MUMBAI: When 16 year old Utsav Lal plays the piano, he touches many hearts with his soothing music. At a concert held for commemorating the launch of his first official album, Piano Moods of Indian Ragas... by Times Music, Utsav mesmerized music lovers with his unique presentation of Indian ragas on the piano.

Present at the launch was veteran film actor Randhir Kapoor, Times Music COO Adarsh Gupta and Times Music A & R head Gauri Yadwadkar and many unsung instrumentalists from the Hindi film industry.

Launching the instrumental album, Gupta said, We are always on the lookout for experimental acts and the team loved the content, so we thought of launching his album. This is the least we could do to encourage the budding artist in Utsav.... We encourage new thoughts and new talents and the concept of Indian ragas sounded unique to us,... commented Yadwadkar.

Utsav started the musical journey with the rendition of Raga Yaman Kalyan. It is believed that Yaman Kalyan is an evening raga to be delivered after sunset and is also an auspicious raga for opening a concert. Utsav presented a flawless rendition of the raga with a slow rhythm of alaap building up in an ascending order. What stood out in the concert were the improvisations and the personal interpretations by Utsav Lal of the Indian ragas. He repeatedly improvised and stressed on particular notes enhancing the beauty of the ragas. Raga Yaman Kalyan was concluded in an exciting style by a fast paced jhala.

For his second rendition, he was accompanied by tabla player Aditya Kalyanpur. The percussionist trained under Ustad Alla Rakha and Ustad Zakir Hussain, showcased remarkable mastery over his instrument during the concert. The sangat of tabla and piano kept the audiences gripped to their seats and left them screaming for more.

Aditya was complimenting Utsav in the rendition of ragas, who seemed to be lost in his musical world. At some places, his finger movements on the piano were too spontaneous to keep track of. During the jugalbandi portions in the concert, the two instruments blended in a true form conceiving musical harmony. There were moments when the audiences stood and applauded amid the rendition of ragas to appreciate the works of the young wizards.

After presenting some classical ragas, Utsav ventured towards some evergreen old Bollywood film songs. He started with the song Man re tu kahe na dheer dhare... from the film Chitralekha, again improvised on Raga Yaman Kalyan. It provided an opportunity for nostalgia seekers to immerse into the melodies of the past. Utsav began the song and weaved it with Indian ragas, playing the ragas elaborately and then coming back to the Bollywood number.

The second song was the track Piya tose naina lage re... from Guide. In this song, Utsav improvised on the raga Khamaj. Aditya provided a great score to compliment the piano notes. Utsav showcased perfect harmony, touching the highest notes and also expressing the depth of the music with the same ease.

The musical duo was then accompanied by Sitarist Chirag Katti who already has two albums to his credit, Silver lining and Strings Magic, both released by music label Saregama HMV. The evening was carried forward in an ocean of notes by the trio, exhibiting their mastery on their instruments.

Truly, an evening well spent.

Pic by Mitesh Bhuvad