Tabla – Pakhawaj Saha-waadan by Abhijeet Bartakke & Krushna Salunke – TMCP World City Charoli
10 December 2018
Baithak Foundation curated its first Tabla-Pakhawaj saha-waadan concert at TMCP’s Charoli Centre, with Abhijeet Bartakke and Krushna Salunke on Tabla and Pakhawaj respectively. Anup Kulthe accompanied them on violin.
Abhijeet has been learning from Pt. Ramdas Palsule, and Krushna is a disciple of Pt. Suresh Talwalkar. Anup is learning violin from Pt. Shirish Upadhye. In the hour long concert, Abhijeet and Krushna demonstrated many compositions from the Indian Classical percussion repertoire in Taal Teentaal (a 16 beat rhythm cycle).
Abhijeet introduced the concept of saha-waadan to the audience, mostly of whom were children aged 6 to 14. All children in general have a natural inclination towards rhythm than towards tune, and this face was put to use very well by Abhijeet. The performance started with a traditional Stuti-paran on Pakhawaj, followed by a Peshkaar, 3 kaayda-s, and a few rela-s. Abhijeet and Krushna took turns in presenting a couple of aawartan-s each, and kept the musical dialogue flowing. Anup did a commendable job of providing a rooted nagma.
Students found this new concept interesting and were trying to absorb the sounds and the language. Towards the end, both of them performed many tukda-s and gat-s in Drut Teentaal, finishing with chakradhaar-s.
After the performance, Abhijeet and Krushna let the children spend some time with their instruments, and taught the children how to place their hands on the Tabla / Pakhawaj to produce a sonorous thaap. A few children wondered aloud how come Krushna’s hands don’t pain after playing the Pakhawaj for so long. Krushna just smiled, and told them that initially it does pain, but after years of practice, there is no pain now. Abhijeet quickly added that the joy their instruments give them is much greater than the pain! Children let the artists wind up the setup only after they promised to come back again.
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