Thursday 10 November 2016

The Fifth Note- A very pious initiative

Vocalist Ustad Rashid Khan who has enthralled the music lovers across the world, Pt Tanmay Bose a world famous tabla player and Pt Debojyoti Mishra a renowned film composer and a well known guitarist were on stage and the people from audience were all free to ask any questions or have conversation with these great maestros. The Jai Hind Auditorium at Mahamayatala Kolkata was jam
packed for this never like event. The event TFN- The Fifth Note, was an initiative of Shakri Begum Memorial Trust headed by Ustad Rashid Khan. It was a two day event, though I had missed the first day but I was lucky enough to attend it on the second day. I would really thank TFN for providing me an entry to this event through their quiz contest on facebook.
   Anyway, the second day of the event kickstarted with Sahona Khan acquainting the audience with the purpose of the TFN. What I understood was TFN is an organisation to promote and groom the upcoming and budding artists from any genre of music or dance. The students from Rabindra Bharti University, students from the Shakari Begum Memorial Trust, some gurus of music and dance and of course some music students from different states of India including me from Bihar were all ready with their questions to these great maestros. Finally the curtains from the stage were moved up and now audience could see Ustad Rashid Khan, Pt Tanmoy Bose and Pt Debojyoti Mishra sitting on the stage.Now madam Jyoeeta Basu Khan took hold the mic and in a very lively way she anchored the whole event. Rabindra Nath Tagore- a name without which discussions on music is incomplete. So, the discussions started with Gurudev's songs being sung by Ustad Jee in his mellifluous voice. He clearly showed how Guru dev's songs were based on raagas. Later, the students asked some questions to the maestros to which the maestros answered in a very informative way. It was really unfortunate for me that I could not comprehend the whole conversation due to my lack of Bangla language. I guess many people from other states had this problem so it would had been better if people would have conversed in either English or Hindi as well. Ustad Jee shared his experiences at SRA.How he would do his Riyaz while walking on the SRA lawns so that his guru couldn't hear him. He even said that there is no age of learning.Haidar Khan Sahab was one such musician who learnt music upto some extent in just 6 months at an very old age said Ustad Jee.Ustad Jee was very clear in his convection that there is no age barrier for learning anything.
       The discussions included all music genres whether it is dhrupad or khayal, trivat or western music.The maestros talked on everything. Trivat- a very interesting form of music I came to knew that day only. It's a combination of pakhawaj rhythms, tabla rhythms and bandish. Students from Shakri Begum Memorial Trust presented a triwat and the hall auditorium was spell bound. Even Sufi music was discussed and presented to the audience by a student. To add to the musical discussions was the singing of Ustad Jee. What can I say of his singing? In his melodious voice he sang a bandish in raag Puriya Kalyan perfectly accompanied by Pt Debojyoti Mishra on guitar.
  It is really a great initiative. Looking forward for the further TFN activities.Hopefully this initiative of "TFN" will help in making of many Pandits, Ustads and Vidushies. One thing which inspired me the most was Ustad Jee's saying that there is no shortcut for success in these fields.

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