Purbayan Chatterjee & Shashank Rasayana CD

RASAYANA'Rasayana' means chemistry, which occurs in abundance in this new collaborative work between musicians from North and South India.India is a vast country with a rich and vibrant culture playing host to a plethora of musical expressions and styles. From the thirteenth century onwards, when the Mughals first entered the northern part of India, its classical music has evolved into two distinct forms.The Carnatic tradition of the South is often perceived as the most authentic, untainted form of classical music, while the Hindustani tradition of the north is a fusion of India's own indigenous music and the Persian music culture which accompanied the art loving Mughal Emperors.Although distinctions can be made between the two forms concerning repertoire and presentation there remains many shared elements. The melodic concept of Raga and the rhythmic system of Tala are central to both styles. "Sruthi Mata Laya Pita", a popular saying with both teachers and students alike, tells us that in Indian music the notes are the Mother, and the rhythm, in the form of tala is the Father!In recent times artists from both traditions have strived to bridge the gaps. Ravi Shankar has been responsible for bringing several traditional Carnatic ragas into the North Indian classical music repertoire. South Indian ragas such as Charukeshi, Kirvani and Hansadhwani have become extremely popular with audiences in the North. The truth is that modern day India is producing a wealth of young artists who are keen to explore the whole breadth of their own music traditions and cultural inheritance.Purbayan Chatterjee comes from a family steeped in the classical music tradition.His father and guru Partha Chatterjee is a distinguished sitarist in his own right. In the tradition of the Senia Maihar gharana, founded by Baba Allaudin Khan, Purbayan's playing is an aesthetically satisfying combination of the best facets of "Dhrupad" and "Khayal", North India's two most established classical vocal forms. In recent years Purbayan has had the benefit of guidance from Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, one of India's greatest sarod players, once described by Yehudi Menhuin as the finest musician of the twentieth century. At a young age he has already toured the world several times at the same time dazzling and delighting international music audiences.Born in 1978, Shashank made a sensational concert debut at the age of eleven playing on the Southern Indian traditional bamboo flute and took the Carnatic Music scene by storm overnight. In his relatively short career he has already succeeded in mastering several flutes of differing registers and fingerings introducing elements of Northern Indian music into his repertoire in a way that sounds totally natural. Critics from the world over have described his flute playing as highly creative, melodious and conforming to a vocal tradition of high quality. He has also developed innovative techniques on the bamboo flute which are the envy of flautists worldwide, including double blowing, which entails playing two notes from different octaves simultaneously.Yogesh Samsi is one of those rare tabla players whose reputation has been built on his consummate artistry in both fields of accompaniment and solo playing. Son of highly respected vocalist, Pandit Dinkar Kaikini, Yogesh had the great fortune to be groomed as a tabla player under the guidance of the late Ustad Alla Rakha Khan, who held Yogesh in the very highest regard and with deep affection.Patri Satish Kumar is the regular accompanist of Shashank.Over the years the two have succeeded in developing a unique musical relationship which seems to enter into the realms of telepathy. The mridangam is a double sided barrel shaped drum, the most widely used percussion instrument in South India.For this recording, the musicians have chosen to play the North Indian evening melody Raga Puriya Dhanashri which is a combination of two older and established ragas, Puriya and Dhanashri. The performa