Shaking things up in the hills

The open-to-sky performance will be held at a healing retreat in Kamshet

For the last few years, hairstylist and filmmaker Sapna Moti Bhavnani has wanted to host a Dhrupad recital at the PurrOm Healing Centre, her homestay situated in the hills and restful verdure of Kamshet along the Mumbai-Pune highway. With COVID restrictions beginning to lift, the idea will come to fruition in an open-air concert, where Dhrupad singers Janhavi Phansalkar, Dhani Gundecha and pakhawaj player Anuja Borude will perform a raga in pure Dhrupad style along with a few Marathi abhangs. "The idea is to provide a complete experience of Dhrupad, what it stands for and how it sounds," says Phansalkar, who has been a resident student of the Dhrupad Sansthan in Bhopal. The two-day event will also include a workshop for attendees, aimed at providing not just a listening experience but an insider look into the form.

Dhani Gundecha

They are all trendsetters, believes Dhani Gundecha, daughter of Umakant Gundecha, sharing that this will only be the second time that three women will be performing Dhrupad. The first collaboration was among Borude, Phansalkar and Amita Sinha Mahapatra, all disciples of the Gundecha Brothers. The presence of female performers has not only created opportunities for women within what has been a historically male-centred tradition, but has also seen the genre evolve. "Women are gifted with a different kind of voice, and that influences the style of the genre," believes Phansalkar. "With more women coming into Dhrupad, the genre is getting a graceful, feminine shape. This is adding to its beauty, and we feel grateful to be part of a process that will bring about a revolution in the genre."

Anuja Borude

Pakhawaj player Borude is part of an even rarer breed. "I think there are just about four or five women who play the pakhawaj in India. As girls, we are often told, you can't do this and that. So, the aim is to break stereotypes," Borude tells mid-day. The women are also introducing new elements to the form through Marathi abhangs, a form of devotional poetry. Dhrupad's scope, says Phansalkar, is perceived as limited with most practitioners performing the same set of compositions. "Our gurujis were the ones who introduced new poetry into Dhrupad but their focus was Hindi," she says. "We thought of introducing other languages, to add to the existing repertoire of compositions sung in Dhrupad."

Janhavi Phansalkar

The trio is interested to see the impact of this upcoming performance given that it will draw listeners not necessarily conditioned to the sounds of Dhrupad, their attempt being to build an audience as large as the one for khyal. "We want to create awareness about Dhrupad so that people know that this is also a genre of Hindustani classical music that they can learn," says Dhani. "If you ask someone about Indian classical music, the picture they conceive is one with a tabla, a harmonium and people singing khyal, taan, alaap and natyageet," agrees Phansalkar. "But they should also have another picture - that of just one or two singers tuning a tanpura and singing with a pakhawaj. Our aim is to make that picture equally prominent in their minds."

WHAT: Dhrupad performance under the stars
WHERE: The Platform, PurrOm Healing Centre, Kamshet
WHEN: October 23-24
FOR: Rs 2,000
CALL: 9820024049