By Kavita Chhibber and Ajit Acharya
On Saturday, September 6th Ajit and I headed to MIT’s Thomas Tull Concert Hall in Cambridge to see maestro Anupama Bhagwat (sitar) and Nitin Mitta (tabla) perform under the auspices of MITHAS. It was the first of the fall/winter concert series for 2025 at the Edward and Joyce Linde music building.
While Nitin is a good friend and I have seen him perform live on multiple occasions, this was the first time I was going to see Anupama Bhagwat perform live in concert. Ajit first mentioned Anupama Bhagwat to me almost 15 years ago, as one of the most gifted Sitar players on the horizon. I followed her music off and on social media channels, but watching an artist live is a unique experience all together.
Most of metropolitan Boston was under a thunderstorm advisory. We met with a particularly heavy downpour on the way to venue. It was nice to see that the weather did not succeed in deterring a loyal audience of music lovers from attending. And the ragas played that night were in sync with the weather!
The recital commenced with Professor Pradeep Shukla, one of the founders of the LearnQuest Academy of Music, providing a brief introduction to the artists. Sitarist Anupama Bhagwat hails from the Imdadkhani gharana (style or school), most notable for its development of “gayaki ang“, or the technique of applying vocal stylings and nuance to sitar performance. Anupama ji is a senior disciple of Acharya Pandit Bimalendu Mukherjee (himself a disciple of Ustad Imdad Khan’s son Inayat Khan). Anupama ji has been performing all over the world since the age of 9. Her playing is marked by technical mastery combined with evocative lyricism. Ajit has been an admirer of her artistry for years but had not seen her perform for quite some time.
Nitin Mitta was introduced as a veteran tabla artist, having accompanied a galaxy of senior artists in both instrumental, vocal and dance. Nitin hails from Ustad Amir Khan’s Farrukhabad gharana (lineage). He received his early training in Hyderabad from Pandit G. Satyanarayana and later sought guidance from Pandit Arvind Mulgaonkar, one of the most highly respected mentors of his generation. Nitin is also local to the New England area, a resident of Rhode Island.
Both artists took the stage, and Anupama graciously acknowledged the audience, with many friends and musicians present. She also thanked Nitin for joining her. Anupama ji mentioned that the two artists have been collaborating for decades, having met at a youth musical competition while they were quite young. It was heartening to see such musical friendship at an early age evolve into mature artistic collaboration over such a large span of time.
The two artists have a clear understanding of each other, as their musical dialogue began.
Anupama ji began her recital with Puriya Dhanashree, explaining that it evokes “longing, followed by the calm and rest that longing needs.” Anupama ji began with a beautifully conceived alaap (unaccompanied exploration) that explored the characteristic phrases of the raga with subtle dynamics, wonderfully creating tension and resolution as she moved upward through the scale. This gradually gave way to a pulse during the jor section, where Anupama ji introduced some rhythmic elements into the alaap. Her technical mastery was evident in some exquisite right-hand technique paired with strong left hand fretwork.
As she concluded the unaccompanied portion, the audience applauded, and Nitin made a few tuning corrections to his drums. Anupama ji proceeded to play a slow composition in teental (16 beat rhythmic cycle). After introducing the composition, Nitin made his entry with a short introductory flourish, tastefully restrained and supportive. The artists traded improvisations, each allowing the other ample space to demonstrate their virtuosity. The second composition in Puriya Dhanashree was a faster teental bandish composed by Ustad Vilayat Khan.
Anupama ji took the handheld microphone to sing a few of the lyrics to the composition, giving us a rare glimpse of her singing voice. I was telling Ajit, Anupama ji needs to sing more. She has a beautiful, melodious voice. She then played a stream of taans and cadences that held the audience spellbound as they flowed from one to the next. The musicians gradually increased the tempo to a jhalla segment that allowed both to explore rhythmic variations at higher speeds. They concluded the first raga with a perfectly synchronized cadence, a technically splendid and soulful opening. The MIT audience showed their appreciation.
The second piece announced by Anupama ji was the beautiful raga Nand of the Kalyan family of ragas (sometimes referred to as Anandi or Nand Kalyan). She explained that it evoked feelings of peace, serenity, and joy. She playfully added that many Bollywood composers had utilized this raga… and that there would be a quiz at the end. After a short and sweet introductory alaap, she began a composition in jhaptaal of 10 beats. Both she and Nitin once again traded improvisations to the delight of the audience. The second composition was a drut (fast) teentaal bandish also popularized by Ustad Vilayat Khan.
For the third piece, Anupama ji announced she would play raga Desh – a popular raga that evokes feelings of nostalgia, peace, and romance. She chose to play a composition in ektaal (12 beats). It was nice to see such variation in time cycles, which again highlighted Anupama ji’s rhythmic comfort with many time signatures rather than the conventional teentaal. At this point, the concert was well into the 90-minute mark with Anupama ji playing for every minute at often blistering speeds, hitting very specific notes with precision. We marveled at her concentration, stamina, and endurance. One cannot help but picture endless hours of devoted practice to produce such refined end results. Such is the mark of any great artist dedicated to his/her craft.
But she was not yet done. The recital concluded with a lovely folk tune popularized by the maestro Ustad Rais Khan, based on the traditional Afghani composition “Anar Anar“. The light-hearted piece in dadra taal (6 beats) was a lilting number with playful, sweet phrasing. Nitin provided wonderful, sensitive sangat with the appropriate rhythmic responses. His accompaniment for the evening was sensitive, warm, and spontaneous.
For many years now, I have been researching the healing benefits of Ragas. This happened after sarod legend, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan Sahib mentioned how ragas were used to heal various ailments. And then Santoor legend the late Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma mentioned that he has a composition which came to him in dreams, and the CD only has an alaap in it but it has healing powers. I then got to hear about an ancient book called Raga Chikitsa, which is in the Salar Jung museum in Hyderabad, and has listed the healing qualities of many ragas.
I noticed that all ragas played that night by Anupama ji left me relaxed, energized, and released stress and many negative emotions that we often allow to enter out auras through exchanges we have with others, or our own worries and anxieties.
When I looked up my notes, it was fascinating to see that ragas are chosen to be played at certain times of the day to align the body with its natural circadian rhythms, the rasa (mood) of the raga is also constructed to evoke a specific emotional state and heal specific chakras or energy centers in our body. All the ragas, Puriya Dhanashree, Desh, Nand, while healing individual ailments, were known to calm the mind, bring peace and bring feeling of joy, and reduce anxiety.
I am particularly partial to Raga Desh, and I was reminded why. It’s known to bring a feeling of joy and positive energy.
At the end of the recital, the audience was delighted and gave the artists a well-deserved standing ovation for 2 hours of uninterrupted music. I was impressed by Anupama ji’s power, precision, elegance, refinement, endurance and the beauty and simplicity she brings to the stage. And Nitin was equally powerful, perceptive, and tasteful. It was a marvelous performance for an intimate audience. We joined many audience members who came down to greet both artists and shower them with gratitude for their music. Both Anupama ji and Nitin were warm and appreciative.
The only downside was that the weather and humidity fluctuations played havoc on the instruments all evening with a few breaks during compositions to account for tuning. While this broke some of the momentum of the brilliant progression, the artists would quickly jump back into the fray, without missing a beat (literally).
The post-Covid concert era for classical music is rich with amazing live performances in Metro Boston. We must continue to support these artists and torchbearers of Indian tradition, who have immeasurable passion and talent. Ajit and I are very grateful to organizations like MITHAS and LearnQuest for bringing these ambassadors of our cultural heritage to the United States, so we can continue to be a part of its grandeur and enrichment.
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