Banyan Tree to host monsoon festival

Legend has it that musician Tansen could make thunderclouds pour rain by singing the monsoon raga Megh Malhar. Though you may or may not witness that happening at this concert, you can catch musicians like Devika Pandit, a well-known vocalist, Mohan Veena exponent Pandit Vishwamohan Bhatt and master Shashank on the flute sing songs dedicated to the monsoons. Banyan Tree events is back with its monsoon festival of music, Barkha Ritu: Celebrate Rains... Celebrate Life.... The one-day event takes place on July 2, at Ravindra Bharthi. What have they planned for the concert? “There are particular ragas, meant for monsoons in which the thundering of clouds, raindrops, lightening are depicted through Gamaks in the lower octave combined with the tabla. The Jhala part of the composition is depicts heavy rainfall. I will be presenting various renditions of Raga Malhaar with Shashank,” says the Grammy award winner and Veena exponent Pt.Vishwamohan Bhatt.Significance of the monsoon in classical music “In South Indian music there are few ragas depicting Monsoons, so it will be very interesting to adapt Hindustani classical Raga Malhar and its variations to Carnatic Music that too with a great artist like Pt. Vishwamohan Bhatt. We share a very good rapport and I am looking forward to share the stage with him,” says Shashank. Monsoons are a vital part of classical music and have given birth to many ragas like Malhar which is a Barkha Ritu raag. “It was about 22 years ago, when the first droplets of monsoon broke out in Goa, Kishori Amonkarji introduced me to the first Malhar raga and the drizzle turned into heavy rain as we sang,” reminiscences Devika Pandit.About Barkha Ritu“Barkha Ritu is a platform to explore uncommon varieties of compositions like Jhula, Kajri & Thumri. We have asked the artists to explore and present some rare and less popular musical compositions. Banyan Tree has been promoting Indian performing arts for more than a decade now and we are happy to present the much awaited Monsoon Music Festival- Barkha Ritu festival in the city.  It is always a joy to come to Hyderabad because the audience in extremely learned and mature,” says Mahesh Babu- MD Banyan Tree - the man behind the concept of Barkha Ritu.