Sangeet

Promoting Hindustani Classical Music

21 May, 2006 – An afternoon Sitar recital by Partha Bose accompanied by Gourishankar on Tabla

Shiva's Rudra Veena, Saraswati's Veena, and the modern Sitar of other gharanas, all are played separately by many musicians. On this Sunday at the Sangeet Society, an outstanding artist who put it all together into his Sitar, that has full 4 or probably more octaves, the lower ones going into "ati kharja", and the sounds of all the three instruments (a concept first introduced by Pundit Ravishankar).

Shri Partha Bose, disciple of Monoj Shankar who himself was a disciple of Baba Allauddin Khan, played that sitar yesterday, combining the styles of Pt Ravi Shankar and Pt Nikhil Banerjee, both disciples of Baba Allauddin Khan. Parthoji first spoke a few words on Indian Abhijaat Sangeet to a very diverse audience of ~30 people. He started with a spiritual aalaap in the afternoon Raaga, Multani. He decided not to present the jor and jhaala (Note: He is known to change raaga for the "gat" if he plays full aalaap-jor-jhaala). The magnificent aalaap filled the hall with the two lower octaves sounding like Rudra Veena, creating the atmosphere of an omkaar-naad in a Shiva temple with big dome. The 25 minutes' aalaap ended after a full exposition (wistaar) of Multani in 4 octaves, especially with an emotionally filled upper tonic (Taar Shadja) and beyond. Then he moved to a gat (composition) in roopak, the speciality of "Baba's" Maihar Gharana. He showered the listeners with intricate and creative Tihais (trios), especially one that ended with a simple sequential pluck of the sympathetic strings, which was so touching that one listener exclaimed "Oh ho ho" in excited voice.

Parthoji was accompanied by Gourishankar on Tabla. Gourisankarji has trained in two gharana's - with his father Shib Shankar Karmakar, a disciple of Ustad Kermatullah Khan (Farukkhabad), and Sankha Chatterjee, a disciple of Ustad Alla Rakha (Punjab). The speciality of the raaga Multani gat was its length - a full ~ 36 minutes in roopak taal. The Tabla presentation was outstanding with pleasant simplicity in the saath following the chalan and artistic improvisations in tirakita, tinakina, and dhir-dhir bol, giving full justice to the gat. Gourishankarji has a sweet hand at Tabla, and played in perfect consonance with the Sitar. To keep the emotion of the raaga alive, high speed rhythms were wisely avoided.

The second part of the concert touched the heart even more. The simpler the raga and more shuddha notes it has, the more difficult it is to make it interesting. Parthoji, most ably followed the tradition in filling the hall with raaga Desh. He first explained the significance of the raaga, and played a short aalaap called as "auchar", and gats in medium speed teen taal of 16 beats, followed by two fast gats in teen taal. The first long medium speed improvised composition did the art work of winning the hearts with the emotion of the raaga. It also achieved the "wistaar" in rhythmic patterns. The second gat in fast teen taal was creating effects of 12 beat ektaal, which he first explained. The original composition in ektaal (12 beats) was adapted by his Guru into teen taal (16 beats), by recomposing it into a kind of 4 + 6 + 6 pattern creating an exciting ektaal effect. The concluding fast gat created the crescendo. The heart winning concert ended with the effect of "separation" that raaga Desh creates.

All of this occurred in the beautifully decorated basement of the Sarkar family's home, who played wonderful hosts. If their basement had ever flooded, it was today - with the showers of heart winning notes of the Maihar tradition!!!

- Gajanan Pandit, Phoenixville, PA