Sangeet Ashram presented a sarod recital by Tejendra Narayan Majumdar at the G.D. Birla Sabhagar on July 29. Brief recordings of an alap by Bahadur Khan (his principal teacher) in Darbari Kanada and one by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan (his final teacher) in Marwa were played before the first item: alap, jod and jhala in Mian ki Malhar.

Majumdar managed to play all the major phrases of the raga within the first seven minutes. At times the entire ascent and descent of the raga was played in some movements. The jod started with some modified Ravi Shankar patterns and went into skilled gamak work and ekhara taan development. Ali Akbar-style thok jhala was played at the end with exceptional clarity.

The vilambit teental gatkari in Desh Malhar was followed by a highly skilled Ali Akbar-style rhythmic development, mainly in the multiples of 4/4. Then came exceptionally clear and well-structured bol ang taan-toda development. Shubhankar Banerjee, the tabla accompanist, worked out good replies to these. The gatkari ended after some saath-sangat.

The final item comprising aochar, drut teental and ati drut teental gatkari in Gaud Malhar was also well played. The clear, tuneful, high-speed jhala was especially impressive, as it was played on the Maihar model sarod ? a rather difficult exercise.