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