That flair, that tune
IN RHYTHM Debpriya Thakuron stage.
Twenty-seven-year-old Debpriya Thakur hails from Ranchi in Jharkhand. He received his early training in music from his father Shree Prashant Thakur who himself was a renowned sitar player of his time. The family has a close link with the stalwarts of the Vishnupuri gharana in Bankura district of West Bengal. These include Sangeet Nayak Gopeshwar Bandopadhyaya (grandfather), Sangeetacharya Surendranath Bandhopadhyaya, Pandit Satya Kinker Bandhopadhyaya (maternal uncle) and brother Prabhat Thakur.
It would be interesting to observe that the world-famed sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shanker himself received his early training in sitar from the late Pandit Gokul Nag, a maestro of the Vishnupuri gharana and father of Pandit Manilal Garg. The Vishnupuri style is based on the local idioms of Dhrupad, Dhamar, Khayal, Tappa and Tarana, etc., besides the basic principles of the ancient musical instruments such as the veena, surbahar, sitar, sarod, and the esraj. Most of the Vishnupuri musicians are equally at ease in playing on the various kinds of percussion instruments and also with vocal music.
Aesthetic sense
To comment on the sitar recital by Debapriya in New Delhi the other day, one would first like to admire his aesthetic sense with which he presented the enchanting melody of the raga Bageshree at good length and with refreshingly devised variations. This is perhaps a rare instance of an artist providing a full-length delineation in one particular raga thereby revealing the hidden charms within the raga's folds. An elaborately presented `alap-jod' followed with matching sequences, leading to the leisurely rendered Mastkhani `gat-toda' and subsequent variations finally did culminate into a song-based composition, a specialty of the gharana that was rendered with good musical awareness.
One admired the tonal flavour and the sound of his sitar which fell soothingly on the ears.
Debpriya had excellent accompaniment from Biswajit Pal of Varanasi, who had been a disciple of the late tabla maestro Shree Mahapurush Mishra of Varanasi.
JITENDRA PRATAP
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