The 56th Dover Lane Music Conference (Nazrul Mancha, January 22-25), presented by Desh, ended with a sarod recital by Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. He had started with alap and jod in Shivanjali, a complex raga of his own, around 3.45 am. Moving gracefully through the unusual course of the raga, the Ustad built up a unified melodic image. The gatkari was in raga Shahana and in drut ektal. It was developed like a chhota khayal with sarod bolkari as additional garnishing. The invisible sunrise was greeted with vilambit teental gatkari in Mian ki Todi. Playing the composition in full in the classic style and going in for some old-style bol-vistar in the initial movements, the Ustad went on to play bolkari, bass lapet patterns and, finally, a brief ekhara taankari. The drut gatkari was in ektal and in the khayal style while the ati drut teental gatkari threw up rapid bolkari and bol-ladant. Subhankar Banerjee accompanied him on the tabla with his usual skill and artistry. The final item was a dhun based on raga Jogia.

The night had started with very impressive khayals in Shyam Kalyan by Kaushiki Desikan Chakraborty. She developed raga phrases well in the first quarter of the vilambit khayal and launched a series of long and fast taans after singing the antara. Some of these touched the ati tar sadaj with ease. There were rhythmic sargams, sargam tans and fast bol-taans as well. The drut khayal was an occasion for further excellent sargam patterns and taankari.

A rather routine alap in Malkauns by sitar player Shahid Parvez and his son, Shakir, came next. The melody-line of the jhala after the jod was drowned by the jangle of drone strings. The same thing happened during the longer taans and gamaks in the vilambit and drut teental gatkari. This had occurred during sitar player Budhaditya Mukherjee’s taans in his gatkari in Rageshri on the third night as well. Mukherjee had started with some soulful phrase development in the alap. This is something that technicians should look into. Shahid Parvez and Shakir went on to play a drut ektal gat in Chandrakauns and finally Mishra Pilu.

The third recital of the night was by Rashid Khan, who sang two-thirds of his vilambit khayal in Bageshri with regular pauses filled up by Murad Ali’s sarangi and Jyoti Goho's harmonium. He started singing normally after starting the sargams and taankari in the last part of the vilambit and during the jhaptal tarana and drut ektal khayals as well. He went on to sing a khayal in Rajeshwari (S g M D N).

The most impressive recital of the first night was that of sarod player Amaan Ali Khan. Playing Malkauns, he developed the raga attractively and in detail in the first part of the alap. Expert use of gamaks, lapets, decorative ekhara tans and climaxing phrase development followed the elaboration of the antara. There was excellently patterned lad-lapet, spellbinding ekhara taankari and variegated jhala at the end of the jod. The dhamar and drut ektal gatkari, with powerful tabla-playing by Anindo Chatterjee, were also very good. Equally good was the rupak tala and drut teental gatkari in Ahir Bhairav. Amaan played excellent ekhara tans, ending with tihais in the first and equally impressive ladant and bol-ang taan-toda in the second. After Amaan’s recital, the last artist, Pandit Jasraj, sang a vilambit khayal in Nat Bhairav in his characteristic style. A composition in Bhairav and two drut khayals in Gurjari followed.

The first recital of the night was that of flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia. Starting with a brief drut teental gatkari in Durga, he took unnecessary liberties with the two gandhars of raga Jog in his alap, jod and jhaptal gatkari in it. The two compositions in Hansadhwani, however, were well played. Padma Talwalkar, the next to perform, shortened the span of raga Chhayanat by underplaying some common phrases and movements in her vilambit khayal in it. But her taankari brought some life into the proceedings at the end of the vilambit and also in the drut khayal. The khayal and tarana in Gaud Malhar were much better to listen to.

The recital of Manjiri Asanare-Kelkar, who sings in the Jaipur Atrauli style, was a bright spot on the second night. Singing the one and only vilambit khayal in Nand, she developed the raga and her taans in the manner of the gharana. She also sang the rupak tala Nayaki Kanada khayal peculiar to the gharana, a drut khayal in the same raga and a composition in Sohini that had two madhyams and another that came to the sam on the dhaivat. The night had started with Samrat Das Gupta singing khayals in Puria Dhaneshree. Violinists Dev Shankar and Jyoti Shankar followed up playing alap and gatkari in Saraswati Kalyan, a raga created by their guru, Amjad Ali Khan. Ulhas Kashalkar, singing with his usual artistry, brought the night to a close with khayals in Kaunsi Kanada and the rare form of Lalit with the shuddh dhaivat.

Singing alap and dhamar in Darbari Kanada, followed by drut jhaptal compositions in Charukeshi and Malkauns, the Gundecha Brothers brought the high seriousness of the dhrupad style to the third night. This had opened with competent khayal singing in raga Yaman by Sandipan Samajpati, followed by alap and gatkari in Kaunsi Kanada by sarod player Partho Sarathy. In the recital after that of the Gundecha brothers, sitar player Kushal Das developed his alap and jod in raga Chandra Kaushik with commendable artistry. Producing excellent tone, he not only maintained the balance between the two nishads but also exploited their contrast during phrase development. He also effectively used Nikhil Banerjee’s ideas and formats throughout. The vilambit and drut teental gatkari in Lalit were also good. The final performer was Parveen Sultana. Her khayals in Gurjari Todi were sung in her usual manner. The taankari and sargam patterns in the final part of the vilambit seemed to be obscured by the loudness of both the tabla and the harmonium.