Witness rare compositions of late legendary singer Kishori Amonkar at this classical performance

Kishori Amonkar was known as one of the greatest vocalists and composers in hindustani music. Some of her compositions like Sahela Re Aa Mil Gaaye, Nainawa Barase and Ganapata Vighan Harana continue to be cherished by millions of fans across the world. But very few people know about her other compositions, which have not been performed as often as her more popular ones. These include bandishes in various ragas, bhajans, abhangs and ghazals. A selection of her rare compositions will now be performed by Raghunandan Panshikar, who trained under Kishori Amonkar for twenty years, along with Radhika Joshi (hindustani classical vocalist), Gurumurthy Vaidya (tabla) and Ashwin S Walawalker (harmonium) at this event, this weekend. We talk to Radhika about the upcoming performance, how they worked on the compositions and lots more...

“Most people associate Kishori Amonkar to classical music or bandishes. But only a few know that in addition to a lot of ragas or classical compositions she has composed, there are a lot of Hindi bhajans, Marathi bhajans and even ghazals that she had composed during her life. But she did not perform them much in public. Some of them were recorded but a lot of them were not performed at all. She taught them to some of her students and that is the only source we have of these compositions,” Radhika begins.

Sharing her thoughts on how they managed to work on the compositions even though not many people had heard them, the singer says, “It was based on memory, really. So, Raghunandan learnt these 20 or even 30 years ago. Some of the compositions have been part of his performances but there are some other works like her ghazals that he hasn’t performed much. We have only been taught them by him in our classes.”

Revealing the set for the performance, Radhika says, “we will be beginning with classical compositions. Some bandishes and with a few ragas that she composed. Then there will be some Marathi devotional songs, a few Meera bhajans. If time permits, we will be performing more compositions.” Instead of making it a whole composition, the performers plan on making it an interactive session, where Radhika will be asking Raghunandan a few questions and as he speaks, he will also sing some of the songs.

Radhika shares that Raghunandan performed on similar lines in Pune a few years ago at the Gaana Saraswati Mahotsav but it had more to do with light compositions and did not include any narration. “This time, what I was keen to do was merge the performance with anecdotes from Kishori’s interviews. They will help the audience understand Kishori, not just a musician but also as a person,” she adds. Following the performance in Bengaluru, Radhika hopes of taking the performance to other cities within the country as well.

Entry free. June 20, 6.30 pm. At BIC, Domlur

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