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There are many artists who play tabla and the more you investigate,
the more you find good players. But few artists rise to the
level of legend in their own times. These artists inspire
others to take up the instrument and pursue it with a passion. One
of those artists is Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri.
In 2006 the Darbar Festival featured several outstanding
artists in a special tribute to Bhai Gurmit Singh Virdee. Three
of the legends of tabla were featured, Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri,
Pandit Kumar Bose, and Pandit Anindo Chatterjee. The
performances can be heard in three fantastic CDs produced
by Alpesh Patel and Derek Roberts of Sense Music.
On the first CD I will review comes from Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri
and features the always respectable maestro Pandit Ramesh
Mishra on the sarangi providing the lehara. Panditji features
many Lucknow compositions, kaidas,
and the popular Lucknow repertory feature, the kaida
rela. In
this CD, Swapanda leads off with an uthan and mukra before
elaborating on the theka, then moves into a Lucknow
kaida.
A kaida is a theme and variation piece that students
learn akin to an ‘etude’. The performing
artist demonstrates their facility and artistry by guiding
the listener through permutations of the them by shifting
the bols around and developing longer phrases based
on the primary theme.
He then moves into a Lucknow kaida
rela, which is a compositional type that contains features
of both kaidas and relas. Relas are
compositions which have fast strokes and are very popular
for fans and players alike. The word rela comes
related to the sound of the ‘railroad’ train’s
sound when in full motion, and often contain bols like
dhereterekitataka, and the like. The artist plays
at a blurring speed which enraptures the audience before
it leads to an exciting tihai or ending.
Then there is another kaida which emphasizes the
bayan playing or bass drum. And then the disc concludes
with a fantastic kaida from the Lucknow repertoire. As
expected of this fine artists, the mastery of these forms
is clear, but so is his relation to the audience as he stops
here and there to share insight on what he will play next.
The
second CD opens with a bang of relas to excite even
the pickiest of listeners. Panditji shares with us
a composition which for the player requires the hands to
play strokes that aren’t so easy to keep together because
of double stroking. In the hands of Pt. Swapan Chaudhuri
they seem effortless.
Then we move to the gats or compositions. Gats are
compositions that have specific features and often stories
that accompany them. Panditji recites the composition
then plays them so beautifully. As the liner notes
indicate, gats are “prized compositions within the
tabla community.” Many teachers reveal their
gats to students only after they have shown genuine interest
in preserving the art. Some gats were composed to tell
a story from real life, to give the impression of a scene,
or as gifts for special occasions like marriages in the musical
families.
Next Panditji moves into playing a paran which
is a styling that emulates the ancient barrel drum, the pakawaj. The pakawaj is
known for its booming open sounds and many tabla artists
keep that voice alive in tabla through these types of compositions. The
use of the bayan is extensive, but also the bols are
usually derivative of the older compositions from pakawaj.
In the remaining tracks, Swapanda plays a tukra,
a rela, and another rarely heard tukra before
moving to an exciting chakradar. The chakradaar is
a three times played piece like a tihai but much
longer and fixed in composition that ends on the sam.
Regarding the entirety of the disc package, Sense World
Music has excelled in releasing recordings that show us the
finest artists without getting in the way. The audio
quality is excellent, the performances are the highest caliber
and the packaging is full and high quality. The liner
notes by John Ball complete the experience for anyone who
may not know the tabla.
This CD is a must for both tabla players or enthusiasts
and non-musicians as well. The presentation by Panditji
helps the listener enjoy the pieces and the liner notes indicate
what you are hearing. After hearing perhaps hundreds
of tabla solos, it can sometimes become a pedantic listening
experience. This disc is no such experience but a fun
reliving of a festival performance that leaves you to almost
feel you are there.
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