Album: Dr Ritwik Sanyal
Collection: The Lyrical Tradition Of Dhrupad
Vocal: Dr Ritwik Sanyal
Pakhavaj: Shrikant Mishra
Tanpura: Nirmalya Dey, Yvan Trunzler

Tracks:
0:00 Rag Bilaskhani Todi - Alap
43:33 Rag Bilaskhani Todi - Dhrupad - Chautal
1:00:47 Rag Hanskinkini - Alap
1:04:43 Rag Hanskinkini - Dhrupad - Sultal

Description:
Dagarvani’s forte is the alap. As we make the myriad tonal patterns in alap and Dhrupad, we directly experience the joy of its occasions. It frees us from tension. It relates us to what existentially supports us and surpasses us. As one hears the alap, one glides from here to eternity. The Dagarvani alap brings into play each and every note in the raga in all three registers. The vacillations on each note are so subtle, so deep that they become hardly noticeable to the unskilled and untrained ears.

The voice culture of the Dagarvani is especially delicate. There is a fluidity in its expository style and a feeling of expansiveness. This is done, in addition to the tone shades, by dividing each tone into several microtones (ananta sruti). The correct use of these microtones take many years of training for the musical ears.

The main art of Dagarvani singing lies in the merukhand alap, which is structured on ten finesses (svara-laksana-s) artistically named akar, dagar, dhuran, muran, kampita, andolita, lahak, gamak and sphurti. The akar is a round finesse around each note. The alap begins with its guiding figure-word around the sadja.

After the akar is established, the singer proceeds to weave zigzag patterns of note-permutation. The typical phrases of the raga is woven out: this is called the dagar, which literally means the pathway. The Dagars give the imagery of tracks traversing mountainous areas.

When the singer expounds the sruti-s in a round and ascending order, these make the dhuran. When the round melodic patterns return to a more sounding note in a descending order, the process of recession is called muran. The technique of dhuran-muran is somewhat akin to the gamaks named ullasita and namita as enumerated in Sangita Ratnakara of Sarngadeva. This artistry conforms to the mizarb and java of string-instruments, the rudraveena and the rabab.

In been-playing, the tender feelings of the notes are pronounced by plucking the wires on the fret. The vocalists produce this effect on the vocal cord by sensitive modulation called the kampita. When such a modulation is on swinging or wavy nature by the ascent and descent of notes, it is andolita.

In lahak, the Dagars make notes travel in a lashing manner with some breath-force. In gamak, the notes spring with a modulating force and are articulated with rounded lips. In haddock, the articulation is heavy and the notes are pulled upwards with extra breath force creating a hum sound; it resembles the humphita described by Sarnagadeva. In the final phase of the alap the sphurti is performed. This is rendered in a very fast tempo, consisting of several rhythmic variations in the jhala movement.

The playing on Rudraveena has isomorphic characteristics enumerated above. In the Dagar tradition, singing and Veena playing have always been together, one complementing the other. The singer has borrowed many subtle nuances from playing and beenkars have imitated the good qualities of the singer. In fact all good beenkars were well trained singers. Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, who was the only beenkar in the family then, is an excellent vocalist though he does not sing publicly.

Born on 12 April 1953 in Katihar, Bihar, Shri Ritwik Sanyal was initiated in music by his mother Ranu Sanyal, who taught him folk and popular melodies of Bengal. Shri Sanyal went on to train in Dhrupad music under Zia Mohiuddin Dagar and Zia Fariduddin Dagar (1975) in Mumbai, and took an M.A. in philosophy at Bombay University He then moved to Varanasi to continue studies in music, obtaining a Master's in vocal music at Banaras Hindu University. A “Top” grade (Dhrupad) artist at All India Radio & Doordarshan, Dr. Sanyal has widely performed both in India and abroad and is also creator of many ragas which are very popular with the current generation of musicians. For example, one of the ragas that was created over 30 years ago by Panditji and Late Us. Zia Fariduddin Dagar is raga “Shruti Vardhani”.

View the pictures embedded in the video for more details.