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A raga evening
A group of 50 music enthusiasts had gathered at a local hotel recently for an evening of raga music and song. The singing session began with a couple of ghazals by an emerging classical singer Imran Abbas, to set the stage for the main singers of the evening — Atiya Aziz and Roshan Abbas Khan.
Soon after, Atiya, whose major is singing and minor — running a beauty saloon, sang some popular numbers including Boo-aay bariyan, and Jab piyar kiya to darna kya. Atiya’s performance proved that she was not a ‘music stand’ for her husband; she is a singer in her own right.
Then came Roshan Abbas Khan, who was born and brought up in a family of classical singers. From the music treasure he dug out a highly-valued thumri Yaad piya ki aaye by Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Raga Saak, and Raga Megh, punctuated by a couple of well-liked Punjabi songs and ghazals. But the highlight of the evening was Roshan Khan’s demonstration of how his forefathers performed before an audience of thousands when there were no microphones and amplifiers.
Abbas also explained how various microphone techniques could be applied in the singing of indigenous classical music. To prove his point he grabbed his harmonium once again and positioned himself before the microphone. At one moment his voice thundered in the ears of the listeners, then one felt being battered by strong winds, and then light rain coming which left one soaking in fine music — a lovely feeling.
Roshan Abbas showed how well he could tease and appease the microphone with great ease. A wise man present there said: “It is incumbent upon the sons and daughters of music gharana to show the ata’yees (outsiders) the way, and Roshan Abbas Khan seems to be doing just that.
Atiya and Roshan’s singing continued to engross the audience comprising poets, music composers, bureaucrats, journalists and other professionals for several hours. Of course there were some hasty visitors too. But the keen and composed ones stayed even though a farshi mehfil is not always the most comfortable position to be in. The evening was a combination of Atiya’s smooth and Roshan’s stormy performance. One good thing was that neither of them tried to tread on the other’s individuality and style.
The first-you-then-I, and you-and-me format between the couple which began at about 9pm continued, undisturbed until someone reminded that we were already two hours into the next morning. Then suddenly came the wrap-up call, and the music enthusiasts had to leave, somewhat reluctantly though.
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