The father-son sitar jugalbandi (duet) launched the "Jalsaghar" in Nashua NH on Friday, Nov 13th. This is the first US tour for this amazing sitar duo from Kolkata, Sugato Nag, and his son Snehesh Nag. Pandit Sugato Nag has performed several times in the Greater Boston area including at such well known venues as the Baithak, MITHAS, and the Learnquest Conference. A leading disciple of the legendary Padmabhusan recipient, Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta, Sugato is no stranger to New England. His son Snehesh, however, at 19, is touring the US the first time. Snehesh started his musical journey learning tabla with Shri Tanmoy Bose, and then started learning sitar from his father. Nowadays. he studies with Pandit Dasgupta himself. They were accompanied by tabla wizard Shri Nitin Mitta from Providence RI. Nitin belongs to the Farukkabad school of tabla players, boasting stalwarts such as Amir Hussain Khan and Keramatullah Khan.

They started their recital with Raga Desh. This raga is generally associated with the rainy season, and many folk and traditional melodies have been composed to the sweet tunes of this raga. The sitarists started with a slow and soulful alaap, and soon picked up the pace to deliver crisp taans with breathtaking finesse and "tayari" (polish). They then proceeded to play several bandishes in Teental. They chose to present several drut (fast) compositions, some of which were inspired by melodies created by Rabindranath Tagore. The bandish whose "som" (climax) landed on komal Ni, was a novel departure from the commonly heard compositions, and helped to create a memorable finale to the first half. Nitin's tabla accompaniment, especially during the jhala, was an unforgettable treat for the attendees.

After the break, during which the attendees were served some superbly crafted gourmet Indian dishes, the sitarist duo presented Raga Abhogi. The performers displayed their mastery not only of the sitar, but also the raga itself by superbly exploiting the pentatonic evening melodic structure. The composition was set to Rupak, a seven beat cycle. The concert ended with Raga Bhairvin, a solo by Sneshesh, with a folk-like composition set to Keharva, a eight beat rhythm cycle.

Dr. Pradeep Shukla, the founder of Learnquest, a teacher and performer in his own right, pulled me aside to share with me how much he was personally impressed by the maturity and mastery of the young sitarist Snehesh.

Girish Satpathi, a classical singer himself, and host of Jalsaghar, helped organize the event, through his meticulous planning and attention to detail and was instrumental in its huge success. The audio, by being inconspicuous, definitely added to the enjoyment.

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