Search - Nancy Lesh, Peter Fagiola :: Raga Multani / Bhupali

Good

Gary L. Salamone | 11/18/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Nancy Lesh, American, plays north Indian classical music on modified cello - dhrupad, an old, slow style. The instrument doesn't necessarily make it unauthentic: Indian classical music has a long history of importing and inventing and experimenting with new instruments. The violin is very popular in the south; Lesh's cello sounds not wholly unlike the north Indian sarangi and is of course technically very well suited for dhrupad music, with its long, low, gliding notes. Lesh is a student of the very famous Dagar brothers Zia Mohiuddin and Fariduddin. On this disc, she plays two ragas: MULTANI (for late afternoon) and BHUPALI (for evening). So, good sequencing. It's a good album, well worth having; my only real beef is with the drummer, Peter Fagiola. Fagiola is an adequate drummer at slow accompaniment, but displays fondness for speeding things up without however the ability to keep things interesting through faster batterings. And to give five stars to this disc makes possible no distinction between it and recordings of the great masters themselves. While Lesh is very good, she's not as good as ZM Dagar, Baha-Ud-Din, or Asad Ali, and I think she'd be the first to agree. Four stars for a good album!"

Additional notes on this disc

Gary L. Salamone | Houston, TX United States | 06/12/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The "clumsy tabla" referred to by the previous reviewer is none other than the forerunner of the tabla, the pakhawaj. It is a single, elongated drum with heads on each end and a more distinctive sound unique from that of the tabla. While this may sound different to some people, it was selected for use here because it was more appropriate to the nature of the performance."

Wonderful.

SKB | 09/10/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Amazing how well the cello works in the context of classical Hindustani music. These recordings focus on the Alap sections of each Rag, and it is here that the full, deep sound of the instrument adds a completely new dimension to this music. A wonderful disc, despite the somewhat clumsy tabla accompanist."