new approach: Ustad Amjad Ali Khan at the recital

There is a view that the real artiste is one who moves ahead, experimenting all the time. If one agrees with this, then, in the realm of classical instrumental music, sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan is one such. His nearly 3-hour recital at the Science City auditorium organised by Sutanati Patakatha last Saturday could be taken as a good example of this.

In the 69-minute first half the emphasis was on brevity and artistic economy. The 18-minute alap in Yaman Kalyan was not something Amjad Ali would play a year ago. Here mainly short meends and straight notes were used in the ustad’s a version of the sarod style of the old.

Again the phrase development was highly selective with use of more Kalyan material than usual nowadays and deliberate suppression of phrases found in khayals and khayal compositions. For instance, in this raga it is usual to round off movements with the phrase Ga Ma Ga Re Ni Re Sa or something similar. The ustad first struck the shuddh madhyam (or natural 4th) in the fourth minute but it was in the form of a Ga Ma Ga (the madhyam being the longest note). This method of shuddh madhyam application was more or less maintained throughout the alap and the 19-minute jod.

At times upper bracket artistes build up suspense in this manner and break it by completing the phrase later. But at this recital the avoidance of the phrase in question seemed to embody the ustad’s new approach to the raga and was maintained throughout. The method left at least one khayal singer dissatisfied. Beenkars (that is rudra vina players) of the old were of the opinion that an alap sthayee or asthai (1st movement) should not contain the catch phrases of a raga. Amjad Ali’s alap seemed to conform to the beenkar dictum.

The old-style Kalyan-ang character of the raga built up through phrases like Ga Pa, Ga Pa (ma) Ga, Ga Pa Dha Pa (ma) Ga, Re Ga Pa and Ga Pa Dha (the occasional overemphasis on the dhaivat a little hard to stomach) was completed when the ustad finally moved to the high tonic (tar saptak sadaj) with the phrase Pa-ma-Pa-Dha-Pa Sa, thus starting the antara (second movement).

The first 13 minutes of the jod showed a paucity of the shuddh madhyam and also the introduction of the phrase Ni Ga Re that is more appropriate in, and in fact a catch phrase of, Khem Kalyan as performed by the Agra and Gwalior gharanas.

Here there was phrase development through medium tempo rhythms, brief sessions of lad-lapet and lad-guthao, fingerboard-long ghasit developments and wizard-like ekhara taankari with slow, stretched offshoots. In the end there was a three-minute session of powerful bol-ang rhythmic jhala.

The first gat was in fast-medium tempo jhaptal and in the style of the ustad’s grandfather Ustad Nanhe Khan Sahab. This comprised mukhda variations, short taans to the mukhda, rhythmic variations, bolkari and cross-rhythm jhala. Included in the movements were quite a few Ga Pa Dha Ni ascents not really nice to hear in Yaman Kalyan. Star tabla accompanist Zakir Hussain’s breaks were short, to-the-point and, needless to say, expert. A string suddenly broke within a minute of the start of the drut teental gat but the ustad was back in action in record time. In this section there was saath-sangat that was rich in both rhythm and melody with Zakir Hussain doing his usual expert job. The ati drut teental gatkari lasted only 4 minutes and comprised mainly bol-ang jhala.

After the interval came the piece de resistance of the programme: aochar and gatkari in Malkauns. The gatkari opened in vilambit teental (15 minutes). After the initial melodic elaboration there was excellent fast taankari ending with tehais practically rising from the last beat.

Zakir reproduced some of these on his tabla with seasoned wizardry. The session of longer taankari that then came was developed with skill and artistry expected only on the sarod from Amjad Ali Khan. This, needless to say, was among the best he has played so far. The gatkari in the 13-matra jaital (called simha taal in Punjab) was also good and towards its end the ustad played a drut teental gat with exceptional taan-toda within the 13-matra framework.

It was the composition around which the next session of drut teental gatkari was played. Here Zakir Hussain first reproduced 8-matra tukdas played by the ustad and then went into saath-sangat.

The ati drut teental gatkari comprised mainly high-speed jhala played with skill and vigour. The recital ended with a melodious Khammaj ragamalika backed by excellent laggi and rela by Zakir Hussain.