Idea Jalsa recently presented the Hindustani maestro, Pt. Jasraj, at Sri Krishna Gana Sabha. Introduced by his daughter Durga Jasraj, Pandit Jasraj began by offering salutations to the gods in Jaijaiwanti in ektaal vilambit, achieving a high degree of integration between the lyrics and the thoughts - a characteristic of Pt. Jasraj’s style.
This was followed by a composition in Hamsadhwani, ‘Sumire Ram’ in Addha taal. Then came a tarana in Darbari Kanhra in teen taal, by Rattan Mohan Sharma, disciple and nephew of Panditji.
The jugalbandi with tabla artist Ram Kumar Sharma and mridangam player Sridhar Parthasarthy, was outstanding. The delightful presentation of variegated tarana bols was a treat for the audience. He ended the concert with his famous composition, ‘Mata kaali kaali’ in Darbari.
Each piece began with sthayi, sung many a times, as the audience soaked in the rasa. The mukhada was used in variety of ways for the badhat. Panditji’s unique ability to develop the mood of the raga with emotion, was seen here too.
The words ‘pradhan gayaki’ were extremely explicit and ‘aamad’ came in bol banavs and sargam while not resorting to akars in the true tradition of the Mewati gharana.
The badhat was done by first singing notes in the lower register and then gradually developing the raga in madhyam and taar saptaks. Panditji relied on midh and the technique of ‘murchhana.’ On completion, he returned to the mukhda of the sthayi, before moving to the next stage.
It was a soul-stirring concert, well supported by his two disciples – Rattanji and the young Ankita Joshi. The high point of the concert was the musical exchanges between the prodigious flautist Shashank Subramaniam and Pandit Jasraj. Both were supported by Niranjan Lele on the harmonium, Ram Kumar Mishra on the tabla and Sridhar Parthasarthy on the mridangam.
