The Hindustani music offering at a MITHAS concert on Sunday, November 1 featured Sarod player Dr. George Ruckert in the first half and vocalist Shri Sandip Bhattacharjee in the second half. Wearing an elegant cream Kurta pyjama and accompanied by his wife, the well known Kathak danseuse Gretchen Hayden dressed in a striking red bandhni salwar kameez on the tanpura, Dr. Ruckert opened the program with an evocative rendition of the romantic raga Madhuvanti. Commencing with a slow unmetered alaap and followed by a metered jod movement, the mature artist’s practiced hands gave definitive shape to the varied contours and pathways in the raga within the first fifteen minutes. Dr. Ruckert’s style of playing the Sarod immediately brought to the mind the beautiful music of his Guru, the late Ustad Ali Akbar Khan of the Maihar Gharaana(school of music). A composition in sixteen beat rhythmic cycle teentaal followed the alaap and jod movements with the tabla entering the musical equation with great elan. In establishing the raga in this section of the rendition, the focus would shift alternately from unfurling the magic of the melodic aspect through the display of ornamentations such as smooth glides across notes in multiple octaves to play with the rhythmic aspect of the composition. The tabla accompaniment was provided by popular New England artist Shri Nitin Mitta, who learned the art under Pandit G. Satyanarayana of Hyderabad and subsequently under Pandit Arvind Mulgaonkar of the Farukkhabad gharana.  Dr. Ruckert showed his appreciation for Shri Nitin Mitta’s spontaneous improvisations with smiles and loud utterances of the Hindi phrase “Kya Baat Hai” every now and then. Shri Nitin Mitta returned the compliments by openly appreciating Dr. Ruckert’s command over his instrument. The end of the presentation was marked by a resonant and spirited climax featuring powerful strumming of strings on the sarod and a tihai movement on the tabla.

After re-tuning his instrument, Dr. Ruckert proceeded to play a thumri in Raga Khamaj. He explained that in the mid-ninteenth century, the thumri genre was developed alongside kathak dance in the Lucknow city of Northern India. Since the words/lyrics of the composition held great importance in Thumri and people wondered if it could be played on an instrument. The legendary sitarist Ustad Vilayat Khan set a trend when he started including thumri in some of his performances. Dr. Ruckert mentioned that thumris often communicated a sense of longing for the beloved and briefly sang the words of the thumri “Kaun gali gayo shyaam”. He also translated the lyrics in English for the benefit of the non-Hindi speaking members of the audience - “In which lane will I find my beloved Shyama?” asks Radha, Lord Krishna’s divine consort. The thumri had two movements – the first one was set to 14 beat cycle chachar and the second to a sixteen beat cycle teentaal. To demonstrate a characteristic feature of the thumri, Dr. Ruckert returned to the refrain “Kaun gali gayo shyaam” in 14 beat cycle chachar after playing fast melodic taan movements in the second movement and concluding with a “laggi” section featuring a heightened display of tabla improvisations in the sixteen beat cycle teentaal.

“I am taking a class in folk music while pursuing an undergraduate degree in Brain/Cognitive Science at MIT” said Michelle, a concert attendee who plays the Western piano and violin instruments. “I find Indian music very different from what I have ever heard. The sound provided by the drone instrument in the background is especially intriguing” she said.

The featured performer for the second half of the MITHAS program was Shri Sandip Bhattacharjee, a scholar from the prestigious Sangeet Research Academy (SRA), Kolkatta and disciple of Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan and his brother Ustad Mubarak Ali Khan from the Kirana Gharana. Shri Ramchandra Joshi, disciple of vocalists Smt. Veena Sahasrabuddhe and Smt. Krishna Mukherjee accompanied him on the harmonium while Shri Nitin Mitta accompanied him on tabla.

Shri Bhattacharjee began with a slow vilambit ektaal (12 beat cycle) composition “Rasiya ho na jaa”  in evening Raga Marubihag. The interplay of two madhyams in Raga Marubihag was shown delicately, immediately drawing a positive response from the audience. The development of Marubihag was structured and with adequate emphasis on khadaj, gandhar, pancham and shadaj notes, creative phrases that revealed the landscape of the sunset raga effectively. The artist modulated his voice with great skill many a time opening a sequence of phrases with powerful voice projection. His robust and virile voice, navigating multiple octaves of the raga with ease sounded particularly impressive in the upper octave. He engaged the attention of the audience by sometimes using lyrics, sometimes sargam(solfege) and at other times aakaar (using the long aa vowel to expand on a movement). The alaaps in the antara(second part of the composition situated in the upper register) used taan (fast melodic movements) patterns. When he returned to the sthaayi (first part of the composition situated in the lower register), the vocalist impressed the audience with a display of excellent breath control, strength and vigor in the delivery of taans. 

Moving to a faster tempo drut teentaal (16 beat cycle) composition “Moray Bulma aja hoon na aaye”, Shri Bhattacharjee sang varied taans ending at different notes such as Madhyam and Khadaj. Shri Nitin Mitta got an opportunity to display his skills in a brief spotlight on the tabla at this point. Shri Ramchandra Joshi followed the vocalist closely and confidently and also added several imaginative phrases to enhance the vocal rendition.

As his second offering, Shri Bhattacharjee presented the popular traditional composition “Sajan moray ghur aaye” set to madhyalaya (medium tempo) sixteen beat cycle teentaal in Raga Jog. Pleasing short alaaps, a variety of bol-taans, a comfortable perch on upper Shadja and cleverly constructed taans were the highlights of this offering. 

Shri Bhattacharjee sang a gat bhaav thumri “Shyaam Bina chain na aavay” set to addha teentaal(16 beat cycle) in raga Desh next. The pangs of separation in a display of “viraha” rasa by the naayika, Radha were conveyed effectively in this semi-classical piece. Shri Ram Joshi’s phrasing for the thumri was colorful and  Shri Nitin Mitta dazzled the audience with his crisp delivery in the faster laggi section of the thumri. In a surprise ending the melodious Dadra “Beeti jaat barka ritu” was sung in a sprightly manner to the twelve beat ektaal cycle. Fast taans sung towards the end displayed the vocalist’s command over sur and taal.

The concert ended with a beautiful thumri in Raga Bhinna Shadja “Yaad Piya Ki aaye” popularized by the legendary Patiala-Kasur Gharana vocalist, the late Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan Saheb. The opening to the thumri was particularly evocative with a couplet imploring the raven bird to eat all of the poet’s human body flesh it desired except for the two eyes because they still held the hope of seeing the beloved (Kaaga, mori itni araj tujhse, chun chun khaiyyo maas, khaiyyo na tu do naina mere, inhe piya milan ki aas).  A conscious foray into ragas other than Bhinna Shadja gave a ragamaala(garland of ragas) flavor to the piece. Set to the attractive “lavani” variation of a 8 beat rhythm cycle “keherwa” theka, the thumri touched the hearts of the audience.

The tabla player Shri Nitin Mitta’s comfort in alternating with accompanying the Sarod instrument in the first half and a vocalist in the second half was a striking accomplishment and an interesting feature of the MITHAS concert.  The audience thanked all the artists by giving them a standing ovation.

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