After focusing on khayal renditions in our series on raag Yaman over the past nine weeks, we now move to instrumental interpretations of the same raag. An ideal bridge between the two series comes in the form of a vocal-instrumental duet featuring vocal exponent Nasir Aminuddin Dagar (1923-2000) and rudra veena maestro Zia Mohiuddin Dagar (1929-1990), both masters of the dhrupad genre who belonged to the famed Dagar lineage.
Typically, a melodic instrument accompanies a vocalist, and this was the case traditionally even when the rudra veena accompanied dhrupad. However, the rudra veena in this recital has adequate space to make an independent musical statement, in contrast to the pattern followed in the case of conventional accompaniment.
This recording from a live concert contains a detailed exposition of three stages of aalaap, or melodic elaboration, without any percussion accompaniment. Both maestros employ meends – grand and long sweeping glides – between swaras, or notes, as they proceed through the exploration of the raag. Ascending the melodic framework of Yaman, they reach Ni, or the seventh swara, which happens to be the sub-dominant swara in this raag. They touch this swara, but only to descend again and gather melodic patterns to tantalise Ni yet again. Repeating this strategy several times, they create a yearning in the listeners for a musical resolution to this tension. The resolution comes with the ascent to a clear pronouncement of the upper tonic.
The first movement of the aalaap is followed by the jod, a section that has a pulsating rhythm. The entire aalaap is brought to a close with a jhala that is presented at higher speed.
Nasir Aminuddin Dagar sings a dhrupad composition in its entirety with the four parts: sthayi, antara, sanchari, and abhog. The composition is set to Chautaal, a cycle of 12 matras or time units. The vocalist enters into extensive layakari, or rhythmic interplay, with the accompanying twin-faced horizontal barrel drum called pakhawaj. The layakari involves singing parts of the song-text in double, triple or quadruple tempo, in a spontaneous manner, rather than in the nature of a premeditated mathematical design. The pakhawaj anticipates the different rhythmic structures introduced by the vocalist and joins in to heighten the climax.