Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, the inimitable master of the bansuri (bamboo flute), is one of the most distinguished, and popular, musicians on the Indian classical music scene. Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia is accompanied on this live recording by two fine percussionists: tabla player Subhankar Banerjee throughout, and M. Balachander on mridangam for the second CD only. Subhankar Banerjee has toured and recorded with many top artists, ever since he made his first international tour with sitarist Shalil Shankar at the age of sixteen. M Balachander, from Madras, teaches mridangam at the Bhavan Centre in London.

DISC ONE: Rag Jaijaivanti - Hariprasad Chaurasia has shown his mastery of the most serious and also the lightest varieties of Hindustani music over many years, yet his style may be suited best of all to a rag like Jaijaivanti - serious enough to warrant a full alap treatment, yet at the same time plaintive and romantic, and shown at its most beautiful through his rhapsodic touches.

Bhajan - This CD, and the first half of the live performance at which it was recorded, is concluded with a lighter piece, based on the Bhajan "Vaishnav jan to tenere kahiye". The melody is derived from Rag Khamaj and set to a slow kaharwa tal.

DISC TWO: Rag Hansadhwani- The second part of this presentation opens with a rendition of the delightful Rag Hansadhwani. This is one of the most popular of all rags in the Carnatic system, and has long since been adopted by North Indian musicians. This piece begins with a short alap, before Pandit Chaurasia introduces a composition accompanied first by Subhankar Banerjee's tabla and joined a little later by M. Balachander's mridangam. Pandit Chaurasia takes this opportunity to incorporate other elements of Carnatic performing practice, and the result retains much of the best of both approaches. For one thing, he augments his party with the South Indian barrel drum mridangam, played by M. Balachander. The use of more than one percussionist is very common in Carnatic music, where many concerts include passages in which the percussionists imitate phrases played by the singer or instrumental soloist and also alternate percussion solos. In this performance the Hindustani soloist moves yet closer to the Carnatic tradition, incorporating these practices while also playing a Carnatic rag with the support of an mridangam player. After the main process of elaboration of the rag is complete, the performance moves into a primarily rhythmic mode, the two drummers take it in turns to imitate phrases played on the flute, a process which is brought to a climax. Then move on to drum solos, first the mridangam, then the tabla; after a couple of extended solos each the two continue to alternate in a sequence of ever-shorter passages until a climax is reached in unison. By the time the flute reenters, the speed has picked up considerably and Pandit Chaurasia improvises simple outlines in fast teental rather than reverting to his medium tempo composition.

Pahadi Dhun - As is his habit, Hariprasad Chaurasia concludes this presentation with a Pahadi Dhun - that is, the light piece based on a folk tune from the Indian hills. A great enthusiast for Pahadi tunes of various regions, Pandit Chaurasia performs a great variety of pieces under the title Pahadi Dhun or Rag Pahadi. This is particularly interesting piece, since not only are the other two scale degrees used - which occurs in the context of the unusual descent. Another notable feature is the switch to a shorter flute for the concluding section, which allows the soloist to play with ease in the upper octave.