Enjoy an evening of ghazals with Prassenjit & Akanksha

Team L&M

After serenading Bengaluru and Mumbai, singer couple Prassenjit Lahiri and Akanksha Tyagi have their eyes set on Delhi-NCR. The couple, consultants by professions, is holding an Acoustic Baithak of poetry and Ghazals, Ehsaas Ka Safar at IIC today.

A fusion of sher-o-shayari and ghazals, the show will take the audience on a journey of emotions one goes through in the journey of life – from falling in love, losing love and living with it, finding self through the pain and finally finding your true love.

“People are very busy that reading or hearing ghazal is tough. There was a time when ghazal concerts used to be held; when Jagjit Singh and Mehndi Hasan were alive and had huge fan following. People these days either don’t have time or patience to listen to ghazals,” says Akanjksha, an award-winning vocalist and poet, who recently launched her project Charcha-e-Ishq, where she explores the journey of eminent poets through poetry walks at heritage sites.

“We have been interested in ghazals since our college days at; and were thinking of bringing this melodious music before people when Ehsaas Ka Safar was born. It is a sort of musical theatre that tells the story of a person through different forms of poetry and singing – geet, ghazal nazam etc. That person can be anyone, you or me, in fact, each human being passes through these stages in pursuit of finding true love,” she adds

Explaining further, Prassenjit says, “The five phases one passes through Chaahat (longing to fall in love), Mohabbat (first love, usually one-sided), Kurbat & Furkat (separation), Nafrat (for self for having failed in love) after which one gets an epiphany which leads a person to Kayamat (at this stage one becomes a complete person, and falls in love with another complete person – a live which true and till eternity).

Some of the ghazals and nazms is written by Akanksha, while the rest are from noted poets and ghazal writers like Daagh Dehlavi, Ahmad Faraz, Nida Fazli, John Elia. “The ones we are singing have been sung by Jagjit Singh, Ghulam Ali, Mehandi Hasan,” says Prassenjit, adding that they both love ghazal format. “It give us performers, as well as listeners a holistic experience of enjoying beautiful music with powerful lyrics, encompassing the whole spectrum of human emotions,” he informs. “Poetry is a vessel with which we can comprehend complex emotions,” adds Akanksha.

“Performing ghazals is a big responsibility because listeners have immense knowledge and love for the art form. And Delhi’s reputation as music-loving city is well-known.” says Prassenjit.

The baithak will have Avinash Grubb on the piano.

Today, at IIC, 7 pm onwards