NEW YORK: The World Music Institute opened its fall season at Merk in Concert Hall in New York on Saturday night with recital by an Indian sitarist, Debu Chaudhun, that was most notable for its restraint, Mr. Chaudhuri is dean of fine arts and head of the department of music at Delhi University; Somnath Mukherjee, who ac companied him on tabla drums, also teaches there. The satirist has written hooks on Indian music, and the first part of the concert ‘was a pair of ragas he composed The performance traced the usual course of a raga, from a free floating prelude to the speed and rhythmic drive of the closing section But Mr.Chaudhuri’s inclinations, and perhaps the particular style he has studied, the Senia gharana, gave the improvisations a certain reserve, Even in its flashiest pas Sages, the music remained introspective,
The alap (prelude) unfolded in lucid curves, from wisps of melody to sighing, songful lines. In the more rhythmic sections of his solo, Mr.Chaudhuri played high, ghostly, dancing melodies as he strummed a steady drone. When Mr.Mukherjee joined him, the drummer played pattering, sputtering triplets against the stately raga melody, an(I traded salvos of repeated notes with the sitar But throughout the raga, there was always a lightness to Mr.Chaudhuri’s touch, as if he preferred not to get too earthy or aggressive.
The second part of the concert was less satisfying. Its longer piece concentrated on the up-tempo sections of the raga and had too many passages of repeated runs although it worked up to a kinetic peak with Mr. Chaudhuri strumming so fast his hand was a blur. Finally, Chaudhuri played a folkish devotional song about compassion that he said was loved by Gandhi, ending the concert on a note of gentle benevolence.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 1, 1993
