Search - Uday Bhawalkar, Manik Munde :: Raga Shri, Raga Malkauns

Young Master

02/19/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had heard snippets of Uday Bhawalkar before I got this CD. When I saw it, and looked at his photo on the back cover, I couldn't believe how young he was! He is one of the young outsiders keeping the Dagar family lineage alive and well. This is a good, solid CD with two really good evening and midnight dhrupads. Long, unhurried nomtom middle sections with impressive gamak singing. A curious detail is that Bhawalkar, especially in Malkauns, takes the alap to very high notes indeed. Of course he is not perfect, particularily in the improvisations after his Malkauns composition does he seem to lose track a few times, melodically (NOT go out of raga!), and perhaps forgetting to breathe right. But these are really minor quibbles. Compared to the good feeling it brings to hear a youngster keep alive the tradition of 20 generations, and do it well, they amount to nothing. When you hear him sing it, you realise that this is not really old music. This music is as fitting today, among skyscrapers, hand-held computers and communication satellites as it was 400 years ago, or two generations ago."