The tenth edition of the annual two-day Pt
Jitendra Abhisheki Sangeet Mahotsav recently concluded at Kala Academy in
Panjim. The festival was studded with some of the finest jewels of Hindustani
classical music hailing from different parts of India including the likes of
Devki Pandit, Ajitkumar Kadkade, etc who enthralled the audience with some
great performances. Few Goan artists also rubbed shoulders with these stalwarts
and had their share of performing at the festival. However, for Shailesh
Gaonkar from Ponda who impressed everyone with his skills on the tabla on the
first day of the event, it was a surreal feeling to be performing alongside his
idols.
Shailesh says, “It is an unreal feeling. The
last time I performed here, at the Surashree Kesarbai Kerkar Smriti Sangeet
Samaroha few months ago, I had performed teen taal. For this festival, I
decided to try something different and hence played the jap taal. I’m happy
that the audience loved it.”
As Shailesh grew up listening to bhajans
and devotional songs in the temple town of Ponda, his interest in music made
him learn to play Pakhawaj at the tender age of 7, under the guidance of a
local artist from his village. Later, his skill combined with his eagerness to
learn more made him switch to tabla under the guidance of Pt Prabhakar Chari
and he graduated from the Goa College of Music. A dearth of further learning
avenues in Tabla here made him move to Kolhapur from where he completed his MA.
Shailesh then moved to Mumbai to learn under Arvind Mulgaonkar and spent the
next 2-3 years learning there before moving to Goa due to personal reasons.
Shailesh, apart from performing at various
music festivals in Goa and other parts of India, is currently working as a
lecturer at Kala Academy. His inclination towards imparting knowledge in music
to Goan youngsters made him leave his lucrative position as a Cultural Officer
at the Department of Art and Culture and instead serve as a lecturer at Kala
Academy. Shailesh says, “I feel Goans have huge potential in terms of talent
but most of them aren’t inclined towards making a career out of it. A majority
of the artists who show a spark at the initial stage are lost in the race for
quick fame. I hope they do realise that if they concentrate on becoming better
artists instead, fame and money both will follow automatically.”
