Last week, SPIC MACAY (Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth) brought together some of the living legends of Indian classical music and dance for ‘Rasraj Smaran,’ a live online homage to Sangeet Martand Pt. Jasraj, who passed away last month.
Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, accompanied on flute by his disciple Devapriya, opened his tribute with a melodious alap in Khamaj as the preface to ‘Vaishnav Jan To…’, but the actual homage one felt came through the swaras of the pensive Marwa. Carefully marked by phrase and pause, with each alternate phrase ending on the pivotal komal rishabh of the raag, the rendition subtly evoked the feeling of loss and sorrow.
Engaging jugalbandis
Dr. L. Subramaniam talked about his close association with Pt. Jasraj, especially the jugalbandis they performed, before playing a resolute Sarasangi on his violin, known for its unique tonal quality. Thoughtfully conceived in a ragam-tanam format, it had an inner arrangement of restraint and generosity mirrored in the melodious swar sangatis establishing a ‘samvad’ or dialogue with the corresponding swaras in mandra and madhyasaptak .
His rendition spread the warmth of the raga, finally leading up to the bhajan, ‘Govind Damodar Madhaveti,’ composed and immortalised by Pt. Jasraj. The audience listened with bated breath till the swaras of Sarasangi merged with the meditative drone of the tampura.
Subramaniam concluded his homage with a short video clip of their duet where Pt. Jasraj is singing ‘Narayani Niranjani’ in Bhairavi and his wistful violin joins in to delicately unfold the soulful swaras of the raga.
Vidwan Vikku Vinayakram on the ghatam, accompanied by his son Selva Ganesh and grandson Swaminathan on the ganjira, was a mathematician’s delight, breaking as he did the subtle give and take of the main beat with teasing fractions of wholes and parts and odds and mnemonics of konnakkol, which wrought wonders right from the opening Aditala with the emphasis on Misra Kuraippu. He also played a challenging 7 and 1/2 beats cycle with complex rhythmic patterns.
Describing Pt. Jasraj’s music as “serene, soulful and sublime,” senior vocalist Sudha Ragunathan presented an Annamacharya kriti invoking Lord Venkateswara in raga Revathi. Explaining the kriti’s philosophical content, her long introduction featured slokas like ‘Na jayate mriyate va kadachit….’ from the Bhagavad Gita.
Rattan Mohan Sharma, the nephew and disciple of Pt. Jasraj, sang raag Shuddha Vairadi with a vilambit khayal set to slow ek taal and the popular teentaal bandish ‘Kunj Bihari….’, showcasing his training and practice under the legendary Guru.
Fitting tribute
Odissi exponent Madhavi Mudgal thoughtfully chose an invocation to ‘Bhagawati’ and an Ashtapadi from Gita Govind, both composed by Pt. Jasraj, for her tribute. Sung delicately by Pt. Madhup Mudgal, who has also learnt from Pt. Jasraj, the invocation created the right ambience for her elegant abhinaya to Jayadeva’s verses.
Madhavi also shared childhood memories of Pt. Jasraj being presented by her father, Pt. Vinay Chandra Maudgalya, for the first time in Delhi at the Jayanti Samaroh in 1966, and how he instantly became the talk of the town.
Pts. Rajan and Sajan Mishra spoke of bonding with Bapuji and presented his favourite raag Kaunsi-Kanhada, with the famous Bada Khayal ‘Rajan ke Siraj…’ and a teentaal bandish ‘Damodar Hari Naam Bol…’, conceived with the larger design of the raag in mind and adorned with finely articulated sargam and aakar taans.
The tribute concluded with a video clip of Pt. Jasraj singing ‘Mero sankat nibaro…’, a devotional pada of Surdas in Bhairavi, in a leisurely alap style with his signature sublimity.
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Swar and Soul
Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma beautifully analysed the title ‘Rasraj,’ given to Pt. Jasraj by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, when he said that “Pt. Jasraj conveys the essence, the ‘rasa’ of the raag he sings”. “He had a vast repertoire of raags and bandish of the Mewati Gharana. He also composed many bandish to create the rasa-bhava (mood) of the raag.”
Pt. Birju Maharaj talked about the ‘Bhava-Bhakti’, the devotional element of his music, his reverence for ‘shabda’ (words of the lyrics) and ‘sur,’ the accurate tunefulness of the notes. Maharaj also stated that both of them were devotees of Krishna, another element that brought them closer.
Dr. Sonal Mansingh said his voice and eyes were intoxicating — at once exciting, soothing, soulful, and transcending. She reminisced about the heart-warming rendering of ‘Mata Kalika…’ by both Pt. Jasraj and his elder brother Pt. Maniram at New Delhi’s Kalkaji temple.
