Luminous Sounds of Hindustani Classical Vocal and Sitar Music Concert
Held on April 11, the concert Luminous Sounds from the City of Light on Friday, was the finale of a week-long residency at Emory University by three acclaimed musicians from Benares: father-daughter duo Pt. Devashish Dey and Jayantika Dey; and sitar player Pt. Rabindra Goswami.
[Left] Musicians with Emory University faculty members who made the event possible (Scott Kugle, Brajesh Samarth, Kashika Singh, and Sara McClintock).
The program, sponsored by Emory University and the Michael C. Carlos Museum, gave the university students an opportunity to learn how ragas are used in Hindustani music. During a lecture- demonstration at the Carlos Museum, which was open to the public, Devashish Dey demonstrated ways in which Hindustani music allows for improvisation and spontaneity within the framework of ragas. In his friendly and approachable style, he used easy-to-relate examples to show how improvisations can be worked into a performance, all the while respecting the grammar of a raga. He also demonstrated how a singer unfolds a raga for the audience using alaap, compositions in slow as well as fast tempos. Pt. Rabindra Goswami showed ways in which the unfolding of a raga is different when using a sitar instead of singing. Different techniques like gamak and jhala were also demonstrated.
The two-part concert at the Canon Chapel showcased these ideas and techniques as first the vocalists took the stage. Jayantika, who has had the privilege of her father’s tutelage from a very young age, started with a melodious rendition of Raga Yaman. She showed her mastery of the techniques of Hindustani vocal singing through her alaaps, taans, and compositions in varying tempos.
[Right] Jayantika Dey performed a melodious rendition of Raga Yaman.
Pt. Dey, who is not only a singer but a composer and teacher as well, followed this with Raga Rageshree, creating the mood of this raga through his masterful execution of khayals set in both vilambit and dhrut tempos. His set displayed the rich music tradition of Benaras—in the purely classical presentation of the ragas and also in his singing a chaiti, one of the semi-classical forms for which Benaras is famous. The feelings of separation evoked by the lyrics ‘sari, sari ratiyan jagave, o rama, koel teri boliya’ very beautifully portrayed through his singing.
Pt. Rabindra Goswami, who follows a purely traditional style of sitar playing, bought his expertise of over fifty years to the stage. He played one of the beloved night-time ragas in Hindustani music, Raga Malkauns, exploring its intricacies and displaying the beauty of its patterns through an alaap and two compositions.
[Left] Pt. Rabindra Goswami on sitar at the Canon Chapel, Emory University.
Sonali Dey played the tanpura. Atlanta-based Anjaneya Sastry was on the tabla and showed the wonderful rapport that percussionist has with the other musicians in their hour-long sets, following them in their slow and fast progressions through the compositions.
—Aruna Padmanabhan
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