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Pranami: A disciple’s musical tribute to Girija Devi
Padma Shri Malini Awasthi gives musical tribute to Padma Vibhushan late Girija Devi
In a befitting musical tribute to late Girija Devi, her closest aide and disciple Padma Shri Malini Awasthi kicked off ‘Pranami’ series here on the occasion of Holi. What’s Pranami? “Appaji (Girija Devi) had thousands of disciples but she never took any tuition fees from them. She only took ‘pranami’ (musical offerings) from them and whosoever offered anything in her hand she just accepted without saying a word. This is my musical tribute to the master,” said Malini, while lighting the lamp along with Baba Yogendra, Daya Prakash Sinha, Vidya Bindu Singh, Kamla Srivastava and Yatindra Mishra.
Author and poet Yatindra Mishra talked about the legendary singer. Girija Devi passed away on October 24, 2017.
Former director culture Daya Prakash Sinha narrated incidents related to the Padma Vibhushan awardee.
“Lucknow Sangeet ka aashiq hai and that people have proved it by coming in such large number,” said Malini while thanking the audiences who had gathered in large number.
Malini started the evening with a dedication to her guru and Lord Shiva with the number Hey Mahadev Maheshwar.
“She was herself Girija (Sanskrit word for Paarvati) so dedicated this to Mahadev.” It was followed by thumri ‘Dekhegey Bina Nahi Chain... Ae sawariya, dadra ‘Piya bacha li’, hori song ‘Kaisi dhoom machai’, ‘Rang Darungi’, ‘Holi kehele Raghubira’, chaiti ‘Raat hum dekhli sapnwa ho Rama’.
She then presented some ‘farmaishi’ songs and later concluded with Dadra ‘Diwana kiya Shyam’ which was her guru’s one of the favourite number. On ‘sangat’ with her were Pt Dharamnath Mishra on harmonium, Pt Ram Kumar Mishra on tabla and Ustad Murad Ali Khan on sarod. Talking about the Pranami series, she said, “Aappaji loved Lucknow a lot and this is the place where she saw my performance at Bhatkhandey (1988) and asked me to come with her to ITC Kolkata. Since I was getting married after few months I couldn’t go. Then 10 years after, as a divine ‘ashirvad’ (blessing) of Baba Bholeynath my husband got transferred to Varanasi and I went in her fold. Since then I have been under her as ‘shishya’.”
The series will move to other cities. “We will do Pranami shows in New Delhi, Mumbai and Varanasi. I have done my classical vocal shows all over India but not in Lucknow so far. This is the reason we started from Lucknow where I presented best of the thing I have learnt from my legendary guru.”
A large number of classical musical lovers were present at the event which continued for nearly two-and-a-half hour.