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With two recent releases from the label, The Lotus Garden-
South Indian Classical Music and Colours Of India
- Traditional Ragas Of North India, we have the ideal
opportunity to compare the two styles. Tarun Bhattacharya is one
of India’s most famous performers of the santur, an instrument
that can possess up to 100 strings and produces a unique dulcimer-like
tone. He studied with sitar master Ravi Shankar, as did tabla-player
Bikram Ghosh who has performed with Ravi’s band since 1995.
Both he and Tarun have recorded and toured extensively, but Colours
Of India is their first recording for an American label.
The CD consists of 5 performances either in raga or folk-style.
It opens with the 17 minute Puriya Dhanashri, an early evening
raga (the modes for each raga are set to correspond with a particular
time of the day) acquiring a precise almost leisurely momentum
as it moves from its lengthy exploratory alap to reach a brief,
rhythmic climax at the end. In contrast the next piece Kalavati,
after a brief alap, is much more vigorous with exciting interplay
between the santur and chattering tabla.
As an entry point for those listeners unfamiliar
with Indian music I would recommend listening to track 4 first,
the beautiful Nat Bhairavi, a lyrical folk-song that mixes major
and minor modes to charming effect. In southern India Ravikiran
who plays the chitravina, the fretless 21 string lute responsible
for many of the dramatic slide effects heard in Carnatic music
is the most high-profile musician here, having been involved in
international fusion projects with bluesman Taj Mahal and V.M.
Bhatt.
Performing with him on Lotus Garden is Jayanthi Krishnan, one
of the country’s most accomplished female performers on the
vina, the major string instrument of south India. Other instruments
heard on the 6 extended compositions are various combinations
of violin, percussion instruments (ghatam and mrdangam) and the
ubiquitous tamboura, which provides the gentle drone to cushion
the improvisatory flights of the musicians.
I leave it to the listener to find his/her own path. If I praise
the beautiful violin playing on track 4 someone is sure to complain
as to why I failed to mention this or that section. However I
would like to point out the closing section of the 26-minute raga
Meenakshi, where the astonishing rhythmic banter between the instruments
reaches otherworldly intensity...Richard Jasiutowicz
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