Twenty-two-year-old vocalist Shivani Haldipur has made a mark on the Mumbai concert circuit as a talent to watch out for. She has been a regular at youth festivals over the past five years, including those organised by the Kanara Saraswat Association and the Sangeet Sabha of Bandra (East). Her performance at the Dadar Matunga Cultural Centre in February 2004 is particularly memorable for her confident and flawless rendition of raga Bhimpalasi. 

Haldipur, who won the gold medal in the semi-classical category at the 2004 edition of All India Radio’s national singing competition, began her musical training at the age of seven. She first studied with Prabhakar Dharmadhikari and later took lessons under well-known Jaipur-Atrauli gharana vocalist Shalmali Joshi. After Joshi was advised by her doctors to stop giving lessons, Haldipur started studying with Ashwini Bhide-Deshpande, another eminent exponent of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana.

Haldipur, who is visibly enamoured of her current teacher’s artistic aesthetics, has been lending Bhide-Deshpande vocal support at her concerts. “That is another method of education,” said Haldipur. “Where to begin a phrase, which swara is to be expanded and how to complement it with another appropriate phrase in the upper or lower octave, I get to learn while accompanying her in a concert.” Audiences will get to see just how good a student Haldipur has been when she performs a solo recital this fortnight. She plans to sing raga Bibhas and a prakar of Malhar at the event. Amarenda Dhaneshwar