THANK YOU, SUTANU (Sutanu Chatterjee)
The speed at which you have played the Saigal song, Sutanu, seems to be perfect. The YouTube rendition is slower and not that appealing as this one. The record, however, in the original I have not had the pleasure of listening to but the one that I hear here through your grace is matchless in its beauty. This clearly highlights the role of 'laya' in 'gaayen' and the necessity of a music director of refined sensibility to be able to bring about the perfect balance of speed, pitch and interlude in the end-result of recording a song. Also, one wonders what technology would have afforded these musical masters to have achieved were it available in their times. Heavily restricted in such terms, they yet performed in a manner that has left a lasting impression on the minds and hearts of music-lovers of successive generations and their appeal seems to be undying despite the ravages musical sensibility suffers from at the hands of marauders masquerading as modern musicians. The same applies to classical vocalists of earlier generations when recording facilities were poor. Yet, they came out triumphant on account of their sheer mastery of craft, and have left us to wonder what their quality of performance would have been in their heyday when they enthralled royalty in the courts.
The world owes you a debt, Sutanu, for being such an avid preserver of that which is best in our musical heritage, and you need all the support in terms of encouragement and shared delight in such conservation. I pray to the Gandharvas to lend you that exquisite refinement in musical culture, which is their greatest bendiction, that you may savour what you save and save what you savour for the greater dissemination of our priceless heritage. God bless you!
Written by Sugata Bose
The speed at which you have played the Saigal song, Sutanu, seems to be perfect. The YouTube rendition is slower and not that appealing as this one. The record, however, in the original I have not had the pleasure of listening to but the one that I hear here through your grace is matchless in its beauty. This clearly highlights the role of 'laya' in 'gaayen' and the necessity of a music director of refined sensibility to be able to bring about the perfect balance of speed, pitch and interlude in the end-result of recording a song. Also, one wonders what technology would have afforded these musical masters to have achieved were it available in their times. Heavily restricted in such terms, they yet performed in a manner that has left a lasting impression on the minds and hearts of music-lovers of successive generations and their appeal seems to be undying despite the ravages musical sensibility suffers from at the hands of marauders masquerading as modern musicians. The same applies to classical vocalists of earlier generations when recording facilities were poor. Yet, they came out triumphant on account of their sheer mastery of craft, and have left us to wonder what their quality of performance would have been in their heyday when they enthralled royalty in the courts.
The world owes you a debt, Sutanu, for being such an avid preserver of that which is best in our musical heritage, and you need all the support in terms of encouragement and shared delight in such conservation. I pray to the Gandharvas to lend you that exquisite refinement in musical culture, which is their greatest bendiction, that you may savour what you save and save what you savour for the greater dissemination of our priceless heritage. God bless you!
Written by Sugata Bose
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