NEW RELEASE Raga-218

NIKHIL BANERJEE sitar ***ABHIJIT BANERJEE tabla

Live · Amsterdam, 1984

Rag Gawoti 77:16

1 alap 25:00

2 jor 12:13

3 slow tintal 24:07

4 fast tintal 7:36

5 jhalla 8:20

From the CD booklet:

Gawoti is equated with Bhim by many scholars, although this has become a matter of some controversy. Gawoti has the same aroh avaroh as Bhim, but consistently uses the phrases n S' D P and G m R n. S, which Bhim doesn't. Bhim on the other hand, often uses the phrases m P G R S and m P G m G R S, distinguishing it from Gawoti. Both raags recall their kinship with Bhimpalasi through the use of komal gandhar in the upper octave in the phrase S' g' R' S'. Unlike Bhimpalasi, however, the R and Dha are more prominent and the madhyam is weaker and used in a vakra fashion.

aroh: n. S G m P n S'

avroh: g' R' S' n D m PD mG R S

chalan: n S' D - P, G m R n. S

Abhijit Banerjee was born in Ranchi near Calcutta in 1964. He began his early training with Sri Tushar Kanti Bose, Sri Manik Pal and finally came under the tutelage of Pandit Jnan Prakash Ghosh. He won his first award at the age of 8 in the Tansen Music Competition. Many awards and trophies followed, including first place in All-Bengal, All-India and All-India Radio music competitions. He has also studied vocal music with Sri Ajoy Chakraborty. He has accompanied many great artists in recordings and on concert tours in India and abroad, including Nikhil Banerjee, Amjad Ali Khan and Parween Sultana.About touring with Nikhil Banerjee:

"When I was only twenty, he asked me to accompany him on a world tour. At that time, I was not a professional musician but a college student in English literature. As he liked my playing at that young age, he made me the offer and I grabbed it. It was a once in a lifetime experience for me. The following year (1985), I had to prepare for my final exams, and could not go with him to Europe. The next year he died, so that was my only tour with him. I played just one concert with him in India." - Abhijit Banerjee

In the initial release, the tabla playing was incorrectly identified. In fact, Abhijit Banerjee was the musician. Raga Records apologizes to the musicians and our customers for the error.

The insert booklets and tray cards have been reprinted. If you have purchased an early copy, please contact Raga Records for a corrected set of inserts to be mailed to you.