Yamini Payghan’s poems come alive through soulful music

Nagpur: The Scientific Hall was soaked in the lyrical aura of Marathi poetry and melody on Friday evening as singer-composer Yamini Payghan unveiled her anthology of Marathi poems, ‘Shabd Onjalitale' (A Handful of Words).
Hosted jointly by Yashwantrao Chavan Center and Vidya Vikas Publishing House, the event combined the book release with a musical presentation of selected poems from the anthology, composed and rendered by Yamini and her group.
Dr Vinayak Deshpande, vice-chancellor of GH Raisoni University, Amravati, renowned music composer Shailesh Dani, Mahesh Bang from Yashwantrao Chavan Centre, veteran theatre artist Prabhakarrao Thengdi, and Jayant Upgade were the guests of honour. While releasing the book, Dr Deshpande praised Yamini's poetic expression. "Writing poetry is not just about rhyming lines, it's about understanding emotions, even those left unspoken. Yamini's collection presents diverse poetic forms with great sensitivity. Poems like ‘Bhint Lapandavanchi' and ‘Shahana Zalele Baal' especially resonated with me," he said.
Yamini not only penned the poems but also composed them for the special musical segment titled ‘Onjal Swaranchi'. The performance began with Manjiri Vaidya-Iyer, whose soulful rendition of ‘Shankar Shiv Mahadev Karunakara' set a divine tone. She also performed the song ‘Akkalkoti', followed by a string of musical adaptations of the poems.
Yamini sang ‘Pranam Majha Gururaya Tuz', ‘Haath Tuzha', and ‘Baso More', drawing heartfelt applause. Aditya Savarkar captivated listeners with two poems and delivered a spirited Gondhal performance. Singer Shrikant also charmed the audience while Manjiri presented a traditional Lavani number. The song ‘Chala Jau Ya' was joyfully performed by children in the end. The chorus group, featuring Shivani Amdekar, Pallavi Nakade, Anuram Peshkar, and Hrishikesh Khode, lent strong vocal support throughout.
Senior theatre artist Prafull Mategaonkar hosted and coordinated the event. Young artists Atharv Gayaki, Sai Payghan, Devansh More, Advika Meshram, Shravani Pise, Shubhda Bavne, Avnisha Iyer, Kiyan Vaidya, Parikshit and Parantap Bawaikar, and Shami Kitkaru gave their performances. The vocalists were wonderfully supported by a talented team of instrumentalists: Pramod Bavne, Harshad Payghan, Vikram Joshi, Shrikant Pise, Arya Puranik, Gaurav Tankasale, and Jayant Upgade.
Adding a theatrical element to the evening, Deepalakshmi Bhatt and Uma Pathak presented short dramatic performances based on the poems. The event saw a large turnout of poetry and music lovers. Notable attendees included Parag Ghonge, Ramesh Lakhamapure, and many other respected citizens of Nagpur, making it a memorable evening of art, words, and melody.