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Chas (Jharkhand) : Promoting the priceless heritage rooted in Indian culture and tradition, DPS Chas in Bokaro District, Jharkhand, in association with SPICMACAY (Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Cultural amongst Youth), organised a five-day musical programme Anubhav 3 on virtual platform which enthralled hundreds of students of the school.
The musical programme, which concluded on October 20, 2021, was organised with a view to sensitising students towards rich Indian traditional music. Anubhav 3 was a training and interactive session on Hindustani Vocal Music in which nationally renowned Hindustani Vocalist Shashwati Mandal along with her disciples Swati, Anuradha, and Mahavir enthralled hundreds of students of the school imparting them knowledge and rigorous practise of suras and ragas. The other participant institutions along with DPS Chas were – Dayal Singh College, Delhi; Kanya Mahavidyalaya; Punjab, KV AFS Nallia, Gujarat, and KV 31-D Chandigarh.
Shashwati Mandal is the grand-daughter of Pt. Balabhau Umdekar, a court musician of the Gwalior State and an accomplished singer of the Gwalior Gharana. Her overwhelming personality charmed all. During the five day programme, she gave a didactive on Raag Aheer Bhairav, Raag Yaman, Tarana etc and administered vocal training of high and low pitch. She explained how the importance of years of persistent practice leads to the right pitch, perfecting the suras. She made students practice full compositions.
She also answered the queries of the students and shared her views that every child should learn either one or the other art form. Creativity is of utmost importance. Understanding the hidden talent in each child giving it the right direction is the task of great pride. She said, “Children should be exposed to more of such programmes and should be led to practice sessions that shall work wonders for training in Hindustani vocal.” She also shared her experience on her performance on national and international platform and conveyed that it is such joy to see the international bent towards Indian music, culture and tradition over the years. She mentioned the interest level of the foreigners towards Indian art forms is so elevated.
Its worth mentioning here that Shashwati was trained by her mother Kamal Mandal and her uncle Shriram Umdekar, a well-known sitarist. Later, she got trained under veteran singer Pt. Balasaheb Poonchwale to master the nuances of Khayal and Tappa. Today, she is one of the rare young generation artists, who has a good command on the subtle complexities of Tappa. She is also recipient of the title Sur Mani awarded by Sur Singar Mumbai and the Mani Mann fellowship awarded by Sanskriti foundation New Delhi. She was also nominated in the top ten Song Lines award by Songlines Magazine for her album ‘Tappa Journey’.
In her message, Chief Mentor of the school, Dr Hemlata S Mohan said, “SPIC MACAY is responsible for making a wonderful contribution to educating the youth about their culture and heritage.” She expressed her gratitude to SPICMACAY for the uplift of Indian music and the cultural plethora. She added, “SPIC MACAY affirms the Art Integrated medium of teaching and learning. SPIC MACAY helps understand the intricacies and provides necessary guidance to be a part in the promotion of Art and culture in the near future. The interactive performances by the invited Artists are a storehouse of information for the students which benefits them massively.”
The coordinators of the webinar Vivek Gupta and Shilpi Kumari thanked Rajeev, Coordinator SPIC MACAY, for initiating such wonderful programme.