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Review

Sense World Music is a new addition to the growing number of labels dedicated to Indian classical music. Started in 2002 Sense World is based in UK, with a studio in Gujarat. Many of the albums are live concert recordings of the Saptak Music Festival held every year in Ahmedabad, Gujarat every year in winter.

This CD by Gundecha Brothers is a live recording of the Saptak Concert in 2001. Disciples of Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar, they represent the Dagar Bani fo Dhrupad singing. They are credited with bringing Dhrupad back into the realm of mainstream concert in recent times. Dhrupad being the oldest form of Hindustani music, went into decline after the emergence of Khayal in 19th century.

The CD starts with a long alaap in Raaga Gaoti, a serious meditative evening raaga. The exploration of the raaga is slow, comtemplative and deeply moving. Gundecha Brothers combine with each other very well, complementing each other, following each others exploration of the raaga. They are acutely aware of each others singing, even when they sing different notes at the same time blending in perfect harmony. The alaap lasts 4 tracks, moving from the very slow alaap to slightly rhythmic non-toms. From the first track Vilambith alaap, they move to madhya and then dhruth. The ati dhruth portion of their alaap is indeed very fast for vocals and they excell even in this, showing the remarkable control over their voice and technical aspects of dhurpad.

Fifth track is the dhrupad composition of Raag Gaoti, shadaja surasadhe. The composition is sung clearly as is the tradition in dhrupad, accompanied by pakhavaj. The sthaayi is repeated several times, in various expositions of the raaga. Even here Gundecha Brothers combine well contrasting and complementing each other.

Then Gundecha Brothers take up a popular south Indian raaga, Shivaranjani. After a short alaap they take up a composition sandhya sanjeevani, which they sing together with little improvisation, somewhat like a bhajan.

The accompaniment of Akhilesh Gundecha on the pakhavaj is competent and supports the vocalists well. Recording is as usual dependable, with good stereophonic separation between brothers, though the separation is a bit too wide considering they sit next to each other and sing. Also, Placement of pakhavaj in the center, in between the brothers is unnatural.

Overall 4.0 stars for the music and 3.5 stars for the recording. Recommended.

CD Information

Tracks

Nu.	Title	Time	Music
1	Vilambith Alaap in Raaga Gaoti	20:50
2	Madhya Alaap in Raaga Gaoti	8:39
3	Dhruth Alaap in Raaga Gaoti	9:43
4	Ati Dhruth Alaap in Raaga Gaoti	5:31
5	Dhrupad in Raaga Gaoti	14:11
6	Alaap in Raaga Shivaranjani	4:51
7	Dhrupad in Raaga Shivaranjani	5:50

Liner Notes

Good liner notes with a profile of the artists and explanation of the music.