ofcourse, her dancing was MIND BLOWING !!! it was powerful,yet subtle . Her movements were elegant and am sure Panditji is really really proud of his student. The 11 beat taal((5 beats resembling "Jhup taal" ) of it being which none of us had heard before ) was amazing and she took it up with great challenge and lived up to it with great maturity .

3.Well, when there is such outstanding dancing going on stage , well the entire atmosphere becomes more electric ,if the Percussionist is good . Well, in this case,the percussionist was not good, he was OUTSTANDING - the best of them all - the one and only Ustad Zakir Hussain . His fingers on the tabla are as if they are made for each other . Its sheer magic listening to the man playing the tabla. Zakir saab,with his traditional hair and kurta-pyjama came out to a roaring reception from the audience and his performance was unmatched .

Panditji's son sang and later on even danced . The rags which were either played beautifully on the sitar or sang melliflously by his son ,included rags like Basant , Allhaiya Bilawal and Bhairavi . They were soulful and pleasant and the mood was set for the performers and they did not disappoint .
Some of the most amazing aspects included the 10 min solo by Zakir saab ,which is kinda undescribable (if there is any word like that ) ,coz' I am sure I will run out of superlatives to describe them (by the way ,he got a continuous 2 min applause from the extremely appreciative audience ) , a meera bhajan dance rendition by Shaswati Sen ,every piece of explanation given by Panditji and last but not the least - the GRAND finale - Jugalbandi amongst all 4 - Panditji , his son(he also performed kathak ) ,Shaswati madam and the incomparable Zakir Hussain . It was an icing on the cake and I think it also took away the cherry .
At the end of it all , the audience was left asking for more(even after 3 hours of solid performances ! ).I think that is the kind of response they also look forward to and this is the kind of music that we also look forward to ! All in all a great night for Bangloreans !!!!