A few days before, Arya Sangeet Prasarak mandal, Pune had organized a concert to collect relief fund for the drought victims. The concert featured many artists like Pt. Rajan and Sajan Mishra, L. Subramanyam, Ganasaraswati Kishori Amonkar, Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar and Pt. Ronu Majumdar. I, as usual attended the entire concert from early morning and also attended the evening session.
Among all these performers, I was very much curious about the performance of Ganasaraswati Kishori Amonkar. The reason is, she is the artist which I have listened to live very less. Ganasaraswati Kishori Amonkar is running her 81st year. It is so difficult to put the notes at right place at such a high age. But, I think it will be difficult for those who are not totally submerged in music. If your life is devoted to music, you can practice it till your last breath.
L. Subramanyam gave his performance before that of Ganasaraswati Kishori Amonkar. It was really wonderful performance and it was quite difficult to wipe away the spell cast by him. All the atmosphere was filled with the notes of the violin. But, within a few seconds, Ganasaraswati Kishori Amonkar had made her own environment. She started the concert with Raga Kedar. Ganasaraswati Kishori Amonkar was given a vocal support by her disciples, who were very young. But still, it was clearly visible that they were finding it to difficult to sing with the energy level of Kishori Tai. What she sings, the Taan of Jaypur- Atrauli is very pleasant for your ears to listen to, but its a wonder to make them out of your throat. Ganasaraswati Kishori Amonkar was effortless. Her voice was spanning high…higher than ever. It was clearly visible that she is made to sing. She was roaming in the world of notes when I was wondering about how she can do so at this age…
Her performance taught me one thing- If you are dedicated, you become effortless. Then you do not have to worry about the notes, but the notes worry for you. Ganasaraswati Kishori Amonkar truly demonstrated this phenomenon. generally it is said that it is difficult to master even one note. I would not say Kishori Tai has mastered the notes but yes, all the notes are very friendly with her. That’s why she sings effortless……
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