COMPOSERS: Traditional Temple Music
LABELS: Navras
PERFORMER: Pandit Jasraj (voice)
CATALOGUE NO: NRCD 3511
Navras claims that PANDIT JASRAJ’s release is probably the first live recording of the haveli sangeet genre of temple music. He is the veteran singer who has most actively brought this previously reclusive style into the concert domain.
The scheme here is two preparatory items, an invocation and an incantatory dhun, followed by three songs in different ragas, in which two supporting vocalists echo the main singer’s lines along with a violin.
As performed here it’s fairly quiet and even a little frail, though Jasraj’s ornamentation is active enough and he hits the high notes sweetly, finally achieving a certain excitement in the last song.