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Review

Sense World is a new addition to the growing number of labels dedicated to Indian classical music. Started in 2002 Sense World is based in UK, with a studio in Gujarat. Many of the albums are live concert recordings of the Saptak Music Festival held every year in Ahmedabad, Gujarat every year in winter.

This new CD by Tejendra Majumdar presents the open air recording done on the sidelines of Saptak Music Festival, 2002. One of the saught after sarod players, Tejendra Majumdar, is a disciple of the Sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. He is accompanied on the tabla by Yogesh Samsi, son of well known vocalist Dinkar Kaikini and a disciple of Ustad Alla Rakha.

The CD starts with an alaap in Raag Bilaskhani Todi (see sawf.org), a powerful morning raaga credited to Bilas Khan, son of Mian Tansen. Tejendra Majumdar does justice to the meend laden raaga emphasising the Todi characteristics rather than the Bhairavi That the raaga belongs to. A slow Jor follows alaap in the second track. Serene mood is preserved through the fast paced Jhalla.

The next two tracks fature raaga Basant Mukhari, another morning raaga, a raaga made up of Bhairav and Bhairavi. Bhairav provides the poorvanga (lower tetrachord), with Bhairavi providing the uttaranga. Track three is the slower composition in Vilambit TeenTaal, track four providing the faster composition in Dhruth Teentaal. Improvisations on the Tabla does not come until the last part of track three, after which lively sarod play continues into the faster track four. Frequently, fast paced play gives up aesthetics for wizardry, but not here. Ofcourse, Majumdar is not shy of showing off his not inconsiderable technical prowess. The last track is a sweet, lyrical tune in Mishra Mand. Majumdar's background of vocal style (Gayaki) can be seen here.

Overall 4.0 stars for the music and 4.0 stars for the recording. Recommended.

CD Information

Tracks

Nu.	Title	Time	Music
1	Bilaskhani Todi - Alaap	16:31
2	Bilaskhani Todi - Jod, Jhalla	18:30
3	Basant Mukhari - Vilambit TeenTaal	20:34
4	Basant Mukhari - Dhruth TeenTaal	10:04
5	Folk Melody - Raga Mishra Mand	9:03

Liner Notes

Good liner notes with profile of the artists and the music.