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The
amazing guitar virtuosi Debashish Bhattacharya has created his own
unique style and technique of playing. Born in Calcutta , India, he learnt to
sing before he could talk and started playing the Hawaiian lap steel guitar at
the age of 3. He received the President of India Award in 1984 and was made a Pandit
( master) at 40. as well as being one of the world's great slide guitarists he
is also a designer, creating nineteen guitars since he began experimenting is
his twenties. all three guitars heard on this album were designed by him . For
the opening track, 'Aanandam' (Joy) he performs on 'Anandi', a slide
ukulele that produces a direct, clear tone. Raga Tilak Kanod is an evening raga
played on the fourteen-stringed Gandarvi, whose name derives from
Gandharva loka, the classical realm of music. Chaturangui, a
twenty-two-string guitar with four additional tones, features in Raga basant
Mukhari.
In
the first section, 'Usha', Sutapa Bhattacharya plays the background
drone of the tanbura whilst Debashish delicately introduces each
note of the raga. In the second part, 'Prabha', Debashish performs with tabla
accompaniment from Subhasis Bhattacharjee. the final section, 'Maha
Shakti' ('Beyond The Sun') is performed at a fast tempo in tintal, a sixteen
beat hypnotic patters, as the three-finger picking technique of Debashish
Bhattacharya brings together a thousand-year tradition of Indian music to
produce an exhilarating and unique experience.
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