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Remembered, musically
JITENDRA PRATAP
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Ghulam Siraj Niazi and Saskia Rao De Hass pay a musical homage to the late Sumati Mutatkar.
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Cello’s companion Saskia Rao De Hass played in memory of Sumati Mutatkar.
The late Sumati Mutatkar had a long association with music stalwarts like the late Pandit Shree Krishan Narayan Ratanjhankar and the late Ustad Vilayat Hussain of the Agra gharana besides several other maestros of her times. For years she was the P
rofessor Emeritus of the All India Radio after which she became the Dean and Head of the Faculty of Music and Fine Artsof the Delhi University, a post she held for almost the rest of her life.
A musical homage was paid to the late doyenne by Ghulam Siraj Niazi of Delhi (Hindustani classical vocal) and Saskia Rao De Hass from The Netherlands who plays Hindustani music on the violin-cello.
Niazi hails from the illustrious family of Rampur Saheswan musicians. He is the grandson of the doyen of the gharana, late Ustad Mushtaq Hussain Khan and the son of Ustad Ghulam Hussain Khan from whom he received most of his musical training. Niazi commenced his recital in the age-old raga Yaman. His renderingof two compositions set to the slow beat Ek tala and fast Teen tala (“Man har liyo re”) were redolent with many charmingly conceived phrases . Niazi sings with a well cultivated voice and feeling. The third piece in raga Jog, however, did not fit well into the scheme of things. The ace percussionist of Delhi, Subhash Nirwan, provided excellent support on the tabla, while Ustad Sajjad Ahmed excelled on the harmonium.
Extra string
Saskia started learning the cello at the age of eight from the late cello virtuoso Tibor de Machula. Later, she went to study cello at the Conservatory of Rotterdam to specialise in Indian classical music. Saskia has made quite a few modifications to her cello. It is smaller than its Western counterpart. But one wonders why a fifth string was added to her cello when all the four members of the violin family (the double-bass, the cello, the viola and the violin) have only four strings each. There is nothing much to boast about in playing one country’s music on another country’s instrument. Spanish and Hawain guitars are played all over the globe. Incidentally, the Western full-sized cello was an important part of Baba Allaudin Khan’s Maiher band. I have heard themplayragas Suddha Sarang, Ramdasi Malhar, Maluha Kedar and most of them in odd-beat time-cycles of six-and-a-half, , 13, 15 and eight-and-a-halfbeats. I have seen some cellos in Delhi as well. All the musical ensembles in various parts of the country have at least half a dozen cello players with them. Because of the changes and tampering done to Saskia’s cello, it had a peculiar tonal appeal like that of the sarangi. Her renderings in raga Bihag and Kirwani pleased in parts. Durje Bhumik’s tabla accompaniment was superb.
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Friday Review
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
