Tabla maestro: Pandit Kishen Maharaj at Nazrul Manch (Picture by Shambhu Hazra)

The 8-session (December 11-18) birth centenary tribute to the late amateur tabla maestro Krishna Kumar Ganguly organised by Sangeet Piyasi closed with a tabla duet by Pandit Kishen Maharaj of Varanasi and his son Puran Maharaj at Nazrul Manch last Sunday night. The octogenarian was offered bahu puja before his recital. The recital itself was interesting in the antiquarian sense as the duo played old-style Banaras gharana pieces on low-pitched tablas.

Among the nine tabla solos and duets at the festival, those by Kumar Bose (trital), the veteran Pandit Shankar Ghosh (Sankirna tala of nine matras and talamala) and Sanjay Mukherjee (trital and nine-matra Nazruk) were the most impressive. The first for the keen sense of dynamics and artistry it showed, the second for the aura of mellow ripeness it exuded and the third for its interestingly varied repertoire. Swapan Chowdhury (trital) was impressive when he played classic compositions of Ustad Abid Hussain, but rather routinely competent on the whole. On the other hand, Anindo Chatterjee (jhaptal and trital) displayed an unquestionable skill but tended to be monotonous. Sabir Khan and son Arif (trital), despite their skill and exclusive repertoire, were betrayed by tablas that frequently went out of tune in the middle of long sorties. Gobindo Bose (trital) walked off the stage in a huff as sound technicians failed to satisfy him.

In fact, the sound system played a mysterious role both at the two sessions at Nazrul Manch and the six at Uttam Mancha. The sound was perfect for sarod player Tejendra Narayan Majumdar’s exceptionally tuneful and well-structured alap and gatkari in Abhogi at Uttam Mancha. It was also perfect for sarod player Debojyoti Bose’s alap and gatkari in Shuddh Kalyan with a virtually musical tabla playing by Bikram Ghosh. But it apparently failed at sarod player Buddhadeb Dasgupta’s recital in Kaunsi Kanada. He repeatedly broke the main string and complained that this was because he had to strike hard to hear himself!

Of the four sitar players, veteran Manilal Nag was at his best in his alap and gatkari in Jaijayanti and Narendra Mishra showed an impressive skill in his alap and gatkari in Yaman, though he did not use the pancham in the alap. Poor sound management made Budhaditya Mukherjee speed up his alap in Bhimpalasi and rely more on straight notes than meends. During the gatkari in Tilak Kamod, tonality improved when the main string was played singly but deteriorated whenever it was struck along with the jodi. Kushal Das was impressive in his Hemant alap and Gorakh Kalyan gatkari.

Among the singers Rashid Khan sang his khayals in Todi as well as he usually does, and veteran Girija Devi was very much her old self in her Yaman khayals and Khamaj thumri. Ajay Chakraborty sang his khayals in Yaman with skill and musicianship. Manas Chakraborty (Mian ki Sarang and Suha Sugh-rai), Shubhra Guha (Nand), Ma-shkoor Ali Khan (Puria), Sama-resh Chowdhury (Puria Kalyan) and Amiya Ranjan Banerjee (Bihag) were in form but Arun Bhaduri (Maru Bihag) was let down by an unsteady voice. Falguni Mitra sang alap and dhrupad in the rare raga Maru Kaly-an and it was good to hear Aloke Chatterjee after a long time.