It was a privilege to host Gwalior exponent Omkar Dadarkar in our second Baithak concert of the year at Gandharva Mahavidyalaya North America this past Saturday. He was accompanied by Sanjay Deshpande on Tabla and Siddhesh Bicholkar on Harmonium.

Dadarkar started with Raga Ramkali—a deeply spiritual and calming melody belonging to the Bhairav parent scale consisting of Komal Rishab and Komal Dhaivat. His deep, resonating voice perfectly brought out the intensity of the raga. He extensively explored the lower and middle octaves in his alaap with slow, heavy, intentional movements, creatively displaying Bhairav-ang “G M Ṟ S”. He presented the traditional bada khyal “Aaj raadhe to” set to vilambit ektaal. While he did touch upon the characteristic phrase of Ramkali “M̄ P Ḏ Ṉ Ḏ P” a couple of times in the lower octave, which is essential to introducing the raga, he skillfully restrained himself from fully exploring the phrase for the next 20 or so minutes. The phrase that uses Tivra Madhyam and Komal Nishad gives the raga an “obscure yet spirited” personality. My favorite part of his presentation was the mind-boggling creativity with which he incorporated the phrase into his approach to the Sam, leaving me at the edge of my seat several times as the audience spontaneously broke into a “Wah” with every landing. Dadarkar’s true brilliance is revealed, however, when he breaks into the laykari and taans. His training and sadhana of the Gwalior gayaki shine brightly through every phrase. While being thoughtful and disciplined in his presentation, he is most importantly adventurous, a quality that I would love to see more of in other musicians of this generation. In the drut section, he performed the traditional composition “Hu to baar baar” set to teental and concluded brilliantly with “Jaag re salone” set to drut ektaal.

He presented raga Desi next, which definitely was the highlight of the morning. Completely contrasting the mood of Ramkali, Desi brought out the pathos, creating a somber, “Viraha-rasa” aspect in his singing. A raga that shows aspects of Kaafi and Asavari and has a Vakra (non-linear) chalan, thereby requiring considerable taleem from a proper Guru to master it. He presented a soul-stirring bada khyal “Balam bina kaise” in vilambit teentaal, which was so profound that it will remain a part of my psyche forever. He concluded with the melodious “goonde goonde laao maalaniya”. Upon the audience’s request, he also performed Hindol—the lofty pentatonic raga sung during spring, presenting the composition “koyaliya bole bana mein” and finally concluded with a “Vaikunthichya Raya”, a Marathi natyageet in raga Bhairavi.

Sanjay Deshpande on Tabla and Siddhesh Bicholkar on the harmonium were absolutely fantastic. They displayed a perfect understanding of Dadarkar’s style, their ability to add on to his laykari, picking up from the phrases he left off at, and taking them to the next level with their creativity. I noticed them constantly encouraging each other to experiment and push their boundaries. I have to mention Deshpande’s exemplary tabla tuning abilities. A perfect balance of the dayan and bayan, the chaat and its aaas perfectly matched up. His chemistry with Dadarkar reminded me deeply of many outstanding concerts of his Guru Pt. Suresh Talwalkar and Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar, which definitely brought on some nostalgia.