Satyajit Talwalkar and Niladri Kumar excelled on the tabla and sitar on the last day of the Navrasa festival, says Shailaja Khanna
Jaipur revelled in the pure notes of the tabla and sitar during Navras, a nine-day festival of Theatre Music and Dance. Organised by the Jawahar Kala Kendra, the last day saw an early morning sitar recital by Niladri Kumar with Satyajit Talwalkar on the tabla. Niladri Kumar has successfully involved the participation of a new generation of listeners in his audience. In this he, along with a host of other performers in his generation, including Kaushiki Chakravorty, Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan and Purbayan Chatterji, have done classical music a mixed favour. On the one hand, newer listeners, who are exposed mainly to Bollywood music (in the Indian context) come to concerts, but on the other hand, their expectations of the music are different — they want catchy hummable tunes to relate to, fast perfectly executed sequences to marvel at, exciting interaction with the percussionist. Not surprisingly, the traditionalists feel that this will ultimately dilute the traditional style of presenting our classical music. There is much to be said for both sides of the argument; only time will tell; for now, it was heartening to see the young audience who were enthralled to see the performances.
Niladri started his recital with Raga Bilaskhani Todi; one wished he had chosen an earlier morning raga like a Bhairav or lalit, as he started at 7 am. Bilaskhani Todi is said to have been created by Mian Bilas Khan on the death of his father, Mian Tansen. Definitely the raga has a melancholic pathos. Niladri’s short 10-minute auchar concentrated on excellent meend work on the kharaj wires. It was amazing how the wires didn’t loose despite three-note meends! One did not miss a full aalap with jor and jhala, as the vilambit teen taal gat he played brought out all elements of the raga. The style was soothing; his carefully constructed edifice of the raga relied mainly on sequential phases and meends. One missed the gamaks and dir dir stroke work that would have completed Niladri’s perfect picture of sitar craft at its best. The intricate taans were beautiful, clearly executed, the note sequences unpredictable and awe-inspiring. Niladri kept the mood of his presentation languid, in keeping with the raga and the time. The drut gat also in teen taal was exciting while his short upajs (creative improvisations) in four-six beats, picking up the refrain each time were exhilarating. Indeed, his creativity and spontaneity are laudable. He also used his right hand to control the volume of his strokes, bringing in greater power when required.
Satyajit Talwalkar’s tabla was so melodic that the audience was eagerly waiting for the crisp masterly sound of his tabla during his short solo demonstrations, which did not disturb the overall flow of the music. It is indeed an art never to obtrude in the music, yet make your contribution to the concert inescapable. Taal Yogi Pt Suresh Talwalkar and senior vocalist Vidushi Padma Talwalkar, his parents, have left their mark on this remarkable musician.
The next raga Niladri played was Raga Basant Mukhari. He explained during an interaction with the audience after the concert, the first, very lightweight gat he played was in rupak taal, (seven beats) originally recorded by him as a track Calling the Nature. Niladri explained how as a young student in college in Mumbai, he saw how a guitar-playing friend of his was much feted at a concert in college, despite not being a particularly dexterous player. He said the one or two phrases he played on the guitar were no more impressive than the more than 100 or so such phrases played in an average Hindustani classical instrumental concert, yet here there was an audience of over 10,000, whereas for a classical music concert, it was 100 at best! Niladri realised that for his generation, it was not necessarily the music, but the lifestyle attached to that music, that was popular. Somewhere, he felt that as a musician he needed to influence that perception. He said, “Our youth is our strength and if I don’t influence my generation and the next, who will I play to in the coming years.” He then decided to try to present a newer face of classical music and thus created the zitar (an electronic sitar he created around 12 years ago, that became very popular). He explained that though he was a fifth generation musician, perhaps his daughter would not be a sitariya as the amount of dedication it involved was tremendous.
The next composition was in teen taal, a slightly modified adaptation of a gat played by Ustad Vilayat Khan that Niladri said he had heard as a child. The clarity of execution and speed of both Satyajit and Niladri was to be expected; both excelling on their respective instruments.
The four bol seedha jhala was truly superb, sustained long and clear.
The recital concluded with a stylistic composition in Bhairavi, in which Satyajit’s experience with fusion music came to the fore, as his accompaniment hugely enhanced the melody.
(The author writes on music)