Nilaksha Gupta

Ustad Vilayat Khan, the sitar maestro, brought the four-session 11th ITC Sangeet Sammelan celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy at Aldeen to a close with 69-minute recital in Darbari Kanada last Sunday night. The 29-minute alap could count among the best he has played and in it he indulged in musical brinkmanship by clipping the duration of the note nishad in the characteristic Darbari phrase Dha Ni Pa.

This was done in manner that came near to distorting the raga but did not do so eventually. No Jod was played. The madhya vilambit and drut (initially sitarkhani) teental gatkari, however, was usually routine and occasionally reminded one of the ustad's age. Anandagopal Banerjee provided excellent tabla accompaniment.

The ustad's recital was preceded by a very good recital by khayal maestro Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar. While the elaboration of the classic composition in Malati Basant was in the best tradition of the Gwalior style, the delineation of the raga Saoni (Sawani) that came next was in the authentic Jaipur Atrauli style.

To sing in these two styles one after the other is a rare feat. The drut khayals in Kafi, Basant Bahar and Sohini that followed in rapid succession were equally good. In the second there were some really striking juxtapositions of Bahar and Basant phrases both in the melodic elaboration and taankari.

The session had started with a vocal recital by Manjiri Kelkar and followed by a flute recital by Ronu Majumdar.

The Sunday morning session had opened with a structurally solid and melodically perfect alap in Mian ki Todi by Lucknow sarod stalwart Narendranath Dhar. Apart from developing the raga excellently, Dhar used phrases using the pancham (major 5th) in traditional Seniya manner rarely heard today.

The vilambit and drut teental gatkari too were very good. There was engrossing bolkari and layakari in the first and good deria (triple time) and khayal-style taankari and jhala work in the second. Samar Saha provided good tabla accompaniment.

Parveen Sultana, who performed next, surprised by choosing khayals in the raga Gurjari Todi as her main offering. This raga omits the note pancham but otherwise has the same notes as Mian ki Todi and as such was a bad choice melodically.

It was also a bad choice from the time schedule aspect as it was five minutes past 12 pm when she started and the time for ragas of the Sarang group.

The slow melodic elaboration was on the monotonous side and the taankari and sargam work in both the vilambit and drut khayals lacked variety. She did sing a drut khayal in Shuddh Sarang afterwards but by that time the reviewer's listening mood had been soured.

The best recital in the first two evenings was that by master vocalist Ajoy Chakraborty at the end of the opening session. He developed his vilambit and drut khayals in Malkauns in the manner of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan with excellent structural and textural finesse. His phrase development, bahalawas, slow gamak taans, rythmic movements, sargam patterns and excellently developed and powerful taankari combined to create a really engrossing listening experience.

Girija Devi, the recipient of this year's ITC Award, sang khayals in Jog in her well-known style. Bhajan Sopori, who played Marwa, produced some meends on the lower strings and developed the raga well in the alap and jod.

His gatkari featured khayal style taankari marked by tonal depth and dimension unusual for the santoor. Nayan Ghosh's teental tabla solo on the second evening and sitar player Sugato Nag's alap and gats in Rageshree on the first evening were enjoyable items.