Manjiri Asnare-Kelkar’s mellifluous voice at the Secundarabad Club last week transformed audience’s mood into one that was an amalgamation of meditation and relaxation. Thanks to the Bararia family’s love for music, that the city has been experiencing the joy of music for the fourth time with the InContinuum concert.
The Bararia family, headed by Inder Singh Bararia, who is a poet and a businessman originally from Rajasthan, first visited Hyderabad for business many years ago. Back then, Inder had just decided to involve his son Raghubir in a furniture design business, who was trained in Hindustani music at the Government Music College in Ajmer.
With a family background in classical music, Ranghubir and Inder decided to invite well-known musician Jitendra Abhisheki from Pune to perform in Hyderabad. Everything was decided at the end moment and their furniture showroom at Basheerbagh had to be vacated to organise their first-ever concert in 1973. Similar concerts were thus organised annually for nearly 11 years before Raghubir passed away in 1985. Few years later, the next generation in the Bararia family, Amit and Ajit, showed interest in playing the flute and the guitar at college.
Until 1985, stalwarts like Hariprasad Chaurasia, Shivkumar Sharma, Kumar Gandharva, Prabhakar Karekar and Prabha Atre had performed at the Bararia family concert.
“For us, the close association with the topmost artistes of the country was an unforgettable moment. Once Hariprasad Chaurasia was leaving for Holland and casually asked me if I wanted anything from there. I mentioned about my interest in guitar and the next time Hariji came to Hyderabad, he got me a guitar. This was in fact the first twelve string guitar that came to Hyderabad.
“As time flew by, all of us (five) brothers got busy. But somehow, the old memories made us restart the process in the year 2014 and we invited many artistes again. My wife Mala is a music performer and teacher herself.”
More often than not, all the members of the Bararia family make it a point to travel from different parts of the country to attend this musical pilgrimage organised every July.
It was heartwarming to see Ajit’s son Uday and daughter-in-law Anchal silently working to set in place the finest details for the show. Clearly, the young folks of the family are also keen to keep the musical flag flying.
— Jaywant Naidu Musician, Creator of ‘Jaywant Guitar’ and a freelance photographer
