On monsoon melodies
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AIR’s programme on Malhar ragas was praiseworthy for the concept but not execution
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It was an ideal topic to enlighten lovers of Indian classical music, particularly when you are cooped up indoors due to the blazing heat. All India Radio’s National Programme of Music the other day featured various facets of the Malhar ragas,
some of which are quite familiar and popular too, while others are not quite so. Akashvani’s concept was indeed praiseworthy. But its overall attempt somehow remained disappointing. There seemed to be a lack of proper study of the topic, and things seemed to have gone rather wayward. It is particularly unfortunate, as AIR has not only been a promoter of Indian classical music but also possesses some of the greatest treasures in terms of archival recordings.
The renditions
The very opening piece, with the great ‘Aftaab-e-Mausiqi’, the late Ustad Faiyaz Khan of Barodaexplaining the raga Sur Malhar was done within less than two minutes. This treatment hardly helped the purpose. Similarly, Pandit Vinayak Rao Patwardhan’s and Nivruttibua Sarnaik’s expositions of two very rare forms of Malhar ragas also remained rather vague.
The programme planner must have tried to make up by adding long recorded renderings by Ustad Amir Khan in raga Megh Malhar and in raga Ramdasi Malhar, as well as those of Jitendra Abhisheki in raga Dhulia Malhar and M.R. Gautam in Charju-ki-Malhar.
These well-rendered pieces of music would have been a further delight if some light had been thrown on their formats.
JITENDRA PRATAP
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