Sitar-Veena duet in WI - Gaurav Majumdar & Nirmala Rajasekar

[rasikapriyaa]

Sitar-Veena jugalbandhi by Shri. Gaurav Majumdar and Smt. Nirmala Rajasekar
October 24th, 2010 - Morphy Hall, Madison, Wisconsin.

The artistes were accompanied by Shri. Vishal Nagar on the tabla and Thanjavur Shri. Murugaboopathi on the mridangam.

The jugalbandhi started with a lecture demonstration. Smt. Nirmala spoke mentioned that the veena is the national instrument of India. She went on to describe the construction of the veena (made from one long piece of jack-wood), the presence of seven strings, the absence of sympathetic strings and how the beeswax under the strings gives it the special tone. Shri. Gaurav spoke about the presence of sympathetic strings and the movable frets. Both of them went on to talk further about their respective genres of music. I unfortunately missed portions of the lec-dem because I had to step out for some time but it looks like the audience was very impressed with the lec-dem.

The opening piece was an instrumental composition in the pentatonic scale, Mohanam (Boopali in Hindustani) set to a 12-beat cycle and led by Shri. Gaurav. The alapanai in Mohanam on the veena and the alaap in Boopali on the sitar were both great to hear.

This was followed by a chaste Ragam Tanam Pallavi (RTP) in raaga Keeravani set to a 16-beat cycle (rettai kalai Adi thalam) led by Smt. Nirmala. The pallavi was in praise of Lord Muruga and Smt. Nirmala sang the lyrics (in Tamil) of the pallavi for the benefit of the audience. The aalaapana, thaanam and the swara exchanges that ensued were brilliant. The gaayaki style of Smt. Nirmala on the veena was evident especially after her vocal rendition of the pallavi. The thani avarthanam was highly entertaining and the percussionists exchanged amazing and uncommon patterns. The chemistry between the four artistes was very good and the music that emanated from them on the whole was highly energetic.

The RTP was followed by the popular bhajan Vaishnava Janatho in raag Mishra Kamaaj. The pace was fast and the contrast between mishra kamaaj and the Carnatic kamaas was very beautifully brought out by the artistes.

This was followed by the piece de resistance of the evening - a suite of compositions in Sindhu Bhairavi. It started with a 6-beat instrumental composition in Sindhu Bhairavi by Shri. Gaurav Majumdar seamlessly integrated with a composition (in the language Kannada) of Saint Purandara Dasa in the same raaga - "Thamboori Meettidavaa" that was very well sung by Smt. Nirmala in addition to being played. The vocal rendition of the lyrical pieces added to the uniqueness of the jugalbandhi. The concert resulted in a standing ovation after a very fast-paced tharaana in Sindhu Bhairavi composed by Shri. Gaurav and set to an 8-beat cycle.

Overall, it was an excellent jugalbandhi!