Chinmaya R. Gharekhan performing a full-fledged live performance on the India International Centre in New Delhi. He was accompanied by Vinay Mishra on the harmonium and Vinod Lele on the tabla.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Very hardly ever one comes throughout a diplomat, who throughout the launch of his guide presents a classical live performance. The occasion was not too long ago held on the India International Centre in New Delhi, when ambassador Chinmaya R. Gharekhan launched Centres of Power: My Years within the Prime Minister’s Office and Security Council (printed by Rupa). This was adopted by a panel dialogue that includes M. Hameed Ansari, former Vice President of India, Ok. Natwar Singh, former Minister of External Affairs, Maharaj Krishna Rasagotra, former Foreign Secretary of India and Chinmaya R. Gharekhan, previously India’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and the creator of the guide. It was chaired by Shyam Saran, president, IIC,
Those who knew Chinmaya Gharekhan solely as a diplomat bought the chance to find out about his ardour for classical music as he introduced a full-fledged live performance. His journey in music started in 1968 when he was posted in New Delhi as a Deputy Secretary within the Ministry of External Affairs. He educated underneath Pt. Amar Nath, the principal disciple of Ustad Amir Khan, the founding father of Indore gharana. He later learnt from Shanti Sharma, the well-known disciple of Pt. Amar Nath. Currently, he’s being groomed by Pt. Vidyadhar Vyas of the Gwalior gharana.
Foray into music
His tryst with music had, in actual fact, begun in 1955, when he received the primary prize in a vocal music competitors as a scholar of Government Law College in Bombay. He used to often carry out bhajans on All India Radio. His love for music continued even after Chinmaya Gharekhan joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1958. His common riyaz of 1 hour continued for greater than 50 years regardless of his distinguished profession as a diplomat holding essential positions.
He was additionally the president of the Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA) and the chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Delhi kendra. He has additionally authored the broadly acclaimed guide, The Horseshoe Table: An inside view of the UN Security Council’.
Chinmaya Gharekhan’s solo efficiency that night included a number of bandish in quite a lot of raags. Accompanied by ace artistes equivalent to Vinay Mishra on the harmonium and Vinod Lele on the tabla, he opened the live performance with Bhimpalasi, one of many melodious afternoon raags that we hardly ever get to listen to as a result of live shows are held within the evenings. No doubt, it was a welcome alternative for his fundamental raag however It took some time for his voice to convey out the great thing about the raag. But his expansive alap, which regularly gathered momentum, masking the decrease and center octaves managed to create the proper mahaul, earlier than rendering the standard bada khayal, ‘Kagwa bole’, set to vilambit ek taal. The leisurely alap, bol-aalap, bahelawa and the taan sections introduced out the gayaki’s important options, earlier than Chinmaya Gharekhan introduced a few medium tempo compositions (in Teen taal) equivalent to the favored ‘Ja ja re apne mandirawa’ and ‘Biraj mein dhoom machaai shyam’.
Touch of melody
Jog was a good selection for the second raag. It was sung with restraint and a balanced method that compositions like ‘Peer parai’, composed by Ustad Vilayat Khan (with the pseudonym ‘Prana-Piya’), name for. It stood out with apportioned sargam and aakar taans. Tilak-Kamod got here as a distinction with melodious compositions equivalent to ‘Koyaliya bole amavaan ki dalariya’ and ‘Neer bharan kaise jaaun sakhi ri aaj’ opening vistas of potentialities in medium tempo Teen taal. This was adopted by a Meera bhajan, ‘Hari tum haro jana ki bhiir’, composed within the karun swars of raag Bhatiyar. The live performance concluded with the standard Bharvi ‘Ab tori baanki’, a bandishi thumri, that bought him a standing ovation.
Prof. Vidyadhar Vyas praised the dedication and sincerity of his disciple, Chinmaya Gharekhan, who had made him proud.
