Special creation: The leitmotif of maestro Amjad Ali Khan’s recital was variety. (Picture by Ashok Majumdar)

The 54th Dover Lane Music Conference (Nazrul Manch, January 21-25) presented by Desh, ended around 7 am on Republic Day with a nearly four-hour recital by sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan. The leitmotif of the recital seemed to be variety. Starting with a preamble to a dadra tala composition in his own creation raga Subhalakshmi, he went on to play Komal Rishav Asavari, Gurjari Todi, Shiv Kalyan and finally aochar, dadra and ati drut teental gatkari in Bhairavi.

The Asavari alap presented raga phrases over two octaves without much development. There was development in the jod. The Gurjari Todi vilambit teental gatkari featured robust layakari and bolkari. The matta tal and ati drut teental gatkari was equally good. Melodic exploration was the keynote of the Shiv Kalyan rupak tal gatkari and in the drut teental section this spilled into Saraswati, Gorakh Kalyan, Megh, Kaushi Dhvani and Durga.

The night had begun with khayals in Puria Kalyan by Koushiki Chakraborty. After some repetitious elaboration, the vilambit khayal came alive with rhythmic lyric development and sargam patterns that were followed by excellent fast medium sargam work and taankari. The swinging sargam work and rhythmic taankari in the drut khayal was also good. After this flutist Hari Prasad Chaurasia played a fairly dull alap in Bageshri. The jod and the matta tal gatkari, however, made amends. The gatkari in Durga was also good. While singing khayals in Chandrakauns next, Prabhakar Karekar’s voice sounded too nasal initially and the melodic elaboration was unimpressive.

The highlight of the opening night-long session of January 21 was taankari of the most advanced variety by the final artiste, sitar player Shahid Parvez in his vilambit and drut teental gatkari in Bairagi. Such taankari reminded one of his uncle, the late Ustad Vilayat Khan. Singing just before him, Ajoy Chakraborty presented self-composed khayals in Bihagda and Malkauns with usual expertise.

The night had started with khayals in Nand by Padma Talwalkar. The virtual juxtapositions of the two madhyams in the vilambit portion were unconventional. The Nayaki Kanada khayals, however, were sung in the traditional Jaipur Atrauli manner. Playing Bageshri on the sarod next, Amaan Ali Khan played excellent ladlapet, taan-kari, bolkari and jhala in the jod. The pancham sawari tal gatkari and the sawal-jawab and saath-sangat with Sandip Das’ tabla in the drut teental section received applause. The fast taankari was also impressive and so was the high-speed jhala work in the ati drut teental phase.

The second night started with a steady alap in Malkauns by sitar player Kushal Das. There was good taankari in the drut gatkari and clear, tuneful jhala. Manas Chakraborty’s Charukeshi khayals lacked what those he sang in Abhogi afterwards had: melodic impact. Playing alap and gatkari in Darbari Kanada on the sitar, Irshad Khan, impressed with his technical prowess but failed to fully invoke the spirit of the raga. The taans in the Hammir drut gatkari were drowned by a drone string jangle. Finally Arti Ankalikar sang soporific khayals in Ahir Bhairav and two more in Bilaskhani Todi that were better.

Shahid Parvez

Sarod player Kamal Mallick and son Chandan started off the third night with Hemant. The drut jod and the vilambit teental gatkari were especially impressive. Veena Shahasrabuddhe’s khayals in Jogkauns were full of repetitious material. The khayals in Hemant were better.

After that sitar maestro Rais Khan and son Farhan played Charukeshi. The phased rhythmic work in the vilambit gatkari was impressive but the drone jangle factor affected both taankari and jhala melody. Finally, Bilaskhani Todi khayals full of atmosphere and spirit by Rashid Khan captivated tired ears. Rich phrase development in the vilambit and excellent taankari in the drut khayals made this the best vocal recital of the conference. The khayal in Bairagi too was excellent.

It goes to the credit of the octogenarian sarod maestro Ali Akbar Khan that though in poor physical condition he could manage to play his 20-minute alap and four-minute jod in Jaijawanti in tune and, with the support of his son Alam, carry off the gatkari in Durgeshwari and the other items. His recital was preceded by khayals in Yaman by Shantanu Banerjee and followed by competently performed alap and dhrupads in Malkauns and Adana by Umakant and Ramakant Gundecha. Shiv Kumar Sharma played alap and gatkari in Lalit and later Basant Mukhari. There was a judicious blend of strikes and quasi-mandolin passages in the alap and fine melody and rhythm blending in the jod. The rupak tal and drut ektal gatkari in Lalit were also engrossing.

All this reduced the impact of the average quality khayals in Gurjari Todi by the final artiste, Parveen Sultana.