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WORLD MUSIC REVIEW
Serenading Khansahib's First 80 Years April 13, 2002
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By Janos Gereben
The legendary Hindustani singer Jasraj looked out into the dark auditorium of Marin Center Saturday night, and asked the technicians to turn on the lights because "I want to see the music in their eyes." His presence and nearly an hour of his magical singing were among the many highlights of a marathon day with its share of bows, speeches and "technical difficulties."
The event honored sarod master and musical icon Ali Akbar Khan on his 80th birthday, a milestone, which a century ago could have hardly fazed his father, Allauddin Khan, who went on to live and work until age 110. As royalty in a ballet, Khan was sitting on stage, watching a parade of talent playing and singing for him, some embracing him, most touching his feet with their forehead. The celebration began mid-day, broke for dinner, resumed at 7 before a sold-out house of 2,000, and concluded at close to midnight.
In the very 'Sixty-ish Frank Lloyd Wright building and a 'Sixties blend of people from the Indian subcontinent, aging fans of musical crossover and of the Grateful Dead (Mickey Hart being one of the on-stage celebrities celebrating Khan), the focus was on masters of timeless music: secular and religious works from the ancient royal courts of North India. Most works presented the traditional combination of raga (melody) and tala (percussion); the evening concert opened and closed with Khan's own compositions.
Acknowledging Khan's excellence and leadership (including 35 years in the Bay Area, where his school has been a center for Indian music), musicians came from India and elsewhere for the event. They included bansuri (bamboo flute) master G.S. Sachdev, violinist Sisir Kana Chowdhury, dancer Chitresh Das, tabla players Zakir Hussain and Swapan Chaudhuri, Khan's own sarod-player sons: Aashish and Alam. With his flowing white hair, Jasraj appeared to be of an age when Western singers would be long retired. In fact, when he began his set (joined by Hussain and a terrific but unidentified accompanying vocalist), there was not much of his once mighty voice in evidence. But then — contrary to physics and logic — he gathered strength as time went on. And, regardless of how much voice he produced, the phrasing, the intensity, the music came across beautifully. Never mind the difference in geography and genre between Indian raga and Italian opera, Jasraj's performance reminded one powerfully of Carlo Bergonzi's last appearance in San Francisco, at the end of his career. It was "Un Ballo in Maschera" without much voice, but with Bergonzi's elegant phrasing and unsentimental lyricism more affecting than ever.
Jasraj has something else remaining: a breathing technique that no opera singer I ever heard could imitate. He and Sachdev both exhibit stunning circular breathing, enabling the flutist to produce an unbroken 20-minute phrase (we are in the world of the raga, folks) and the singer to bridge three octaves, dip very low, do a splendid messa di voce and keep exhaling sound without visibly or audibly inhaling at all. We are not talking about Yma Sumac-like circus, but rather a technique, a way of singing that serves the music. Hussain, who accompanied, no, partnered (albeit with the greatest deference) both Jasraj and Sachdev, is one of the great instrumental virtuosi in the world today. With his bare hands and a pair of small drums (successor to Shiva's damaru, the oldest percussion instrument in India), Hussain is a one-man orchestra of exquisite riches. He will participate in the Cal Performances presentation this weekend of Yo-Yo Ma's "Silk Road." No such large-scale event can be flawless and Das' appearance — while greeted enthusiastically — left much to be desired. At one time, he was a fine kathak dancer, although always more of a "star" than an artist. He has become, alas, an exotic tap dancer without tap shoes. His own students, during the afternoon concert, upstaged him with their involvement in the heart of the music, rather than strutting like peacocks.
As to the future, the concert's conclusion presented four of Khan's children — ranging in age from 11 to 50 — playing "Raga Pahari-Jhinjoti" well enough to be worthy of their old man, the one with 30 more years' worth of mileage on his sarod. For Khan, it was a "hometown" recognition long overdue. The man responsible for the first LP of Indian classical music and the first to perform on US television ("Omnibus," 1955), a five-time GRAMMY nominee, a MacArthur Foundation "genius award" recipient, showered with honorary degrees and awards elsewhere, may be better known outside his home. One good reason ("good" in a number of ways) for the lack of limousines and entourage of Hollywood stars in Marin is Khan's own decision many years ago to focus on teaching. "Many musicians don't train students, and that's why many old things are dead," he has said. "Many artists don't do the full job. Most are performing, touring, becoming famous, making money. I left all of that to teach. I could make more money touring and recording full time, but I don't want this music to die." That goal, regardless of Khan's own hoped-for longevity, seems well assured. (Janos Gereben, a regular contributor to www.sfcv.org, is arts editor of the Post Newspaper Group. His e-mail address is janos451@earthlink.net. ) ©2002 Janos Gereben, all rights reserved |