ESRAJ Recital (Live Recordings) by Pandit Ranadhir Roy

Returning to Santiniketan in the early 1970s, Ranadhir Roy started giving regular private recitals at the home of his musician friends and colleagues of Sangeet Bhavana. This practice had grown into a regular affair, a kind of musical salon where the musicians of Santiniketan exchanged their ideas with each other. Among the many memorable performances that took place in this electrifying atmosphere was Ranadhir Roy’s Alap in Komal Rishabh Asavari presented in this CD on Track 01 – and for the first time to the public.  This alap reveals not only Ranadhir Roy’s inimitable technique and mastery over the Esraj but also his deeply thoughtful and

thought-provoking raga interpretation, compositional depth, and total emotional and intellectual involvement with his work. The discerning listener would like to note Ranadhir Roy’s legendary command over finger work and bowing techniques as well as the richness of his melodic inventions.

The shorter piece on Track 02 is a Madhya laya gat in Raga Zilla Kafi set in Addha-taal.

Ranadhir Roy gave this performance in Kolkata in the 1980s.

More than once Ranadhir Roy had said that he never played compositions that were not his own – not even the ones that he had learnt from his revered gurus Aseshchandra Bandyopadhyaya, Dhruva Tara Joshi and Vishnu Govind Jog. “I don’t play them anymore,” he said, “because I can’t communicate with them unless the whole composition comes from me, my own composition.” (46) While listening to Ranadhir Roy’s music, one must try to understand this steadfastly individualistic quality of his thinking.