11th ITC Sangeet Sammelan, November 2003, Kolkata  m

The Telegraph November 14, 2003 
Nilaksha Gupta

Unique brinkmanship (Excerpts) 

Ustad Vilayat Khan, the sitar maestro, brought the four-session 11th ITC Sangeet Sammelan celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy at Aldeen to a close with 69-minute recital in Darbari Kanada last Sunday night. The 29-minute alap could count among the best he has played and in it he indulged in musical brinkmanship by clipping the duration of the note nishad in the characteristic Darbari phrase Dha Ni Pa.

This was done in manner that came near to distorting the raga but did not do so eventually. No Jod was played. The madhya vilambit and drut (initially sitarkhani) teental gatkari, however, was usually routine and occasionally reminded one of the ustad's age. Anandagopal Banerjee provided excellent tabla accompaniment.

The ustad's recital was preceded by a very good recital by khayal maestro Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar. While the elaboration of the classic composition in Malati Basant was in the best tradition of the Gwalior style, the delineation of the raga Saoni (Sawani) that came next was in the authentic Jaipur Atrauli style.

To sing in these two styles one after the other is a rare feat. The drut khayals in Kafi, Basant Bahar and Sohini that followed in rapid succession were equally good. In the second there were some really striking juxtapositions of Bahar and Basant phrases both in the melodic elaboration and taankari.

The session had started with a vocal recital by Manjiri Kelkar and followed by a flute recital by Ronu Majumdar.

The Sunday morning session had opened with a structurally solid and melodically perfect alap in Mian ki Todi by Lucknow sarod stalwart Narendranath Dhar. Apart from developing the raga excellently, Dhar used phrases using the pancham (major 5th) in traditional Seniya manner rarely heard today.

The vilambit and drut teental gatkari too were very good. There was engrossing bolkari and layakari in the first and good deria (triple time) and khayal-style taankari and jhala work in the second. Samar Saha provided good tabla accompaniment.

Parveen Sultana, who performed next, surprised by choosing khayals in the raga Gurjari Todi as her main offering. This raga omits the note pancham but otherwise has the same notes as Mian ki Todi and as such was a bad choice melodically.

It was also a bad choice from the time schedule aspect as it was five minutes past 12 pm when she started and the time for ragas of the Sarang group.

The slow melodic elaboration was on the monotonous side and the taankari and sargam work in both the vilambit and drut khayals lacked variety. She did sing a drut khayal in Shuddh Sarang afterwards but by that time the reviewer's listening mood had been soured.

The best recital in the first two evenings was that by master vocalist Ajoy Chakraborty at the end of the opening session. He developed his vilambit and drut khayals in Malkauns in the manner of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan with excellent structural and textural finesse. His phrase development, bahalawas, slow gamak taans, rythmic movements, sargam patterns and excellently developed and powerful taankari combined to create a really engrossing listening experience.

Girija Devi, the recipient of this year's ITC Award, sang khayals in Jog in her well-known style. Bhajan Sopori, who played Marwa, produced some meends on the lower strings and developed the raga well in the alap and jod.

His gatkari featured khayal style taankari marked by tonal depth and dimension unusual for the santoor. Nayan Ghosh's teental tabla solo on the second evening and sitar player Sugato Nag's alap and gats in Rageshree on the first evening were enjoyable items. 

The Statesman
Friday 14, 2003

SRA festival mixes old and new

The Sangeet Research Academy’s ground wore a festive look. At the same time, under the tasteful canopy, one could sense the beginning of the classical music season which will cover all the winter months. Sitar maestro Ustad Vilayat Khan has kept his place in the hearts of Kolkatans for more than five decades. Music lovers were no doubt attracted to the festival by the magic of his name. Together with it, this year’s SRA Sangeet Sammelan, which deviated a little from the usual format by introducing instrumentalists from various disciplines and new faces in the vocal stream, brought a whiff of bygone music conferences. These had been held in the open with people spending time discussing the programmes while sipping coffee. However, the introductions of artistes with their accompanists could have been cut to size, thus providing more time for which the people have gathered.

The 25th anniversary was a special occasion. ITC sponsorship has enabled this academy to flourish all these years in the service of Hindusthani classical music. The academy was established with the avowed aim of preserving and propagating vocal music. The then masters of various gharanas such as Nissar Hussein Khan, Latafat Hussein Khan, Nrivittibua Sarnaik added lustre to the new academy.

Without going into detail, it might be said that changes have naturally crept in, the main change being the incorporation of instrumental music. This year’s sammelan presented nine vocalists and six instrumentalists. No doubt that made for variety as did the Carnatic music item, a welcome attempt which is now on to familiarise listeners with a sister discipline very similar yet at the same time dissimilar.

The first item of the Sammelan, namely a kheyal recital by 10-year-old Shatavisha Mukherjee, a scholar of the academy, needs special mention. She is mature beyond her years, yet retains the spontaneity of youth. Shatavisha’s rendering of kheyal in Raag Hamir was captivating. She presented traditional bandishes correctly rendered. A raag Bahar bandish "kaliyan sang karta rang raliyan" ended her recital somewhat abruptly.

Sugoto Nag’s sitar recital was melodious, played in the gayaki ang of the Imdadkhani baaj of sitar. On the tabla was Mallar Ghosh. Ajoy Chakraborty’s choice was Raag Malkosh. Ajoy has spread out in various directions – he is at home in shastriya, upashastriya sangeet and what is known as Bangla raagpradhan. In this recital he adhered to the Patiala gharana gayaki in kheyal ending up with a thumri. He was given tabla support by Samar Saha and harmonium accompaniment by Jyoti Goho.

Debashish Dey presented Raag Bhim in his kheyal recital accompanied by Swapan Mukherjee and Rupashree Bhattacharya on the tabla and harmonium. Though Bhimpalasi, a combination of Bhim and Palasi, is a very popular evening raag, its two components are very rarely heard separately. Nayan Ghosh, son of famous tabalia Nikhil Ghosh, gave a solo tabla recital, which stood out for the clarity of "bols". His rendering of "gats" composed by great masters such as Miyan Bakshu, Amir Hussain and others was also a plus point. On request, he presented "laggi".

Neyveli Santhanagopalan accompanied by Mannarkoil J Balaji on the mrindangam and VV Srinivas Rao on the violin gave a Carnatic vocal recital. His first choice was Raag Pantuvarali which is akin to the North Indian Raag Puriadhanasree. Bhajan Sopori, the famous santoor player with a Sufiana tradition, presented alap, jod, and jhala in Raag Marwa. His alap is a variant of the usual santoor playing, adept as he is in employing meend and gamak, having made some alterations in this instrument. It was a pity that in his recital that evening he concentrated on jod and especially jhala, drut and atidrut gats with the usual dialogue with the tabla. Samar Saha gave him excellent support.

Rashid Khan is a great favourite with Kolkatans who have been listening to him since he was hardly more than a child. He presented kheyals in Raag Bihag, vilambit, madhya, and drut in ektaal, jhaptaal and teentaal. His amazing cascade of tans left listeners spellbound. Girija Devi is a storehouse of authentic banaras gharana gems of thumri, chaiti and jhula. That evening, after her kheyal in Raag Jog, she regaled listeners with a few such bandishes.

Narendra Nath Dhar gave a neat sarod recital with Samar Saha on the tabla. He presented Raag Mian ki Todi, followed by Charukeshi, a Carnatic raag now very popular in the North, especially with instrumentalists. Parveen Sultana, popular in vocalist, is a frequent visitor to the city. She sang kheyal in Gurjori Todi – "Aye ghar balam" (vilambit) and "Jare kagawa" (drut), then a Shudh sarang bandish, followed by a favourite "Bhavani dayani", both in Raag Bhairavi. Young vocalist manjiri Kelkar impressed with her open-throated traditional kheyals in the Jaipur gharana gayaki. On the tabla was Sujit Saha and on the harmonium Rupashree Bhattacharya. She concluded with a madhyalaya bandish in Raag Sorat, a little-heard twin of Raag Desh, which was also well rendered. Some gharanas eschew the komal gandhar, which was prominent in her recital, but then there are bound to be differences, as Vilayat Khan remarked later, in compositions of different gharanas.

Along with the steady disappearance of the pakhawaj with vocal music because of the dwindling number of takers for the dhrupad, instrumentalists are making use of this instrument as accompaniment, sometimes singly, sometimes with the tabla. Ronu Majumder, flautist from Mumbai, presented alap, jod, jhala in raag Jhinjhoti, followed by bandishes set to jhaptaal and tritaal. One is inclined to vote for the "gayakiang" of Pannalal Ghosh, to whom goes the credit of taking the bamboo flute to the concert platform. Majumder was accompanied on the tabla by Anindo Chatterjee and on the pakhawaj by Durga Prasad.

Ulhas Kashalkar’s recital was a feast of vocal music with beautiful "chizas" in various raags. Listeners were regaled with the starter kheyal in Raag Malti-Basant, followed by Sawani, Kafi, Basant-Bahar and Sohini. Suresh Talwalkar from Mumbai provided excellent and robust tabla sangat with Jyoti Goho hardly audible on the harmonium.

Vilayet Khan brought the three-day festival to a triumphant close with a sitar recital, his first choice being Raag Darbari. Veteran tablavadak Anandagopal Bandopadhyay was the tabla accompanist.

The Statesman
Monday 10 November 2003

Music Mania

Just before the silver jubilee celebrations of the ITC-SRA Sangeet Sammelan began on Friday, the audience was treated to a delightful tale of how the celebrated vocalists of today used the lush green fields of the compound for regular games of cricket. That was back in 1978 – well before Sourav Ganguly ad discovered his skills with the bat but when Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev were the main idols of budding cricketers of Kolkata. Fortunately no centuries were scored, otherwise Arun Bhaduri, Ajoy Chakrabarty, Ulhas Kashalkar and Rashid Khan, much sought after maestros of today, may have decided to move from the guru-shishya tradition in the elegant surroundings of the Sangeet Research Academy to the Eden Gardens. But when the chief minister arrived on Friday escorted by ITC Chairman YC Deveshwar, to hand over the annual ITC award to Girija Devi, SRA had much more to be proud about.
While its scholars of 1978 have now moved out into the big world of Hindustani classical music, a new generation has emerged. Among them was the ten-year-old Shatavisha Mukherjee who gave the chief minister a brief demonstration of her vocal skills. As the jam-packed lawns joined Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee in giving the little girl a spontaneous applause, SRA must have been reassured about its plans for the future.

Hindustan Times,
November 09, 2003

Music Maestros Perform at SRA Silver Jubilee 

It has been 25 years since ITC set up the Sangeet Research Academy, the cradle of talented musicians. The silver jubilee is being celebrated with a three-day Sangeet Sammelan featuring music maestros across India. The Sammelan was inaugurated on Friday by Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. 

"Though we started with only vocal training, about one-and-a-half years back, training in various musical instruments was initiated and the response has been positive," said Amit Mukherjee, executive director of SRA.

YC Deveshwar, chairman, ITC Ltd said, "SRA is a pantheon of Hindustani classical music where, over the years, many maestros have assembled. Slowly, however, we will broaden its horizon and introduce global appreciation of music." He also spoke of plans to digitise SRA so that it is available to the Indian diaspora. "Then, at some point, we will ask people accessing SRA to provide a user’s charge, which would be utilsed to improve the academy," he added.

Among the invitees at the show was Sangeet Shiromoni Girija Devi, who was awarded this ITC Award. "I consider Sangeet Academy as a garden, which has produced so many flowers and fruits. I have given many years to the students here and will continue to do so," declared Girija Devi. "There is no lack of big companies in India, who do not mind spending crores on sports but what about music? ITC can be considered a glorious exception," said Girija Devi. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee appreciated the gurukul method followed at the academy. Those who performed on the first day was SRA scholar Shatavisha Mukherjee, who is just 10 years old, sitar player Sugato Nag and vocalist Ajoy Chakraborty. Among the guests were Budhhadeb Guha, Dipali Nag, Jaya Biswas and Kumar Prasad Mukhopadhyay.

The Times of India,
November 07, 2003 
Ratnottama Sengupta

Legends born and bred in a classical tradition

When Sangeet Research Academy was set up in 1978, it offered a new home to legends of Hindustani music like Nissar Husain Khan, Hirabai Barodekar, Latafat Hussain Khan, Nivruttibua Sarnaik and Girija Devi. Twenty five years later it is home to today's legends, such as Ajoy Chakraborty, Ulhas Kashalkar, Rashid Khan, and Girija Devi. This continuity reflects our classical heritage and Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya will salute this celebration of heritage by inaugurating the three-day festival on Friday.

Significantly, Ajoy Chakraborty was a scholar when the earlier gurus taught at SRA. Today, the master boasts a star shishya in daughter Kaushiki. Ulhas Kashalkar, who joined 10 years ago, claims the largest number of disciples. Girija Devi, who receives the ITC Award, returns to the fold after years. And Shruti Shadolikar joins the academy where Rashid Khan was raised by Nissar Hussain of Rampur Saheswan gharana.

The interim years have seen the academy renowned for its vocalists, bring instrumental music within its fold. "The appeal of sitar and sarod have grown tremendously, so we introduced Buddhadev Dasgupta," informs director Amit Mukherjee. The present concerts build on this with santoor by Bhajan Sopori and flute by Ronu Majumdar being crowned by sitar by Vilayat Khan, Tabla by Nayan Ghosh and recitals by Devashis Dey and Manjiri Kelkar are other highlights.

"SRA's most noteworthy contribution is that it turns out performers," says Kashalkar, a Gwalior-Jaipur voice. "It has no stipulated course nor confers any degree, but it turns out Kalakars in a way no music school or university does." And this is possible only because the gurus and disciples share several years of their life, along with cultural values and devotion to music. 

There's just one regret: "Our students come to us only after graduation. At age 22, their voice has matured, often under another guru, and that can be a handicap," explains Kashalkar.

"Classical music is not a course you can finish in months and launch on a lucrative career," Mukherjee points out another hurdle to the continuity. "Nor is it relevant to the masses. So, even talented exponents go through periods of insecurity." This is heightened when sponsors, the new patrons of the arts, seek only young-and-voluminous-audience. 

This is precisely where SRA has scripted a success story. "We'd started with maestros who'd peaked in the concert circuit," says Mukherjee. "These gurus were happy to trade their traditional homes for an assured income and an opportunity to teach their art." Today, when Kashalkar and Mashkoor Ali Khan boast of students like Onkar Dadarkar and Arshad Ali, they know their art will live in the future. 

The Statesman
Friday 7, November 2003

ITC – SRA TURNS 25

It seems just like the other day when ITC wanted to bring new impetus to the classical music scene in Kolkata. That was when the corporate giant sought to revive the guru-shishya tradition through its Sangeet Research Academy in the pleasant ambience of Aldeen in Tollygunge. Since then many great voices have emerged at the behest of their gurus. Rashid Khan is a child of the Academy who has now found a place for himself among the best in the country. So has Ajoy Chakrabarty. Now ITC-SRA enters the silver jubilee with new hopes and new celebrations at its Sangeet Sammelan this year. It will begin with the chief minister handing over the ITC Award to veteran vocalist of the Banaras gharana, Girija Devi, in the presence of ITC Chairman, YC Deveshwar, and a distinguished gathering of music lovers of Kolkata.

That will be the start of a festival that will have vocal recitals by Ajoy Chakrabarty and Shatavisha Mukherjee, an SRA scholar, and sitar recital by Sugato Nag on Friday when the festival opens, suggesting that SRA has now moved from vocal to the world of instrumental music as well. On the following two days, the festival will have vocal by, among others, Rashid Khan, Girija Devi, Parween Sultana and Ulhas Kashalkar, Santoor by Bhajan Sopori, Sarod by Narendra Nath Dhar and finally, a sitar recital by Ustad Vilayat Khan. If there is an overwhelming response, as expected, ITC should be reassured that its efforts over the last 25 years have borne fruit.

Business Standard 
November 07, 2003 
Ishita Ayan Dutt

At 25, ITC SRA flags off its world vision


Kolkata’s ITC Sangeet Research Academy (SRA) will flag off its 25th year celebration which will also be the occasion to flag off a new process of thinking global. SRA was set up by ITC Ltd in 1978 to foster and support Indian classical music as a public charitable trust, and a ‘gurukul’ to revive the Indian ‘guru-shishya parampara’ at a time when such thinking was unknown in the country.

SRA executive director Amit Mukherjee said SRA's first objective today was to propagate appreciation of Indian classical music to the large diaspora of Indians and non-Indians overseas.

Mukherjee, an exponent of Hindustani classical music, said the global drive would strengthen the core objectives of the academy as well. The academy was set up with emphasis on reviving and nurturing the heritage of Hindustani classical music.
Mukherjee said, the western world's interest in Indian music was rising and this would be nurtured. SRA would target the universities and music institutes, to expose them to Indian music, both vocal and instrument.

SRA would consciously make an effort to reach out to the music institutes and not just concentrate on musical concerts. Concerts would just be a part of the "thinking global" programme.

According to Mukherjee, the western world was much more acquainted with our instrumental music rather than vocal. Without aiming at creating a divide between vocal and instrumental music, SRA would introduce the western cultural institutes to vocal music.

SRA would take gurus from the academy to perform at the institutes. There would also be limited performance by scholars, or 'shishyas'. However, SRA was not in favour of excessive exposure of scholars during their learning period as it would distract them.

The academy has always had a galaxy of gurus including legends like the late Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan, the late Vidushi Hirabai Barodekar, the late Pandit Nivruttibua Sarnaik, the late Ustad Latafat Hussain Khan, the late Ustad Ishtiaq Hussain Khan, as well as living legends like Vidushi Girija Devi, Pandit T D Janorikar, the late Yunus Hussain Khan and Pandit Vijay Kichlu.

To take globalisation to its last mile, SRA would also encourage an exchange of western and Indian music through its scholars. Mukherjee has already made an offer to some music institutes to send their scholars to SRA and expose to Hindustani classical music either from the academy's gurus or the recordings available with the academy.

SRA prides on its exhaustive collection of recordings of its gurus which cannot be used for commercial purposes, Mukherjee said. While it was not possible for the academy's scholars to really learn both Indian and western music, the academy would urge its scholars to expose themselves to western music for a better understanding of music in all its manifestations worldwide.

The Financial Express 
November 04, 2003

ITC’s SRA Unveils Feast For Fans Of Classical Music

ITC Sangeet Research Academy (ITC-SRA), one of the premiere institutes for Hindustani classical music, will celebrate 25 years of its existence with a three-day feast for music lovers beginning this Friday.

Mr. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, West Bengal’s chief minister, will inaugurate the function as the chief guest.

A host of noted vocalists and instrumentalists will perform at the silver jubilee celebrations.

Among them will be Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ajoy Chakraborty, Parween Sultana, Rashid Khan, Srinivasa Rao and Girija Devi, who will present the annual ITC awards for excellence in music.

Meanwhile, the ITC-SRA aims to step up collaboration with the ethno-music departments and academicians in the US and Europe.

With a rich library of around 15,000 hours of classical Hindustani music, perhaps the best collection after All India Radio’s, ITC-SRA organisers believe that the institute can play an important role in spreading India’s rich heritage.

Said Mr. Amit Mukherjee, executive director of ITC-SRA, " One of our plans in the silver jubilee year is to establish close relationship with various music academies. We have seen that many people in European countries are interested in Hindustani classical music. We want this occidental interest to grow through collaboration and exchange programmes." 

The Telegraph 
November 04, 2003 

Harmony, in chords & strings

Music academy’s jubilee pitch shifts from vocal to instrumental Preserve, propagate and popularise. For the past quarter of a century, the ITC Sangeet Research Academy (SRA) has stuck to this simple, yet difficult, motto to reach Indian classical music to a global audience. From a grooming ground for classical vocalists to the vanguard of a rich lineage, the sprawling 1, NS Bose Road premises, in Tollygunge, has seasoned into a hotseat for music enthusiasts. In its silver jubilee year, the institution, which has restricted itself to Hindusthani vocal so long, will introduce lessons in the sitar and the sarod. 

"The instrument faculty was informally introduced a year-and-a-half ago and the results were very satisfactory. We are going official this year and will appoint more gurus in this section," says SRA executive director Amit Mukherjee, who is also interested in reviving the sarengi, a dying craft, "if we get enough interested students and teachers".

Exposing students and scholars to modern technology is another area that the SRA wants to focus on. "The quality of a recital improves dramatically if musicians are well-versed with the intricacies of the microphone, or say, sound engineering," says an SRA spokesperson. "Our students are being exposed to the related software for a better grasp of the subject."

Alongside training the young generation and spreading awareness, the SRA authorities are also keen on a two-way traffic with the west. "Classical music would get a boost if foreigners come over to SRA for training, or we hold seminars and sessions there to explain the nuances of our art," says Mukherjee. "People abroad think instrument is the only domain of Indian classical music because vocal music has never been propagated with the same fervour." The SRA official received "a tremendous response" from European universities, where he recently held lectures and demonstrations on vocal and instrumental music. "Quite a few of them have approached us for training at SRA."

Back in the Tollygunge complex, preparations are on in full swing for a three-day anniversary special concert, starting November 7. The list of luminaries includes Ustad Vilayat Khan, Girija Devi, Parveen Sultana, Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty and Ustad Rashid Khan.