Vasant Mishra was the one known disciple of the great Gopal Mishra, my second teacher. I first met Vasant Mishra at the Sarangi Mela in Bhopal in 1989. He was wild and uncontrollable in a highly entertaining way when Pandit Ram Narayan tried to organise 108 sarangi players into an orchestrated performance. I later met him in 1994 in Banaras. Though erratic, he had a wonderful feel for the sensual nuances of Gopalji's playing and for the Banaras rasa-full approach to music. I organised a concert for him in April 1994 at Amar Bhavan in Banaras. After every ten minutes, he put his bow down and asked if that was enough now, but with a bit of encouragement he resumed the recital with gusto, and it was a beautiful and inspiring concert. He has captured so much of the nuance of Gopalji's playing as well as something of Gopalji's wild personality.
All my videos of Vasant Mishra are from this concert on 10 April, 1994 at Amar Bhavan, Assi, Banaras. He began with a full khayal rendition of rag Patdeep:
Then a thumri in Kafi:
Another khayal in Shuddh Sarang:
Then rag Jog:
Then a chaiti, beloved in Springtime.
Next an electrifying tappa in rag Tilang:
Then a thumri in Manj Khamaj, the beautiful "jaag pari maito piya jagaae ho"
The programme finally ended—I finally allowed Vasant Mishra to stop playing— with a dadra in Bhairavi:
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