It is after a long while that I’ve been listening to a young
Indian classical instrumentalist with so much care, attention and benefit.
Anjan
Chattopadhyay’s sitar rendering of the Raga Desh in aalap and gat form, as
also a Ragmala comprising of a fine bouquet of bandishes in different ragas has
literally made me nostalgic about times past, when warm, deep and serious sitar,
sarod or vocal recitals used to bless our evenings here in Kolkata.
Alas, with the passing away of the stalwarts, classical music in Kolkata is vastly reduced to listening to LPs, cassettes and CDs of the old masters. Experiencing Anjan’s recent programs has forced a change in the said script. Listening to Anjan once, I can vouch, is not enough for a discreet listener.
Why I say this is simple. Anjan’s playing brings back loads of memories of past masters. And, indeed, not merely because of the playing but because of its range and content. Anjan is among the blessed few among the young generation of sitarists in whom the non peril Vilayatkhani style survives generously.
From the first sound of the playing a deep, round, immaculate tone emerges
allowing a note-by-note delineation of the aalap--qaid aalap as it known in
musical parlance—to take shape. His aalaps are steady, systematic and
technically refined and smartly avoid repetition or stock phrases. Listening to
a recording of his Desh performed before a sizeable audience in Virginia I was
impressed by both his attention to detail as also grasp of the total picture.
His elaboration of the raga in the aalap form evinced an unhurried pace and a
solid structure which served as a strong introduction to the gat that was to
follow.
Anjan excels in rhythm and beats too. His style is replete with alamkars or
ornaments that endow his gayaki aang sitar with a quality and caliber of a
singing voice. What better testimony to this could be necessary than his Ragmala
recital, which employs a nearly unending series of bandishes from various ragas
to produce a veritable garland of songs? The bandishes are various, multifaceted
and multidimensional, their sources, structures and levels are classics; and
their engagement with tala and intricate layakari paves the way for excitement
and superior entertainment.
Finally what draws me back to Anjan’s sitar so strongly time and again is his
in-depth knowledge of raga and tantrakari; he is quite scholarly in his own way
and style. But he encapsulates all this in a form and body which I am tempted to
describe as poetic. Every piece he performs eventually takes on the image of a
poem.
Written by Sankarlal Bhattacherjee
Writer and Journalist
ABP Group. Kolkata
Biographer of Pandit
Ravi
Shankar {Raag-Anuraag & Smriti} & Ustad Vilayat Khan {Komal Gandhar}
World Music Central
http://www.worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/20061105124844880