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Raga Festival 2006 - Sitar maestro Pandit Kushal Das with Biplab Bhattacharya on tabla
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06 May 2006
His performance is marked by outstanding maturity and depth both in raga manifestation and in note by note progression. Pandit Kushal Das made an enviable impact on his audiences with his superb performances during his previous tour in the UK in 2002 under the auspices of Surdhwani. He performed in London (in the Purcell Room), Cardiff, Leeds, Liverpool and Wolverhampton. This time Kushal Das will play both sitar and sur bahar.
The Sur Bahar is also called the bass sitar. It is a large instrument (21" x 60") with double toombas. This instrument is tuned by as much as a full octave lower than a Sitar. The playing of this instrument and the Sitar are similar enough that one should be able to play both comfortably. The Sur Bahar has much longer sustainable tones, and is suited well to playing slow alaps. The Sitar is more suited to the faster gat and jhala. The Sur Bahar does lend itself to complex melodies, since the skilled player can create a glissando of up to one octave on a single fret. It is relatively unknown in the West and Kushal has chosen to popularise it during this tour.
Biplab Bhattachraya, a disciple of Pandit Shankar Ghosh and a recipient of numerous coveted awards including ‘Sangeet Kalakar’ degree from Arya-Sangeet-o-sanskriti Kendra, Kolkata with gold medal (1991) and ‘Sangeet Kala Ratna’ award from Matri Udbodhon Ashram – Patna (2001). He is one of the most promising young tabla maestros in the making from Kolkata.
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