Where hearing ends, listening starts, and when one can listen through silence... then the work of Pt Nikhil Banerjee starts making sense, the spiritual level of his approach was so high... it is surreal, captivating, magnetic and supremely pure
What a devine combination ! One is a strong stream of an unparalleled instrumental fountain (baba) & the other is a gift of Allah through Allarakha, so the rendition must be beyond any question.............
His aalap itself exceeds a half hour, which these days is the total playing time for a raag taken up by top class musicians. This provides ample opportunity to explore all avenues while exploring the raag, as evinced by this sublime performance.🙏🙏🙏🙏
Here is another unique Raag and memorable event and performance by Pandit Nikhil Banerjee and Ustad zakir Hussain. I feel fortunate to have been there and witnessed this occasion. This was part of a 2 day continuous music Festival in San Francisco. I am in the process of uploading other artists from this Festival. Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This recording is quite fine, many thanks. Do I recall aright that this was at the Palace of Fine Arts? If memory serves, I believe another artist in that festival was Girija Devi -- correct? cheers, d.i.
The upload of Basant Bahar archival videos has been made possible through the efforts of Sh; Haidar Adina who was our treasurer for about 15 years and who took pains to record these events.Thank you Haidar Saa'b.
অনেকদিন আগে পণ্ডিত নিখিল ব্যানার্জিকে কলকাতার রবীন্দ্র সদনে পণ্ডিত মহাপুরুষ মিশ্রজির সঙ্গে পেয়েছিলাম। সেদিনের মতো আজকেও উস্তাদ জাকির সাহেবের সঙ্গে পেয়ে মন ভরে গেল। উচ্চাঙ্গ সংগীতকে বাঁচিয়ে রাখার জন্যে ইউ টিউবকে ধন্যবাদ।
So many people are just sitting on a lot of video of Panditji. To see this uploaded today is a very unexpected surprise. God bless you for sharing, it is a tremendous and unselfish service to all of us who knew him and who love his music.
Helo I would like to know more details about you I am an old man of 84 yrs old I belong to Bidar Dt I want to become your true friend I don't like hypocrisy plane and trust worthiness any moment I get doubt I leave company
The Raga ,Shyam Kedar, is not any original Raga, but appears to be a creation of Pandit Nikhil Banerjee, by making fusion of Raga Shyam Kalyan with the Raga Kedar. The created fusion is so melodious and played very beautifully in such a way that it leaves a special ambience to the audience. Whenever This piece of sitar recital is heard it appears as if it is heard for the first time. Tabla Accompaniment has been ably provided by Ustad Zakir Hussain. This is perhaps one of the best performances of Pandit Nikhil Banerjee. He had learnt his music from many teachers like his father, Sri Jitendra nath Banerjee, Radhika Mohan Maitra, John Gomes a disciple of Ustad Enayet Khan Saheb, Sri Birendra Kishore RoyChowdhury of Natore State,a disciple of Baba Alauddin Khan, ustad Alauddin Khan of Maihar to whom he was officially bound a Ganda as a disciple, then Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and finally Annapurna Devi who was ultimate teacher for final touches on his style of playing. Nikhil Babu imbibed all those lessons thoroughly by rigorous practice in a diciplined manner regularly spending a lot of time for his practice. He did not go for much experimentation with his music but used to stick to conventional pattern of Ragas. He was influenced very much by the vocal music of Ustad Amir Khan. This made him an entirely different type of musician ,his display of Alap, Jod ,Jhala, then Gat were always unique. He was devoted to his music and never disappointed his audience from having the opportunity of hearing a good music in the truest sense of the term in a con vetional way. Thus he is regarded as one of the best Sitarist and musician of all times. He was always something special in his performance.
I usually just listen and enjoy the music uploaded by Basant Bahar and also by Adinasaab. To them, I express my sincere gratitude. My connection with Basant Bahar started with RU-vid when I saw my long-lost friend Nagesh Avadhany in many videos. I have very fond memories of attending many Hindustani concerts in the NY/NJ with Nagesh during graduate school days. Then Nagesh hit the West Coast and I went back to India for a few years. It was during my stay in India, I heard the devastating news of Panditji's passing away at an untimely juncture when he already was at the pinnacle of his career. I was not in Calcutta (Kolkata) but surely felt terrible. I felt the same way when our revered Pandit Jasraj-ji passed away and I was just a couple of hundred miles south. Ah well! Just some ramblings down memory lane. Long live the music!
HIS touches to SITAR strings and the impeccable sound it generated was simply sweeter than the sweetest things on this UNIVERSE....and Ustadji's accompaniment....Uff!!!
am an ardent devotee of Nikildaa...i heard this music in audio..some time back..is this same...as everyone shared i too likes to say my sincere thanks to Haidar ji....LONG LIVE HAIDAR JI.. and Basanth Bahar....this one as sweet as Pandijits Maluha Kalyan
In Indian Classical Music( North Indian), the melody of a Raga is of prime importance ,since the vocal music is followed by the Instrumental Music . Previously all the famous classic musicians were mainly vocalists ,each having his own style of singinging. Then the Laya or the speed counted much next to melody and grammatical correctness of a particular conventional Raga. The conception of introducing different Talas was mainly introduced later on ,by the Instrumentalists ,as I presume. Otherwise, Teen Tal ( 16 Beats cycle) and Ek Tal( 12 Beats cycle) or Jhamp Tal ( 10 Beats cycle ) was in vogue ,specially in Songs of Khyal which was created out of Dhrupod . Utd Vilayet Khan used to play in Teental Gats ,both Vilamveet and Drut. It is Pt Ravishankar and then other eminent Artistes who used to play in different Tals for variation. Chakradhar is related to Kathak Dance. But it is basically the Melody and Laya( Speed) which are the most important portion which constitutes the introduction and structure of a Raga through Alap, Jod, Jhala, Vilamveet and Drut Gats and finally the jhala which is the concluding portion of the Raga where the Instrument and Accompaniment are performed to entertain the Audience mainly,leaving a little room for the Music since excessive speed of the both the instruments ( Main Instrument and the Tabla) almost mars the beauty of the Raga which is not possible in Khyal song which is a vocal music. This is what I feel since Classical Music is a very serious type of Music and playing to the gallery is not desirable.
The more I hear Nikkhil Banerjee, the greater I respect and appreciate his mastery of his mastery over the sitar..Thanks for uploading; these moments of sheer joy ; they are priceless.It is also rewarding to hear the (then) young Zakir Hussain on the tabla.
There are no thanks enough for this. No words can describe his music. So much grateful for this upload among many from this festival, this is esplendid!
hello sir! I have found you in multiple comment sections under Panditjis mesmerizingly mellifluous sitar recitals and a specific exchange that you had with a few individuals who vehemently disagreed with your viewpoints caught my eye. i cant comment on your musical qualifications, but if i were to conjecture an assumption on the basis of the narrow scope through which I've observed your verbalization of your knowledge- I would opine that you are at a significantly high level of understanding in both Indian and Western classical. I would love to know more as to why you believe pandit nikhil banerjee is a more complete sitarist than pandit ravi shankar. aside from pandit ravi shankar's ambitious and debatably deaggrandizing crossovers into the western classical world, I would love to hear what you believe are the technical and theoretical specificities behind pandit NB's artistic outdoing of pandit RS. thanks!
@@rohitkalale4087 Sir , I think a very fine but important difference that Pt Ravi Shankarji's style technically mastered ( let's say tantakari ) & Pt Nikhil Banerjee's style melody oriented ( gayaki ). Both are masters, so this is my humble opinion.
I could not understand classical music but when hearing the Sitar or Tabla of such a great maestro something haunting in my mind and attain a peace that I can not explain. Thanks for providing the video on this channel.
Poets and artist Love for Musik is so much higher love -because it is no Hormonel feelings it is a longing that is a step towards enlighhtentment this is a understanding i gathered threw the words of beloved Osho thanks for sharing
For past 48 years I am looking for a full length Suddha Sarang and Bilabal of NB without success. Request if any one has those two pl share it with NB fans via you tube. Got a 80 min Brindavani from US source but too much hum doesn’t make pleasant listening.
Anyone familiar with the 14 beat taal of the first gat of this performance? Is it dhamar, adi chautaal...? And what are the bols for the theka? Any insight is much appreciated!
Thank you so much. do you by any chance have the first part of the recording (Marwa) where he later played khamaj during the same tour? the khamaj recording is available online
As far as i am aware, he used to play the Kharaj pancham Sitar tuned according to his fondness of a closed jawari by the renowned sitar maker Hiren Roy of Kolkata
It is basically a Kharaj Pancham with the 4 stringed chikari of the Gandhar Pancham Sitar, and also the main jawari is slightly closed. The jawari for the sympathetic strings (taraf) however is an open one.
B Hazra I think Zakir went for a very ambitious chakradar using a quintuplet subdivision with accents that strongly suggest a parallel groove. He seemed to miscalculate the exact downbeat at the end of it, so he summarily pulled together a nice tihai that was much shorter to finish the passage. I don't see this as a bad thing. I think it shows how many incredible risks Zakir was willing to take in order to reach for new ideas. I have to say that the chakradar he was playing was among the stunning bits of drumming I've ever heard.
It didn't sound nice to me either -- no matter how this can be justified -- it didn't seem that the principal instrument is giving way to the accompaniment ... sitar wasn't on a backfoot, and the tabla sounded really odd.
Ustad Allhuddin Khan Saab tought Pandit Ravi Shankar and also Pandit Nikhil Bannerjee, but still their styles are different. Can some one educate me on this.
From what I could gather, although both of them learned from Baba Alauddin Khan, Pandit Nikhil Banerjee later went on to learn from Annapurna Devi. Her entire philosophy and style was very contrasting to that of Pt. Ravi Shankar and hence the difference in styles I think.
Somewhere I read Annapurna devi commenting that the style of NB was imparted by His Guru Ustad A Khan understanding the inclination and interest and mentality of NB. I
Thanks a ton for uploading the video. Though there are a number of audio recordings of Panditji, both in the form of commercial releases as well as on You Tube, videos of the maestro are extremely rare. Perhaps there are people who are sitting on these treasures for reasons best known to them. Thanks again and please do continue with the good work.
