Sri Ramabhyudaya Sabha is celebrating its 135th Ramotsava this year with a series of fourteen concerts at Alammana Choultry in Srirampet. The inaugural function was held with grandeur on Apr. 6 in the presence of MLA K. Harishgowda and Akashvani Mysuru Deputy Director S.S. Umesh. It was followed by noted flautist Pt. Pravin Godkhindi’s jugalbandi concert with his son Pt. Shadaj Godkhindi accompanied by Pt. Ishan Ghosh on tabla.
Pravin Godkhindi is a popular musician, well-known to every music lover, as he is not just a flautist but is also a music composer who has provided lifting melodies to tele serials, sugam sangeet and movies, which have been immensely appreciated.
Pravin has mastered both the Gayaki style taught by his father and Guru Pt. Venkatesh Godkhindi and the Tantrakari style of playing flute, added by his own efforts. In the present concert, he chose to play the Gayaki style.
If you think light music can dilute the purity of a classical musician, well, Pravin is an exception. There was no trace of dilution anywhere in the concert.
Flute duets are rare as it is hard to synchronise two flutes with the shruti perfectly. This jugalbandi was laudatory and the music brimmed with poignancy and appeal, creating a hypnotic effect.
The duo commenced their concert with Rag Puriya Kalyan. The alap furnished a rich and tonal space for elaboration. The vilambit Ektal bandish unfurled through highly nuanced alap improvisations, focusing on the emotions laden in the notes.
Pravin’s unhurried and steady explorations blended harmoniously with young Shadaj’s explorations, sculpting the intricate beauty of the raga. The Dhrut in the fast-paced Teen Tal was marked by exquisite techniques where the duo took turns to produce exuberant melody sequences.
Their next choice was surprisingly a Kriti in Karnatak style ‘Niravadhi Sukhada Nirmala Roopa’ in Ravichandrika by Sri Tyagaraja, which was a neat rendition.
Next came Rag Hemavati, with the bandish in Roopak tAl. Here Pravin played ‘Mandra bansuri’ a flute of his own creation, engineered to bring the lower notes more into life. The flute is longer than the usual one with a hook shape on one end. The richly imaginative alap with this flute and the other usual flutes and the lively sargams played by both father and son brought huge applause from the audience again and again.
Popular bhajan by Goswami Tulsidas ‘Sri Ram Chandra krupaLu bhajo man’ was their next choice but here after playing a stanza of the composition, Pravin chose ‘Krishna nee begane bAro’, another composition in the same raga by Sri Purandara Dasaru, after which he came back to the bhajan and concluded it. ‘PiLLam goviya cheluva krishNana’ popularised by Vidyabhushana was played with a melange of ragas in between- Darbari kanada, Hameer Kalyani and Mohana, which was appealing. The concert concluded with another popular bhajan ‘PAyoji meine Ram Ratan dhan pAyo’ by Saint Meera.
Ishan Ghosh’s sonorous rhythmic cadences on the tabla were remarkable and supportive.
This was a fascinating jugalbandi executed with finesse and aplomb.
—Dr. Padmavathi Narasimhan
This post was published on April 8, 2025 6:05 pm