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Review

There is a fear among Indian classical music fans that the difficult art of Hindustani vocal music is in its last stages of life. It seems well founded, considering that very few new artists have surfaced in the last two decades who can claim to have truly inherited the art once practiced by legends like Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan and Ustad Amir Khan not long ago. With the passing of Pt Mallikarjun Mansur and virtual retirement of Pt Bhimsen Joshi, who rightfully claimed inheritence from lineage of Ustad Alladiya Khan and Ustad Abdul Karim Khan respectively a very large void has been left for the mantle of leading vocalist.

Perhaps the most glaring failing both Pt Joshi and Pt Mansur has been in failing having a descipline, who is a maestro in his own right. Neither Madhav Gudi nor Rajashekar Mansur can claim the mantle.

While perhaps not in the same league, Pt Jasraj, has long been a leading vocalist successfully carrying the torch of Jaipur-Mewati gharana. So, has Pt Jasraj been able to pass on the art ?

I had heard Abhyankar briefly in the finals of one of the Antakshari programs as the judge and guest performer along with the youngest brother of Zakir Hussain, Taufiq Qureshi. He did sound promising.

So it was with lot of anticipation that I picked up Classical Vocal by Sanjeev Abhyankar, a cd by the new label, Fountain Music Company, in their Discovery of Indian Classical Music series. The recording itslef is decent, without being outstanding.

Considering what really is at stake, I was pleased with the cd. While still not in the class of another young master Ustad Rashid Khan, Sanjeev Abhyankar is definitely a promising vocalist.

He has taken up Raag Malkauns for a fairly detailed exposition. The first thing you do after hitting play is to check the CD to make sure it is indeed Sanjeev Abhyankar's ... not Pt Jasraj himself. The similarity is baffling, to say the least. Not only has Sanjeev imbibed the gayakari of Pt Jasraj, he has a very similar voice. Which is a very good thing for afterall Pt Jasraj perhaps has the most melodious of all singers I've heard. Ofcourse, carbon copies are not neccessarily what one needs for the gharana to flourish. An artist has to be able to build on the tradition and create his own niche. So it will be interesting to see how Sanjeev progressis in future.

One more thing that one would notice is the Sanjeev is confidence personified. For one so young, it is indeed rare to sing with so much confidence. The alaap and the taans are well sung with confidence and ease. While the taans and sargams are neither new nor inspired, they are still very enjoyable.

Sanjeev ends the cd with a Bhairavi dadara, again in the typical Jasraj bhajan style.

Overall 4 stars for the music and 3.5 stars for the recording. Recommended.

CD Information

Tracks

Num.	Track	Time
1	Khyal in Raag Malkauns - Vilambit Ektaal Ere Sakhi Main Kase Kahun	29:02
2	Khyal in Raag Malkauns - Drut Teental Piya Sang Lar Pachatani Re	11:13
3	Dadara in Raag Bhairavi - Bhajan tal Niranjan Narayani	17:57

Liner Notes

Unlike bigger names like RPG/EMI, there are actually some liner notes with the cd. There is a short note "about the artist" at the back.