Customer Reviews

Raga Lalit / Dedicated to D.T. Joshi

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Debu Chaudhuri lays claim to the lineage of Mushtaq Ali Khan (-1989) and Ashiq Ali Khan, going back through Barkatullah Khan to Amritsen (1814-1893), a sitariya in the direct bloodline of Miyan Tansen. The extent of Debu's taleem from Mushtaq Ali is often debated, but his sound is at any rate unique - soft and delicate, with none of the Maihar buzz or clanging Imdadkhani chikari.

This is one of my favourite recordings in this beautiful sunrise raga. Compared to his more recent "new age" efforts, he's like a different sitariya here - really brings out the melody, slowly, methodically, with subdued intensity. It would be unfortunate and somewhat puzzling if he were no longer capable of this type of musicianship.

I like Professor Chaudhuri's sitar style. It feels subdued, laid-back, soft and easy. On this disc he plays raga Lalit in a long alap (46 minutes), vilambit gat (18 minutes) and drut gat (12 minutes). And the alap is great! He is really systematic about it. His sound is a bit like Manilal Nag's. Not buzzing like Ravi Shankar, not hammering chikari like the Khans, not distorted like the Gwalior players that have started to become known in recent years or the other Chaudhuri, Subroto Roy. This sound is in my opinion particularily well suited to long alaps.

What I'm not so enthusiastic about is the gat. What I see as problems begin in the jhalla and carry over to the gat: the good Professor seems to be a victim of the all-ragas-equally-well-suited-to-all-formats mentality. If you ask me, a raga like lalit should not be subject to crazy fast taans up and down the sitar neck. I gather than some technique freaks don't share this sentiment, but are content with lightning speed for lightning's sake. To that crowd the professor is not to recommend, for his taans, fast as they are, are not as clean and crips as Vilayat's, Budhatiya's or Nikhilda's.