The late Sahasrabuddhe was a serious exponent of the Gwalior gharana sings Ahir Bhairav, Shudh Sarang, Raag Mala, Nirguni Bhajan and India’s national song the ‘Vande Mataram’, leaving many in tears at the end of her morning concert.

Sahasrabuddhe begins Ahir Bhairav with a slow composition set to 12 beats (vilambit ektaal). Her khayal has a pure Gwalior style comprising of the eight-fold system of vocal rendition called Ashtanga Pradhan Gayaki which employs gamaka, andolana, kampa, meend, murki, patak, khatak, jamjama etc. Her tarana in Shudh Sarang carries deeper shades of Gwalior with influence from the Jaipur and Kirana styles.

The Raag Mala, which literally means a garland of different ragas strung together, is set to Ektaal (12 beats) and is a mélange of 18 ragas, viz. Hindol, Bhoopali, Chayanat, Bilawal, Shankara, Desh, Tilak Kamod, Basant, Shree, Marwa, Puriya, Bhairav, Gurjri Todi, Bhairavi, Malkauns, Jaunpuri, Madmadh Sarang and Kharharpriya (Carnatic). The seasoned Sahasrabuddhe delivers the raag mala with natural flow and outstanding ease. Her elaborate knowledge of these ragas combined with an innate understanding of the nodal points of transitioning from one raga to the other, Here, Sahasrabuddhe scores above most artists of her generation.

A full house at King’s Place was brought to tears by the simplicity of her choice of the last song ‘Vande Mataram’ originally pronounced as 'Bande Mataram' is a poem written in 1875 by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee that found a place in his novel “Anandamath” in 1882 with additional stanzas, means “I praise thee, Mother” or “I praise to thee, Mother”. On 24 January 1950, the Constituent Assembly of India has adopted "Vande Mataram" as national song. On the occasion, the first President of India, Rajendra Prasad stated that the song should be honoured equally with the national anthem of India, "Jana Gana Mana".

Veena Sahasrabuddhe (khayal)
Sanju Sahai (tabla)
Tofail Ahmed (harmonium)
Priya Parkash (tanpura)
Shobhana Patel (tanpura)
Ragas: Ahir Bhairav, Shudh Sarang, Raag Mala, Nirguni Bhajan