Unveiling Beauty | Musings after the concert of Pt. Partho Sarothy Ji

Unlike many other vocalists, I truly enjoy listening to instrumental music. Rather, when I listen to good instrumental music, most of the times I am fascinated; partly because of the tonality of well tuned instruments, partly because of the dexterity of the player. Listening to a tonally rich instrument like Sarod being played by one of his kind maestro – Pt. Partho Sarothy Ji, is always an elevating experience both as a listener as well as as a practitioner of music. 

As most of the concerts in the city prefer featuring ‘celebrity’ artists who are at best average when it comes to tunefulness and richness of music making, naturally the number of concerts we attend has come down drastically over last few years. That’s why, we hardly leave an opportunity to listen to a good musician. We had listened to Partho Ji and his inimitable Tabla accompanist Ashis Paul ji almost five years back. It was once of those rare concerts which create a sense of longing; a sense of fullness and emptiness at the same time. Fullness because you have experienced beauty and emptiness because after that you are left alone! 

For many reasons, we were eagerly waiting for yesterday’s concert. Here are some thoughts/observations/musings which came up during and after the concert. 

Beauty invites many, only a few can unveil her

Partho ji started his concert with Raga Jog. Personally, I feel that a Raga like Jog is a risky affair. It’s too potent. Like a child might burn his hands playing with a lamp, not being able to properly unfold this Raga can ruin the entire concert. Partho ji handled the Raga so well that we could literally see it coming from a distance, closer and closer to us and then, it was in us and we were in it. That’s it!

I also realised that beauty is always available; it’s our sensitivity which enables us to be in contact with her. The simple phrase of Jog, Ga Ma ga Sa can create immense beauty only if the artist unveils the phrase with utmost sensitivity. Yesterday, Partho ji unveiled many such facets of Jog and later Charukeshi and left the audience submerged in pure sonic bliss. 

Invoking the Beej 

The Beej Mantra essentially has a Beej (seed) which is can manifest into a giant tree. I have always observed that the music of great maestros is also like utterance of a Beej mantra. They would invoke one, tiny beautiful expression which will eventually manifest and take form of a giant tree. 

Great music making has two major parts associated with it.  The first part is what – as in, what is the musician presenting. The second part is how which tells how well musician is presenting ‘what’ he is presenting. Often we end up seeing skewed performances. Musician presenting a lot of variety in terms of phrasing and possibilities often marring the ‘how’ aspect of it (poor tonality and tunefulness). And then, there are musicians who manage to uplift the bar when it comes to ‘how’ but then, ‘what’ takes a toll (music sounds repetitive and limited). Partho ji’s music is rich in both ‘what’ and ‘how’. He was playing shortest of the expressions so sublimely that they sounded like the Beej in a Beej Mantra. Only years and years of Sadhana with an unwavering internal aesthetic compass can make this happen. 

Anchored in the ground 

I believe that great music touches the sky but is always anchored in the ground. The ground is the utter void from where the music pops up. When your music is going high, not losing connect with this ground is difficult. When Partho ji and Ashis ji were playing together, one always had this feeling of groundedness which otherwise is very rare in concerts. This requires an ability to do both at the same time – letting go and being in the moment. 

The event was made possible by Shri. Gopal Krishnan ji and hosted very well by the SPICAMACAY IISER, Pune. These experiences are very much needed and will certainly enrich the young listeners of this country. 

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