IndiaPost.com - Guitarist Debashish Bhattacharya in LA

India Post News Service

LOS ANGELES: On April 27, as part of his 14-day 2008 US tour, Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya, one of the world's greatest slide guitarist will perform at Herrick Chapel, Occidental College. The program takes listeners on a journey through the history of Indian classical music arriving finally at the 21st century.

His new Riverboat album 'Calcutta Chronicles: Indian Slide Guitar Odyssey' is set for release in the US on April 8. The trail blazing artist, who has garnered universal critical acclaim, is an innovator in his development of a trinity of slide guitars (the 24-string hollow neck Chaturangui, the 14 string Gandharvi and the Anandi, a 4-string slide ukulele.) Debashish has crafted the slide guitar to the demands of the Indian raga form.

His three guitars combine aspects of the western guitar including, Blues and Hawaiian music interlaced with elements of traditional Indian instruments. Of his upcoming tour, Debashish says, "We had great success in the previous tour and many people could not make it to the shows as all tickets were sold much in advance.

We had promised that we would return someday to play to all those who loved us so much, and we are ready to go. Indian Slide Guitar Odyssey, will be released at the same time. But let me remind all that the biggest advantage of Indian classical music is that the same raga played a hundred times will always be different in approach and flavor.

This is how Indian raga music has survived more than one thousand years and continues to be ever-living, braving the threats of globalization. Though we are bringing many new and more interactive compositions composed by me, they will be presented through vocal, percussive and instrumental recitals together.

I am also thrilled to perform with Jerry Douglas, Derek Trucks, Bob Brozman and others and at new places that were never booked for Indian raga music." Born to musician parents, Debashish Bhattacharya was a child prodigy who started playing the guitar at the age of three.

He played musical games with his friends which enhanced memory, by remembering the compositions, orally. "We could remember the complete raga form and the compositions by practically singing or playing. We needed to believe that we could remember everything that we heard once," he says in the fascinating notes accompanying the CD Indian Slide Guitar Odyssey.

He studied Indian classical vocal with Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty, under Ustad Ali Akbar Khan (sarod) and the legendary Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra. Debashish defines his new album as metaphorical, a slide show of his musical experiences. I listen to the music.

It is infused with tone colors and Debashish Bhattarcharya is a master craftsman in showcasing deep emotional moods, and traditional ragas juxtaposed with a beauty of vision. The first track Sufi Bhakti mirrors the introduction of Anandi, (the small slide ukulele created by the artist) into Sufi music. The Indian harp, tabla and ektara cross boundaries and contain potentially interesting material and the raga Bhairavi is played with a certain reverence.

This is followed by the morning raga Amrit Anand (Eternal Joy), evoking ethereal serenity yet visceral. Showman ship and a certain joyful flamboyance mark Gypsy Anandi melding Indian melodies with Hawaiian and Afro-Andalucain rhythms. Another track that entranced me was Kolkata to Kanykumari a tribute to the Yatra of Swami Vivekananda. Debashish shares his birthdate with the great religious leader who preached unity in diversity.

North Indian and Carnatic classical music are brought together in an innovative way as Debashish crosses musical territories, intersecting cultures. Other pieces like Rasika, Aviskar, and Ganga Kinare, celebrate, illustrate and capture the amrita of music, with fearless technique. A lustrous sheen envelops the last track Maya where the music perhaps questions our existence.

The raga is an elegiac journey searching for the essence of life, meditative, infused with the passion, and pain of life and the yearning for peace. Debashish's work has earned him the President of India Award in 1984, the Asiatic Society Gold Medal in 2005, and the BBC Planet Award for World Music in 2007. Bhattacharya is accompanied by siblings Subhasis Bhattacharjee and Sutapa Bhattacharjee on vocals.