A musical affair with Anoushka Shankar

With excitement and anxiousness re-filled in veins causing the heart to beat faster every moment, I walked towards the pro-nite stage with one hope, that I get to experience MUSIC and Hell yeah! What an experience it was! The warmth of the harmonics flowing and oozing out of every instrument made me forget how chilly this spring night was. Anoushka Shankar, daughter of Pandit Ravi Shankar, was present in my beautiful campus in a simple yet elegant Indian dress to enchant us for the next one and a half hour!

I found myself a chair and all I could do is just wait for that goddess to appear. The moment neared with the stage flooding with many coloured lights and there she was with her entire team! From the moment her fingers touched the Sitar I couldn’t help but close my eyes and turn my head at an angle to let my ears realize how lucky they were to experience divinity! Her fingers tirelessly moved across the whole of the sitar with both her hands working independent of each other creating vibrations which could make you float in the sky.

Those expressions which spoke so much in themselves were a treat to the eyes. 

That smile, sometimes because of her love for her work, sometimes to have fun with her companions on stage and sometimes because of the cheer of the audience, was creating its own genre of melodious harmony not audible but simply visible. The exquisite blend of Indian music with flamenco was filling up the air with romance, passion and love. The high pitched sound of the Spanish vocalist reminded me of the background score of the movie Avatar where I had once wondered how can someone reach to such high pitch maintaining the melody, harmony and the very intensity of their voice? My question surely disappeared tonight but my wonder remained. 

The Spanish guitar player had surely won the hearts of all the girls there with the evident cheers coming from the girls while he played his part. I have forgotten the names of certain instruments used for the concert but can never forget their sounds and how professionally they were played.

The Tabla, Shehnaai and the earthen pot were like sone pe suhaaga (assets) with the sitar there. 

One interesting instrument (percussion) was one in which the player was actually sitting on it and playing it in many different styles.

One interesting instrument was where the player was sitting on it and beating it.He’s claimed to be the worlds best at it and indeed it felt that ways. After the jazz, flamenco and the pure Indian classical music the piece Lullaby reminded me of my mother’s tender arms with slow beats and soothing music plucked from the mighty sitar and the rest. I realized it was past an hour only when Anoushka Shankar herself announced the climax of the concert with her last raga which was pretty interesting. Her own composition which made a true dancer tap his feet and a true lover of music travel unknown places. Here limelight was thrown on every player individually which was an unforgettable experience. I had taken my camera with the hope to capture the whole concert but my senses were so mesmerized that I couldn’t think of anything else but music. So Alcheringa (Cultural festival IIT Guwahati) begins with a bang and I can just “impatiently” wait for the announcement of Blitzkrieg to be mesmerized once again!