Search - Krishnamurti Sridhar, Bhattacharya :: Nadanjali: Raga Malkauns

Unusual Sarodiya

02/11/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Krishnamurti Sridhar doesn't come from any of the usual sarod gharanas with their gat and jhala techniques; instead, he studied with Zia M Dagar, and so the emphasis is on alap and ragadari. This is good, solid alap in Malkauns, one of the grandest deep-night ragas, for 42 minutes before the gat kicks in. Then it becomes standard sarod/tabla 16th-note fare for another half hour. My knowledge of (read: patience with) sarod gat is limited, but the long, unhurried alap is sumptuous and draws up a vivid picture of Malkauns. Of the several recordings I've heard of Sridhar, this one is by far his best. If you can't stomach most sarod music, give this disc a try! My own preference is for vocal or at least sarangi, veena, surbahar or reed music but this is the one sarod album I always return to."