Recreating A Dream

From the CD Kishori Amonkar Kishori Amonkar is unquestionably the most versatile and popular woman vocalist of the present generation. Kishoris is the kind of music that casts its magic spell over her listeners as few others can. Kishori Amonkar also enjoys the singular distinction as the first woman pioneer of the avant garde movement in Hindustani music. And that makes her a controversial exponent of the musical tradition of North India. Daughter and disciple of the great Mogubai Kurdikar, the doyenne of the Atrauli-Jaipur gharana, it is natural that music to her is a maternal inheritance. But her genius has sought to overshadow the blue-blooded gharana, pioneered by her mothers mentor, Ustad Alladiya Khan. Thereby, she has widened her horizons of musical expression and discovered fresh fields and pastures new, to the perennial delight and fulfillment of millions of her fans. The Music Raga Jaunpuri: This is a raga, conventionally rendered in the later hours of the morning. It has a caressive, persuasive quality, with an undertone of melancholic yearning caused by separation. This mood is captured and projected so eloquently by the artiste. Technically, Jaunpuri is a shadava-sampurna raga, in which gandhar is omitted from its aroha. One opinion regards dhaivat and gandhar as its vadi and samvadi swaras. Another view is that nishad and gandhar are, respectively, its vadi and samvadi swaras. Be that as it may, this in no way affects the innate emotional content of the melody. The artiste begins her presentation with a slow-tempo depiction, set to teentaal (16 and appeal of its own, which has swayed the emotions of listeners down the centuries. It has an odava (pentatonic) build-up, in which madhyam and nishad