KARACHI: The second day of the National Academy of Performing Arts Music Festival 2014 on Friday evening in the academy’s in-house theatre was dedicated to eastern classical compositions. A couple of performances stood out.

The evening began with flute player and a faculty member of Napa Ustad Salamat Hussain’s presentation of raga chandrakauns. Tabla player Ustad Bashir Khan was with him on stage. Both are senior musicians and are excellent at what they do. But somehow it felt as if they had not been practising together for a long time, as their performance was a bit lacklustre. There was nothing wrong with it; it’s just that it didn’t click with the audience. The two distinguished men seemed in a hurry to round off their act.

Next up was a young classical vocalist from Lahore, Akbar Ali. His rendition of raga charukeshi was a decent effort. He was especially good when he did some difficult moves (harkatein) while portraying the raga. It’s more than obvious that he comes from a background that’s deep into music. However, he was striving a little too hard to touch the higher notes. He would’ve been better off dealing with them the way he dealt with things in the descending order. Also, classical music is most of the time, if not always, about improvisation. Akbar comes across as a singer who pre-thinks, and there’s nothing objectionable about it. Still, he needs to go with the flow a bit more for he has no dearth of talent.

The evening was enlivened with the arrival of the renowned tabla player Ghulam Abbas. Sitar player Nafees Ahmed gave him company on stage. Ghulam Abbas played some variations of the beat teentaal, which is a 16-beat cycle. It was such a delight listening to him. He first presented the traditional beat pattern, then paid tribute to some old masters by playing their bandashein, and topped it all off by giving his own improvisational additions to the beat. When he ended his piece, he left the audience wishing for more.

Finally Ustad Hamid Ali Khan of the famous Patiala Gharana, brother of the late Ustad Amanat Ali Khan, graced the stage. He presented raga bhagyashree. As is often the case, the ustad created a spiritual atmosphere the moment he began the alaap. Despite being the last performance of the day, the audience remained seated in the packed hall to listen to the ustad.

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2014