Melodies of devotion by Priya Kanungo
Devotional
songs have been an integral part of Indian classical music, especially those
sung by the saints of yore. Priya Kanungo held a concert of devotional songs at
the Attic on the 25th of May 2012. The Attic is a small cozy place
with rustic interiors and a very informal setting.
Priya
Kanungo has trained under Pandit Amarnath of the Indore gharana and Shubha Mudgal.
She has also trainer under Deepak Chatterjee and Rajan and Sajan Mishra. For
the concert, she sang devotional songs originally sung by various renowned
singers. About her repertoire, she said, “These bhajans I had heard, liked and
had been singing over the years. Today, we have coordinated them with the video
clips that we showed during the concert.” The idea was very interesting and
novel.
From where
I caught the performance, Priya sang a bhajan from ‘Kabir Vani’ sung by Abida
Parveen. According to Priya, “Abida Parveen Sufi gaate gaate khud Sufi ho gayi
hain.” Her voice is the voice of devotion (ibadat). Kabir was born in the 15th
century and was raised by a Muslim family in Varanasi. Kabir has asked some
very sharp questions in his verses about the material world and its
attachments. The bhajan that Priya sang was a slightly altered version of the
one sang by Abida. It was composed in ‘Rag Kalingara’ - ‘Man laago re yaar
fakiri mein, jo such paayo Ram bhajan mein, so such nahin amiri mein’. The song
expresses the detachment of the poet from the material world.
The next
clip was from the 1945 movie ‘Meera’ featuring MS Subbalakshmi, looking very
young and beautiful - ‘Janam janam ki dasi’ - shows surrender in Meera’s
bhakti. Priya sang it with a lot of emotion and the high notes at the end came out
strong and powerful.
The last
bhajan was again from the movie ‘Meera’. ‘Pag ghungroo re’ embodies the
defiance of the poetess. Priya rendered the refrain in various forms in her
powerful and melodious voice. She handled the different modulations with a lot of
ease.
The
performance was a ‘heavenly’ experience on the whole.
Comments
Post a Comment