Review of Milind Raikar concert in Portland, OR
Subhash
Subhash
Milind Raikar of Mumbai, who is on private tour in USA, gave a house
concert in Portland, OR on 7th July 2007. It was attended by 35-40
ICM connoisseur friends of the host. He was accompanied by Kuntal Roy
of Calcutta. Kuntal ji is visiting USA for second time and is staying
in Seattle for 6 months at this time.
Program was scheduled for 5:00 p.m. and there were only 8-10 people
(core group) present on time. Artist and hosts were somewhat
apprehensive, but organizers started the concert at 10 minutes past
regardless. Introductions were deferred till more audience gathered.
As per Indian tradition people streamed in and by 5:30 most of the
audience had taken the seats.
Milind-ji started the concert with Bhimpalas. Alaps were developed
leisurely for half an hour somewhat like Dhrupad style. The violin
was tuned in Karnataka style of Saa, Pa, Saa, Pa.Note-1 Milind
exhibited phenomenal finger technique in gamak style -gayaki style
violin playing. This showed what he has mastered from his Guru Pt.
D.K. Datar and some. The raga development and musical content had
unmistakable stamp of Kishoritai's gayaki. He was playing
effortlessly full octaves of silken taans and gamaks on each of the
four strings. From kharj to ati-taar pancham, he was waltzing through
three and half octaves producing pristine music. Unhurried Bhimpalas
unfolded for hour and quarter. Audience which had fully occupied
spacious family room, dining and kitchen area midway through the
presentation was really responsive and giving "daad" to intricate,
delicate and honey like sweet music all the time. Delicacy and speed
of the gamak tans was amazing to watch and listen.
After Bhimpalas, there was a brief pause. Unusual to the Pacific
Northwest the days were sunny and warm. Setting Sun just filtered
through the blinds and Milind ji suddenly started Marwa
aalaapi.Note-2 Serenity of this Raga at unhurried laya went on for
10-15 minutes. This aalaapi reminded one of Ustad Amir Khan's
treatment of Marwa. Audience was very much moved by these soulful
tunes and atmosphere was charged with emotions. Milind-ji could not
proceed to fixed compositions and Tabla after such experience.
He proceeded with Hamsadhwani followed by Marathi Natya pad- Yuwati
mana. Both were very well presented. In yuwati mana, he improvised
antara once by switching to Kedar for a while and then coming back to
Hamsdhwani. This was unusual improvisation that I haven't heard
before. It was then followed by a short interval.
Milind ji played Jaijaiwanti after the interval. He played full
treatment of Alap, Jod, Vilambit Jhaptaal and drut ektaal. It seemed
that the Tabla coordination needed improvement.
After full treatment of Jaijaiwanti, a person from audience requested
Milind-ji to sing. With some urging he sang little bit of Bhoop. He
has very nice voice and he could do very good aalaapi. When he wanted
some intricate taans, he switched to his violin and then launched full-
fledged Bhoop, which is his forte. His Bhoop has to have Kishori
Tai's canonized drut cheez, Sahela ri. Emphasis on Gandhar and
intricate taans presented with speed and dexterity on all 4 strings in
three and half octaves were superb. It was excellent combination of
Kishori Tai's music and Datar-ji's fingering technique.
Milind-ji then played a Konkani composition. This he presents in his
concerts as a tribute to Goa Kala Academy, who gave him first
scholarship to learn music under Pt. D.K.Datar. Most of us know very
famous adoption of this song in Raj Kapoor's Bobby-Naa Mangoo Sona
Chandi. This presentation was very lively with audience joining by
clapping in rhythm. This piece showed Milind-ji's command over
forceful bowing. Few times he produced accordion like sounds by
bowing on two strings simultaneously. Earlier in his Raga
compositions, he had mimicked Bhismilla Khan's Shehnai style many
times. It was remarkable to see such versatility in techniques.
He concluded the recital with a short Bhairavi. It was somber and
sweet tune. In all it was a three and half hours of actual playing of
music that everyone in audience enjoyed immensely. From my point of
view, short Marwa left a lasting impression.
I would like to give some personal comments of the performance from my
perspective. Milind-ji is very talented and has excellent command on
the techniques. His music is very tuneful (Surel). He needs more
work with playing with Tabla and putting his music in Taala
framework. His playing style is very soft and sweet. Sometimes too
much sweetness also can become boring. Especially if it is not put in
Taal Framework, it becomes aimless meandering. I would also like to
see more forceful bowing and more cut-bow type taans.
Another comment is about Goan Folk song. It is very lively fast
paced. I would have exchanged the order of Hamsdhwani and this song.
I have not commented much about Tabla accompaniment as there was not
much scope for Tabla in Milind-ji's recital. Also the two artists had
not practiced together.
I wish Milind-ji a successful career. I hope he will bloom into
recognizable solo violin performer. He has talents, skills and
knowledge to take him there. I also hope that he will visit USA again
and again.
Subhash
subh...@yahoo.com
Note 1- Standard Western Style violin is tuned Ma. Saa, Pa, Re;
whereas North Indian Style violin as modified by pioneer Pt. Gajanan
Buwa, is tuned Pa, Saa, Pa, Saa.
Note 2- Advantage of Saa, Pa, Saa, Pa tuning was emphatically
demonstrated as Pa is varjya in Marwa and development in mandra saptak
(lowest octave) like GMD GMRG MDND MDGMRG RGRS can only be played with
this type of tuning.
bdixit
then his type of playing does not need a lot of involvement with tabla
such as long pieces played by the tabla player, including sawal-jabab.
I have heard Pandit Datar numerous times since 1952 and he performs best
in his own style when he has a good tabla accompanist that relates to
his "vocal type" of violin playing. Omkar Gulvadi, Mukund Kane (the
late), Aneesh Pradhan are the tabla players that come to my mind. I
have heard him also with other similar tabla players. Nayan Ghosh has
accompanied him very well also. ...............BND
Sitariya
need some clarifications for some of your comments.
You said,
"He needs more
> work with playing with Tabla and putting his music in Taala
> framework. "
What do you mean by putting music in taala framework ? Are you talking
about tabla-violin jugalbandis ? If so, I think it is good to see that
a young musician is avoiding temptation of doing so.
"His playing style is very soft and sweet. Sometimes too
> much sweetness also can become boring. Especially if it is not put in
> Taal Framework, it becomes aimless meandering. I would also like to
> see more forceful bowing and more cut-bow type taans."
I donot think the ragas he played ( bhimpalasi, marwa, jaijaiwanti)
requires forceful bowing and cut-bow type taans.
Subhash
> Thanks for the detailed review. I missed his concert here in NJ. I
> need some clarifications for some of your comments.
I am definately NOT implying Tabla-Violin Jugalbandi. However putting
music in Taal Framework means while presenting improvisation, the
thought be it aalaap or taans, should have completeness that is within
a taal framework. If it is a vilambit composition, then it should
devlop from begining and end as a complete thought in one or two-maybe
three aavartans of that taal. When playing madhya laya or drut, these
improvisations should follow structure of composition with taans,
aalaap going along with that structure. Also continuous
synchronisation wih the tempo, "laya" gives the playing a form that
makes our music appealing.
If you consider a very vague anology with human body, I would consider
muscles as knowledge of music-raga etc.; skeletal structure as taal,
and Skin, complexion and other features of body as ornamentations like
aalaap, taans, voice timber, pronunciation etc. Suppose the skeleton
is missing, all other components will not be presentable.
This is extreme example. Milind-ji of course uses Taala structure,
but the emphasis was not there. This comment was and is meant to
enhance his already excellent presentation. It was not meant to
distract the virtuoso performance.
I hope I have clarified what I felt.
I felt that such structure was not apperent in Milind-ji's playing.
As Dr. Dixit said, it may be Pt. D.K. Datar's style.
> You said,
>
> "He needs more> work with playing with Tabla and putting his music in Taala
> > framework. "
>
> What do you mean by putting music in taala framework ? Are you talking
> about tabla-violin jugalbandis ? If so, I think it is good to see that
> a young musician is avoiding temptation of doing so.
>
> "His playing style is very soft and sweet. Sometimes too> much sweetness also can become boring. Especially if it is not put in
> > Taal Framework, it becomes aimless meandering.
Thanks for your comments,
Subhash
Subhash
He is playing a last concert in New Jersey on 28th July before he
flies back to India on 30th July.
I also understand that he will be in London, accompanying Kishoritai
in September.
Please contact him at milr...@yahoo.com for details and your
comments.
Thanks once again,
Subhash