The disappearance of many court raga traditions began with Indian's independence. For five generations, master musicians of the Pathak family were patronized by the Maharajahs of Cossim Bazark, West Bengal. Ashok Pathak has begun to document his family's unique dhrupad legacy as part of a series exploring their rare and endangered tradition.
PANDIT ASHOK PATHAK
Ancient Court Raga Traditions:
The Pathak Guarana - Dhrupad Ragas From A Lost Court Tradition
(World Arbiter 2003)
Released in 2001
1. Raga Malkauns (Alap, Jor, Jhala) (36:09)
2. Raga Bagesri (Alap, Jor, Jhala) (36:15)
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Ashok Pathak-surbahar
Priyadarshani Pathak-tampura
Sivranjani Pathak-tanpura
Ashok Pathak performs on the Pathak family's surbahar built c. 1930 by Kanai Lal of Calcutta
Recorded on July 20 & 21, 2000
Engineer:Boyd Noorda, Dutone Studio, Dan Haag, Holland
Produced by Ashok Pathak and Allan Evans
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Adam Greenberg of All Music Guide
The current bearer of the dhrupad lineage of the Pathak gharana happens to be not a vocalist at all, but a surbahar player. As luck would have it, the surbahar lends itself quite well to the alap that is so central to proper dhrupad. The low tones of the instrument make fast runs (as one would hear on a sitar) somewhat less desirable, and the sheer size of it makes them rather difficult in itself. That said, Pathak is quite capable of going on extended jhalas with considerable speed. The real treat though is his slow development of the raga through the alap period. It's a stately, and very careful, expanse of time wherein he moves through the scales, exploring the raga for all of its intricacies of sound, and he does it just about as well as any given dhrupad singer. The rarity of dhrupad by itself poses a reason to give this album a listen (though of course the vocalists would be a better choice, they're astoundingly rare in recordings). Beyond that though, there is some fine surbahar work here for the listener. Anyone interested in the slower end of Indian classical music should definitely give this genre, and this album, at least one listen. The speedier end of the spectrum is readily available in recordings by a multitude of other artists, which only serves to make this album stand out from the pack a bit more.
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