In the first of a new series entitled "First Light" that features young Hindustani and Carnatic classical music artistes performing rare and traditional compositions Kishima Arts Foundation presents a concert and conversations with the very talented Hindustani Classical vocalist, Keyur Kurulkar. He was accompanied by Parth Tarabadkar on tabla and Saumitra Kshirsagar on harmonium. Tanpura support was provided by Vijay Desai and Mrs. Desai.

Keyur began his concert with three compositions in the morning Raag Shivmat Bhairav.Each composition represents a different stream of his musical lineage. He began with a Bada Khayal - ‘Shukar ki ta Allah Darkaar’ in Jhoomra (a 14 beat cycle), from the repertoire of one of his Grand Gurus - Dr Vasantrao Deshpande (1920 - 1983) (who most probably learnt this in Punjab).
The second bandish, a Sadra (a composition set to Jhaptaal with a dhrupad influenced structure) - ‘Sumaran Shankar Girijaapat’, is from his Guru Pt Sharad Sathe’s (1932 - 2019) repertoire and was taught to him by his Guru Pt Sharadchandra Arolkar (1912 - 1994). This composition is a great example of classic gwalior gayaki and its links to dhrupad.
Finally he sang ‘Aaj Moujood Bhaye’ - a drut bandish in Teental (16 beats), is from the Agra tradition sung by another one of his Grand Gurus - Pt Jitendra Abhisheki (1929 - 1998).
Interestingly, three bandishes coming from three diverse traditions paint a very similar picture of Shivmat Bhairav!