North Indian vocal master Venkatesh Kumar brings powerful melodic ornamentations to Multani’s twisting phrases, accompanied by both sarangi and harmonium.

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Venkatesh Kumar sings a varied brand of khayal, incorporating influences from across India. Born in Karnataka, his father was a folk singer and puppeteer, who supported his musical inclinations but lacked the funds to help him pursue it (“we lived in poverty, sometimes meals were a problem”). However at the age of 12 he was accepted as a student at the Veereshwara Punyashrama, run by the legendary saint-musician Puttaraj Gawai. He lived there for the next 12 years, mastering the Gwalior and Kirana vocal gharanas before branching out to other styles including Carnatic music.

His career launched when Bhimsen Joshi personally invited him to sing at a concert, but remained low-key for years as he preferred the stability and purity afforded by teaching positions to the unpredictable concert landscape. But he says that worldly recognition has not concerned him, as his music is a devotional endeavour (“I am after it to experience god. I am waiting for a divine experience in music every minute. This is for a lifetime.”).

Multani is a popular afternoon raga. It draws from Todi thaat, ascending pentatonically with SgMPNS and descending heptatonically with SNdPMgrS. Sa, Pa, and Ni are the melodic focal points, with mandra [low octave] Ni often being used to start phrases. Pa and Sa are the vadi and samvadi [king and queen notes], and Dha and Re should be used very sparingly in the descent.

Sitarist-scholar Deepak Raja describes his response to the raga’s subtly-coloured descent: “I associate this raga, in a very personal way, with the oppressive afternoon heat of May in the Indo-Gangetic plains. The very special treatment of the Re and Dh tones in this raga suggest to me the virtual wilting of the body and the mind under the remorseless tyranny of the North Indian summer.” Raag Madhuvanti is considered to be a descendent of Multani.

Recorded at Darbar Festival 2010, at London’s King’s Place:
-Venkatesh Kumar (khayal)
-Satyajit Talwalkar (tabla)
-Murad Ali (sarangi)
-Tofail Ahmed (harmonium)

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