The beauty of music is its ability to blend with the times, the space that it leaves for improvisation, yet anchored by an infallible structure. Among the ones to understand this for over four decades is the Jasraj family, that has adapted to changing music trends as they came together recently to organise the 44th year of the Pandit Motiram Maniram Sangeet Samaroh in the city. As part of the three-day event this year, Pandit Jasraj’s daughter Durga Jasraj went on to conceptualise ‘Raagas on Tabla’, that captured a unique sound-mix of a tabla and a vocal concert. MetroPlus caught up with her to discuss more about it.
“Tabla has a certain structure in the way it is played, yet it never fits melodically into a raag. Meanwhile, a vocal concert has elements like alaap, vilambit to capture the soul of what one sings. Overtime, I wondered why can’t we incorporate them together into one rhythmic cycle. The idea here is not lose out on the framework of both,” Durga says. She knew the idea could go the distance when it first got Zakir Hussain intrigued. Durga then took this idea to her father, who was more than willing to give it a push.
While ‘Raaga on Tabla’ was her brainchild, it was composer Kedar Pandit added flesh to it. “He was an obvious choice, given he was my father’s disciple, knew tabla in and out and could sing as well. He wrote all the pieces for the concept, also has credentials of composing over 300-400 raagas to date. Kedar ji has brought out the compassion and the melancholy of it beautifully, where the mood of the raag is firmly established.” Besides three tabla artistes, the concept brought forth a mix of vocalists and flautists as well, in the events hosted in Delhi, Pune and Bhubaneshwar. “The key to the success of the idea in these venues were to ensure a 40-minute duration.”
The event is one of its kind in the world too, for it is only non-ticketed music fest that’s hosted without any sponsoring where all strata of society come under one roof to relish the musical juices, the Jasraj way.
It has gone onto be a family tradition for them to come back to Hyderabad, feeling more rejuvenated each time. “We keep waiting for November every year to come back to Hyderabad, bonding with music connoisseurs in full strength,” Durga mentions. She adds that a lot of work consciously goes into it to sustain the event’s creative significance and that social media has done its bit to enhance it.
“It’s a big hole in the pocket ultimately, but our emotional investment into it is very unconditional and that’s what keeps us going,” she signs off.
