DLMC Day 3 If the second day was packed full of good performances I am not sure what to say about day 3, at the risk of supseetting friends, artists and fans. Perhaps interest is the main word that comes to mind. The first performance started late. Alam Khan took the stage but showed no signs of starting. There was confusion as at least one audience member started shouting. What I do not know, and at first Alam also did not understand. He made the comment that there were still many empty seats. The hecler contrinued. Alam pointed to a couple of people walking in and said there were still latecomers arriving. I can only concluse that the heckler was suggesting that the performance start. Frankly I agreed. I was feeling impatient myself, having been in place in time.Alam Khan told us in his intro he had chosen an early slot. Maybe he isnt aware that at DLMC people arrive late, especially if theyre not particularly interested in the opening artist. This is something a professional has to put up with, at any time of the night, people coming and going. This is not a European (or American) concert hall. Alam finally said he would start, if the problem was resolved. The first item started after five past nine, thirty five minutes late. Curiously, having told us he had requested an early slot, Alam announced he would play Darbari, a night raga. He would play an alap, then tell us later what raga he would play gat in. I dont see why there was any mystery, since when it came to the gat he said he would play in Kirwani, a combination of Darbari and that raga was a habit of his father (Ali Akbar Khan). After hearing and enjoying Alam Khan at Saptak, where he complained he had only a short slot, I had been looking forward to a DLMC set where I could enjoy his playing for longer, and his tackling a fuller raga performance. I didnt really get it, Im sorry to say, his set only added up to about an hour and a quarter, playing, perhaps because of the late start and a pre-defined finish time. The Darbari/Kirwani was followed by a Manj Khamaj. The Darbari alap was pleasant. Personally I would have preferred a longer performance which drew out and explored more of the darker side of the raga. This was almost Darbari-lite. I like it portraying robbers in the night, how my old and sadly for me short-term sarangi teacher Nicolas Magriel described it when he gave me a tape of Bundu Khan to listen to. I enjoyed Vinayak Torvi at Saptak, and his performance tonight was even better. What a splendid robust-voiced performer he is - a master. He gave us a Miyan ki Malhar, followed by Tilak Kamod and Basant. Excellent. I wont say I was crying out for more when he finished, but only because of the volume, my seat being fairly close to front speakers! I had been looking forward to hearing Anoushka Shankar, simply out of interest, wondering how she would fare classical in front of a Calcutta audience. The stage needed setting up to her taste, and presumably by her in-tow stage crew. I couldnt see the point of having two tanpura players sitting at the corner of the back of the stage, as far away as they could possibly be from Anoushka. If all she could hear was the tanpuras from the monitors in front of her she may as well have used an electric tanpura and saved on staff costs. If Alam Khan had taken an evening slot and given us a night raga, Anoushka played in the early morning side of night and gave us an evening raga, Maru Bihag. Maybe she was uncomfortable in her DLMC debut being tested on a serious night raga. Maru Behag is melodious and makes fewer demands perhaps. I have to say her alap was disappointing in the extreme. It was a performance by rote to my ears, and the tempo in the jor and unimpressive jhalla was meandering and had no sense of purpose. Inept was the word that came to my ear from someone sitting next to me. Anoushka is clearly good at what she does well... She delivered gats in Maru Bihag, and went on to play a short alap in Pancham se Gara with a variety of gats, as she informed us. She is very technically proficient, and uses a number of techniques, melodic and rhythmic ideas clearly imbibed from her father. She drew large numbers of the audience to their feet at the end of her performance. But for me there was no soul, little invention. It seemed a performance which could have been rehearsed and choreographed down to the last detail. I expected my main treat of the night to come from Kaushiki Chakrobarty. And so it did. But this wasnt without a question in my mind. At first, when she came on-stage, I thought she looked tired. Later I thought it was mood, or feeling less than perfectly fit. Whatever this was, it didnt prevent her delivering a technically staggering performance, especially in the main item Basant Mukhari. But her lovely charming charisma was somehow absent. Her smiles seemed to come from force or professional habit rather than from the heart. Before she was pressed by the audience to sing another item she responded rather testily, I thought, when the request came. She explained she had a plane to catch (but sang anyway), I was told later, but somehow that didnt seem to explain her mood to me. After the Basant Mukhari came a thumri and a couple of bhajans, which gave her the opportunity to wind down from the dazzling display of speed in the main item to show her voice at its most pleasing. It was four am and I went for a tea. I met a couple of friends and stood chatting for a while, then decided to leave without hearing the last artist, l Subramaniam on violin. All in all a good and interesting night, three good or better performances out of four is still a good average.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 07:14:10 +0000
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