Cyril D’Cunha
In a country where classical music is a living tradition, there are several presentations which draw immediate attention and appreciation for their content and superlative renderings. One such concert featuring Pandit Jasraj (vocals) and Athira Krishna (violin), took the audience by storm at the Kala Academy open-air auditorium, Panjim, recently.
The contemporary doyen of North Indian vocals, Pandit Jasraj is known as a living legend and has been bestowed with every conceivable award and in turn has many instituted in his name.
So to write about his singing is superfluous where one instinctively surrenders to his vocal notes.
However, the great man lost no time in showering his praise on the teenaged Athira Krishna, the south Indian child prodigy, whose technical skills on the violin and virtuosity has seen her enter the Guinness book of world records for 32 hours of continuous ’fiddling.’ A colossal exponent of Carnatic music, she seems destined to hit the top of the scale for violinists of her genre in the world.
One is a series of 12 concerts in the year, planned by the Indian Music Academy. Durga Jasraj, an accomplished compere, stated that the Academy’s objective was to promote Indian classical music by featuring at least one budding artiste, along with other Indian venerables of classical music in concerts.
Those accompanying Pandit Jasraj were Kedar Pandit (tabla) and Mukund Petkar (harmonium) and for Athira Krishna, on the mridangam was R. Ramesh.
The concert was presented by Idea Cellular and supported by Tarangini Sanskrutik Pratishthan.
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