The sweet strains of sitar

TPadmabhushan Nikhil Banerjee (1931-1986) was among the greatest sitarists of this century. His music earned for him deep respect among India’s classical music aficionados, and also got him a devoted international fan following. Banerjee was the disciple of the two legends of 20th century Indian classical instrumental music, Padmavibhushan Allauddin Khan and his son, maestro Ali Akbar Khan. Though he recorded many LPs, very few were live concerts, in which his leisurely, majestic raga development was unsurpassed. This album offers one such rare live recording of the maestro.

Banerjee was born in 1931 into a family of Bengali Brahmins, which meant that even if his was not a family of hereditary professional musicians, he grew up in the atmosphere of art and culture. He began learning the sitar at the age of six from his father, and at the age of 16 he became the disciple of Ustad Allaudin Khan and then from Khansaheb’s son, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. His concert career began in 1954 and continued successfully until his untimely death at the age of 54 in 1986. For many, his refined style combined the best of all the major schools of sitar-playing.

This album has the recording of the concert in Law Auditorium, University of Chicago, in 1984, and consists of Raga Surdasi Malhar. The Malhar group of ragas is associated with the monsoon season. Sur Malhar is not performed as often as Miyan ki Malhar, which is undoubtedly the most popular raga in this group. It is attributed to Miyan Tansen, court musician to the Emperor Akbar in the 16th century. Raga Surdasi (or Sur) Malhar is named after poet Surdas, who was one of the leaders of the bhakti (devotional) movement. Raga Surdasi Malhar bears similarities to Raga Brindabani Sarang. That raga also has affinities with Raga Megh, the raga of clouds, often included in the Malhar group. Banerjee structures his performance along classical lines. First comes the alap, in which the raga is gradually unfolded.

The main composed melody is a typical sitar gat of the type known as Masit Khani, in which the melodic phrase begins on the 12th beat. Banerjee improvises around the gat in slow phrases reminiscent of alap. As he increase the tempo in stages, his playing becomes faster and he executes several finely-crafted tans (rapid patterns of notes). The second gat preserves Teental, in a fast tempo, but introduces a new melodic composition, of both a playful and complex nature.

The whole of the fast gat section is somewhat longer than usual, as Banerjee carefully structures the order of his improvisations, from fluent tans to the final climax of the jhala, in which both sitar and tabla artists play as fast as possible.

Total Absorption

- Pandit Nikhil Banerjee
(Raga Surdasi Malhar) - Live Recording
Sony-Nad, Rs. 100