Bhatt performed Jogeshwari on Saptak Day 6. “Creating new raag is a liberating experience,” Salil Bhatt, Satvik Veena player and son of Grammy Award winner Pt Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. The father and son duo are in city to perform and participate in the on-going 13-day international classical music festival Saptak.
Jogeshwari is one of the rare melodies created by Pt Ravi Shankarji. Commenting on the Panditji’s art of creating fusion music and discovering new melodies, Salil Bhatt said, “One day sitting on sea cost of Canada, early morning I was playing raag Jog and suddenly in a trance of musical meditations novel notes started happening to me. I experimented by adding variants of Re, Pa, Nee, Dha and Ga in the original format of Jog raag and a new melody was born. It offered me a new glee that a child feels while getting a new toy. And the feeling refreshed me and intensified my musical musings. With this experience I understood why Panditji always encouraged musical discoveries.”
Salil Bhatt, who plays a modified Guitar which he has dedicated to his son Satvik, has dedicated new raag – Vishwa Kauns he has discovered to his father. Celebrating 50 years of Pt Vishwa Mohan’s musical journey, the duo has recently come out with a new music album Strings of Freedom in which they have rendered this new melody.
“Fresh fusion and spontaneous creation of new raag needs to be encouraged,” said Pt Vishwa Mohan. “Ravi Shankarji was strict follower of classical formats but also permitted spontaneous fresh creations that enhanced the musical aesthetics. Unlike him, many iconic artists exclude the significance of refreshing discoveries and become so tight of forms and formats of music. That rigidity puts off the young talents and takes them away from our pursuing classical tradition.”
To encourage the freedom of creating fresh notes, the duo has jointly rendered newly discovered melodies in their new album. “The goal is to rekindle the flame of fresh imagination to discover and re-discover new raag, fresh formats and new notes. Pursuing classical music is a process of lifetime and achieving perfection is an on-going process. This initiative is to stimulate new thinking into young music listeners and students – an effort to widen our musical horizons.”
Saptak electrifies special bonds: Shujaat Khan
Khan, iconic sitarist performed on Saptak Day 6. “Saptak Festival electrifies and energies the special bonds that musicians share amongst the fraternity,” said Shujaat Husain Khan, iconic sitar player, belonging to Imdadkhani gharana (school of music).
Khan, son of legendary Ustad Vilayat Khan is the eighth musician propagating the musical lineage that goes back till seven generations. He said, “Saptak festival offers us all a platform to meet and listen to other artists of the fraternity. This is one of the rarest festivals where the legendary musicians listen to beginners and encourage young talents. Besides this, iconic artist take a sit in audience to listen to other great artists. Music lovers from across the world come to Ahmedabad for this festival. Due to three decade long association with Saptak, Ahmedabad has become every artist’s favourite destination to perform.”
