One always experiences a thrill of expectancy upon hearing the instrumental introduction to the singing of raagas. Those who attended the recent Sampurna-sponsored performance of 27-year-old classical vocalist Moumita Mitra, with her youthful and equally gifted ustaad Sri Anjan Majumdar, were certainly not in for a disappointment.

The very modest Moumita is also a shagird of Pt. A. Kannan, and she was placed first in khayal and thumri in the Doverland Music Competition in 2001 and 2004 respectively, in addition to receiving the Doverland Championship Award.

Accompanied by Anjan on the harmonium, Irfan Ahmed on the tabla and by Afsheen and Zafar on the taanpura, Moumita began her Karachi performance with a richly embellished Raaga Bhopali, including a bandish by Bare Ghulam Ali Khan. It was a little surprising, however, that she did not take the taanpura herself but no doubt this was because she had been instructed by her ustaad to use a microphone though the room was of moderate size. Now and then the closeness of the microphone caused a little vocal distortion – though this was more than mitigated by Moumita’s overall technical excellence – as long as the electricity held out.

During the alaap, being a shagird Moumita was inclined to glancing towards her teacher for approval now and then, and he certainly observed her closely throughout.

Her tendency to look down rather than at the audience, partly due to a certain concentration on technique and partly because of her desire to check with her book of lyrics – which is unusual in a classical singer – was overlooked by a generous audience. People were soon exclaiming at her finesse in matters such as the sustaining of very long notes without once faltering, plus the quick and accurate progression from high to low and vice versa, and the controlled slurring of notes. Here and there, however, one detected a slight nasality and the lower octave of the raaga was not employed.

Moving into the bandish in eik taala, with its rhythmic cycle of 48 beats, Moumita delighted the music lovers present with a gay and playful sargham thaan, with its sequence of long phrases.

Here again, the artist’s excellent breath control and articulation carried the day since breath is the basis of voice in any circumstances. After a pleasing harmonium interlude came another thaan, executed with some attention to technique but without the grimacing with which singers so often accompany such efforts.

By now, Moumita was getting into her stride and after the finale, the thunderous applause verified that the several colours of this raaga had been painted very well by the youthful troupe.

A piece in Raaga Naiki Kanada followed, opening sadly and with a magnificent slurring display of notes up and down its scale. Soon came a thaan in slow and measured notes, changing abruptly to a fast and swinging rendition and ending with the raaga’s signature tune, while the harmonium echoed the singer from time to time. The excellent and clear repetition of bols throughout, regardless of the tempo, was greatly appreciated by the gathering.

After a short break, we were treated to Moumita’s interpretation of thumri, with the added dimension that the classical singer inevitably gives.

Here too, a little nasality was present but this was easy to forgive considering how often, in dreary, unembellished, monotonous performances by semi-classical singers, it is the poet who sells the performer. Moumita’s hand movements also tended to be a little more graceful and better finished than those of the majority of classical or semi-classical artists.

There followed a dadra, beginning with a full tone and displaying plenty of technical variation, while on the tabla Irfan’s dadra rhythm was happily evident, underlining what the vocalist offered. The evening concluded with a piece in Raaga Bhairavi.