Celebrating treasures at large
MANJARI SINHA
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As part of its endeavour to bring gems of India's music and dance heritage to a larger audience, Doordarshan released another set of archival DVDs in New Delhi.
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A GEM Pandit Mani Prasad.
The Doordarshan Archives of Prasar Bharati is a treasure house of many memorable recordings of great artistes who have contributed to India's rich cultural heritage. Its valuable and varied content created over several decades spanning classical music and dance, folk music and dance, tribal music, theatre, literature and popular music represents the pulsating cultural life of India. DD Archives was launched in January 2003, commemorating the `Hundred Years of Recorded Music in India'.
50 titles so far
So far more than 50 titles have been brought out including the Bharat Ratna Series featuring M.S. Subbulakshmi and Ustad Bismillah Khan.
As part of its ongoing endeavour to bring out some of the exquisite performances of enduring beauty and charm to reach a larger audience, DD Archives recently released 11 DVD titles. These DVDs covering Hindustani Classical and Instrumental Music, Rabindra Sangeet, Devotional Music and Dance were released by Priyaranjan Dasmunshi, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, at a special commemorative function held at the Doordarshan premises this past week.
The guest of honour was Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, who also received the first copy of the DVDs of his own archival recordings released by the Minister.
Besides four volumes of the sarod maestro, the titles released were Pandit Bhimsen Joshi - Hindustani Vocal in two volumes, Rabindra Sangeet in two volumes, Kathak in two volumes and a devotional dance drama, `Tum Chandan Hum Paani' based on the life and works of Sant Ravidas.
The specialty of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan's volumes III and IV is that they have been presented in a jugalbandi format.
The third volume features him playing the sarod with the Hindustani violin by Pandit V.G. Jog, the Carnatic veena by Doraiswamy Iyengar and the Western violin by Igor Frolov, whereas the fourth volume is a unique jugalbandi between his sarod and Carnatic violin by Lalgudi Jayaraman.
The first volume also carries raga Bapu Kauns, which he created and played on the occasion of the 125th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi celebrated by UNESCO at Paris.
The release ceremony was followed by a thoughtfully conceived live vocal concert by Pandit Mani Prasad of the Kirana gharana and a sarod recital by Rakesh Prasanna. Pandit Mani Prasad also received the first copy of the DVDs of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi.
Essence of the raga
He commenced his recital with the raga Pooriya Kalyan with the popular bandish "Aaj so bana... " set to slow Ek tala, followed by a chhota khayal in Teen tala. The choice of the raga was perfect but he had hardly half-an-hour to complete his performance. It was really creditable that within this short frame of time he brought out the essence of the raga.
Pandit Mani Prasad has not only created some new ragas but also composed many bandishes with the mudra Dhyaanrang.
He showcased his creativity by concluding his recital with the bhajan "Suniyo ji araj hamaari... ' composed by him in the raga Bihangini which is also his own creation.
Very few people know that this bhajan sung and popularised by Lata Mangeshkar for her film "Lekin" was composed in a raga by Pandit Mani Prasad.
Rakesh Prasanna chose raga Rageshri for his sarod recital. He played a detailed alap, jod, jhala and three compositions in this raga set to Teen tala madhya laya (medium tempo), drut Ada Chau tala and the faster Teen tala that concluded with jhaala.
Rashid Mustafa gave him commendable tabla accompaniment, but the constraint of time took its toll on the sarod exponent, who is otherwise a talented disciple of Ustad Amjad Ali Khan.
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