I was rushing towards Dadar in our car along with my family members, on Western Express Highway, in the early morning hours of Sunday .to attend the long awaited concert ‘PRATAH SWAR’. We were keen to reach the venue of the concert Ravindra Natya Mandir, well in time.I got the chance of listening to Pt. Kumar Gandharva and Smt. Vasundhara Komkali ,the parents of Sushri Kalapini Komkali, in a concert in October,1989 , held at Kanpur.Today I was going to listen to their musical heritage, being preserved and groomed further by their able daughter.
This concert was organised by 'Pancham Nishad' .First of all we did prayers and darshan of Shri Siddhi Vinayak ji , then we just crossed the open ground between the temple and the venue of concert and got into our seats exactly by 6:30 AM. To our astonishment the vocalist Sushri Kalapini Komkali was already present on the dais and she was being introduced to the audience by Shri Shashi Vyas. This punctuality of time was being seen by us for the first time,which is almost never followed,in such type of classical-music concerts.
She began her programme by rendering a khayal in raga Nat Bhairav then Bilawal and two Taranas, all were superb, reminding us,of the melodious voice and the singing style of her father, Late Pt. Kumar Gandharva. She concluded the concert by singing the favourite Meera Bhajan of her father 'Mhara olagia ghar aaya ji..' in Bhairavi.I cannot forget the discipline and devotion with which everyone attended the concert.
Those two musical hours of the concert, I will remember till my whole life. Organisers were expecting a small gathering but it grew to a huge strength of about five hundred people.This shows the magnetic effect of her singing and our divine classical music!!
