The 'Jalsa Ghar' module of Soorya Festival was held last year in the Department of Music. The venue and arrangements drew flak from the audience as well as the performers. So this year I was happy that it was held in the YMCA auditorium which once housed the British Council Library.
The event on Friday was Hindustani Sangeeth by Manjari, a well known Kerala based singer. Though the hall was air-conditioned, the seating was cramped with plastic chairs normally found in tea shops. With usual restrictions of of entry and exit,
a la chamber music, it was rather suffocating especially for senior citizens.
The event, like most Soorya events, started on the dot at 6-45 p.m. Manjari began with the raag, Miya ka Todi. She described it as a morning raaga. As there aren't many opportunities for morning concerts she took this up at this event, she explained. Her rendition of this raaga for almost 45 minutes, appeared to non- connoisseurs like me, as 'mourning raaga' rather than a morning raaga.
She then went to to a couple of melancholy ghazals, but had the stage presence to warm up to some popular and racy numbers including some in Malayalam and ending with the ever popular 'Dumadum Mast laandhar' which had the audience clapping and foot tapping.
Once that ended at about 9 p.m, people rushed to the exits. The senior citizens to the wash rooms and the younger ones to their cuppa's or cell phones.
For the audience, which included a former Chief Secretary, representing YMCA, it was a two-and-a-half hour 'captivating' experience.
