Traditions are now being determined and standardised by urban culture which swears by thrilling permutations of speed, shorn of emotive coloration offered by raga-music. But Indian philosophy and science establish the source and destination of Indian music in Nature; mythical characters like Shiva, Saraswati and Krishna further support this viewpoint. Gradually, the Time Scale theory of raga-music crystallised from the devotion-charged temple music of ancient India. This, deep philosophy based theory, restricts a cluster of ragas to a certain time zone of a day of 24 hours, divided in eight ‘prahara’s, each having three hours. Several important aspects of this tradition are now being determined and standardised by urban culture in the present state of metropolitan confinement. The essence of this musical tradition is at stake because morning sessions of raga-music are very rare to find nowadays; and as such, the ragas belonging to these time zones are becoming rarer.
The concept of ‘Bhairav se Bhairavi Tak’ takes in its fold all the ragas belonging to every zone of the entire day; and also the entire world! Because its proponents are none else than Pandit Rajan and Sajan Mishra along with tabla maestro Kumar Bose and veteran harmonium expert Sumit Mishra; who have set out on a world tour beginning from Benares, their gharana’s birthplace and the city that cradled it to its peak. Allahabad, the holy city of Triveni was their first halt on their way to Kolkata, the cultural capital of India and the city of palaces that patronised music of all genres for centuries. Evidently ‘Jorasanko Thakurbari’, Tagore’s ancestral house in old Calcutta, was chosen as the venue and early evening to late evening zone for the chosen ragas’ playground in the sprawling courtyard of the historical building.
Rare raga
Before the golden winter’s early evening became copper, the maestros began with Hansakinkini, a rarely heard raga (sporting both the Gandhars and komal Nishad) with a poignant phrase (GMg,Rn.SRg-) as its haunting identity. Supported by Pandit Kumar Bose’s musical tabla, the medium-paced jhaptal composition unfurled the raga at leisure.
A Teental tarana followed by a few sparkling taans of varied grains. Both the compositions had their sam (first beat of the tala cycle that also highlights the most important swara of the raga) on shuddh Gandhar. Immediately after the pivotal sam another teental composition ‘Sab sakhiyan mil’, with its sam on komal Gandhar and emphasis on nSgS-adorned phrases, introduced another infrequently heard raga Dhani, dramatically!
In tandem
The elaboration accommodated a few heavy gamak taans and very quietly turned towards ‘Jhoothi dekhi preet’, a Kirwani based bhajan. The magnetic chemistry between the maestros and their accompanists took it all to the level of sheer bliss.
The late evening session under the open sky, despite the chilly weather, saw numerous fans and students of music glued to their seats. The vocalist-duo settled down with Nand (Anandi Kalyan), a raga that offers a limited range due to its meandering, rather complex gait. But the veterans opened up new vistas during its systematic elaboration rooted in loving meend-laden note-combinations interspersed with swinging laya-chhanda and stimulating taan-sargams. After the vilambit ektal khayal, they moved on to a medium-paced ektal bandish before singing ‘Ajahun na aaye’ set to Teental. The pathos ridden bol-banavs around ‘Bahut din beete’ were almost unbearably intense when the aakar taans came as a relief! And, as is the favourite technique of Rajan-ji, in the same breath the melody took a smooth turn towards raga Kamod by simply shifting the accent and gait of the same notes! They sang two beautiful traditional compositions ‘Eri jaane na doongi’ and ‘Ritu Basant sakhi’.
Both these ragas actually do not allow ample skill-show – much to the discontent of the ‘thrilling skill’-oriented listenership of this era; and yet their truthful adherence to the Naayaki, sans extra frills, highlighted the intrinsic beauty of the ragas to such an extent that it captivated all. Ignoring the chill and heavy evening dew, encores poured in for a Jaijaiwanti tarana. The masters obliged, keeping the swaying gait of the raga in their medium-paced Ektal composition. The superb chemistry between the vocals and tabla churned out delighting saath-sangat at every given opportunity. The harmonium gave its best in the concluding dadra “Chala pardesiya naina laga ke”. The masters dedicated this to the late thumri queen Girija Devi, who would sing it with great passion.
(As part of the ongoing world tour series, Pandit Rajan and Sajan Mishra will perform on February 4 at 10 a.m. at IGNCA, New Delhi)
