Ragas de Jaipur

Although recognised in India as one of the finest sitar and surbahar (bass sitar) players, Rajeev Janardan may not be familiar to readers of Songlines. On hearing this fabulous recording, one wonders why he isn't more famous. He displays tremendous skills, and some particularly scintillating meends (slides) in an exquisite rendition of the very popular romantic ‘Raga Chhayanat’. Generally heard in vocal music, so it's a refreshing change to experience a fluently played instrumental version. Janardan's immensely fluid style strikes a perfect balance between the two main styles of playing an Indian instrument – gayaki ang (literally meaning a singing style) and tantra-ang (pure instrumental) – and Indian critics have frequently commented on his seamless blending of the two, retaining the best of both approaches. The alap (pulse-free intro) is detailed while in the climactic drut (a fast– tempo final section) the tabla, played by Latif Ahmed Khan, really comes into its own – each syllable is cleanly and clearly struck yet beautifully understated. The later part of this fast section culminates in some very lyrical sitar.

The second piece features a short and sprightly fast-tempo ‘Raga Bhairavi’, the ‘any time’ raga that has become one of the most popular choices for a finale. On the whole, this is a great disc but one is at something of a loss to figure out why it's dubbed Ragas from Jaipur. Although some Rajasthani folk tunes have undoubtedly had an input into the corpus of Hindustani ragas, neither of the ragas here can be considered Rajasthani in origin.