Jaltarang Performance: Ripples in Rhythm

On the ninth of August, two external artists visited school to perform for us as a part of the broader ‘Art and Literature fest’, which was all about celebrating the ‘poetry of life’ and the love for Art and Literature and Music as a whole.

The Instruments and the Artists

The Jaltarang was played by Pandit Milind Sharma Tulankar Ji. The Jaltarang is an instrument consisting of multiple (porcelain) bowls filled with different volumes of water and two (bamboo) sticks to produce notes of different frequencies. Changing the material of bowls and sticks can change the quality of the sound produced. Milind ji has experimented a lot with this fact to produce different melodies for different raags, song and music styles.

The Tabla was played by Pandit Ganesh and Vishwanath Tanwade ji performed the Raag Parmeshwari.

Alongside playing these instruments Pandit Milind Sharma Tulankar ji demonstrated playing the Morchang and composing music with unconventional objects such as rainsticks and a handsaw! Milind ji played popular songs such as ‘Sare Jahan Se Accha’ and ‘Jana Gana Mana’, on the hand saw by varying the length and frequency of the saw to play the different notes, displaying the widespread knowledge, application, and power of music he possesses.

An Extraordinary Journey

In the interview conducted by Naysa, Riddhim and I, as members of the cultural committee, it was clear that Milind ji had a great expertise in music. He has been playing the Jaltarang since he was young, he was influenced and taught by his grandfather who was also a famous Jaltarang player. Since then he has performed in multiple countries and all over India for many events such as India’s Prime Minister, Modi ji’s birthday and for G20.

To help publicise Jaltarang he started a website, ‘Jaltarang.com’ and an instagram handle, ‘Jaltarang_MilindTalankar’, where he posted short and long compositions of Jaltarang being played with different instruments, so that people interested in different instruments might come across his posts and get interested in the ancient instrument.

He is currently ‘the number one Jaltarang player in the world, and conversations with him will evidently confirm his status. He is very wise in music overall and has a great resilience. Once conflicted with a choice between his BA exam and a radio opportunity, his grandfather asked him,” do you want to give a BA exam to be ordinary like everyone else, or do you want to be extraordinary by taking the once in a lifetime Radio opportunity?”. He chose the radio opportunity which later helped him in turn, by flooding his mail with numerous performance opportunities around the world.

Milind ji’s widespread wisdom and unparalleled expertise, paired with his supportive wife and great resilience truly makes him an amazing musician and the best Jaltarang player in the world.