We continue our series on musicians who have demonstrated equal facility over more than one instrument or as instrumentalists and vocalists. The three episodes preceding this one included musicians who have not necessarily included two disciplines as part of their concert performances over an extended period. This week we feature an artist who was known as much for his vocal concerts as for his violin recitals.
Gajananbuwa Joshi, well-known as a repository of hundreds of compositions and as a revered teacher to several notable vocalists, trained under many gurus belonging to various gharanas or musical lineages. His vocal and violin concerts were marked by this eclectic training. Equally, he was known for the ease with which he navigated the rhythmic canvas and included intricate cross-rhythmic phrasing.
Since we are experiencing the spring season in India at the moment, we feature the maestro’s rendition of seasonal raags Basant and Bahar. We begin with his vocal recital in the raag Basant. He presents a vilambit or slow khayal in Jhumra, a rhythmic cycle of 14 matras or time-units.
The second track includes his interpretation of the same raag on the violin. He plays two compositions set to the 16-matra Teentaal.
On the next track, Joshi sings two compositions in the raag Bahar. The first composition is set to the ten-matra Jhaptaal and the second is set to Teentaal.
The final track includes two compositions in the raag Bahar played by the maestro on the violin. The first one is set to vilambitTeentaal and the second one to drut or fast Teentaal.