When you hear Shantanu you feel that he is being comprehensively nurtured in all aspects of the Khayal style - he lacks nothing, has an inborn flair for everything, tonally well-fed, sumptuous swara, an unfaltering sense of rhythm with nippy sargams and tanas making a lively sport with it and music as a whole, from one end to another, never relaxing its grip over the listeners. It is a tribute to the imaginative and creative resources of the young artiste, his syrupy, inspiring voice, immaculate training and grasping power and his keen aesthetic responses. The melody and richness of his voice and its natural incline towards repose were indicated in the vocalist's notes of longer pause and their 'meendful' seasoning from the hind notes. Shantanu wove some very intricate patterns in sargams and tanas, some of them displaying expert gradations of rhythm. The grace and pliancy of his voice sway over the mind of a listener.

Shantanu Bhattacharyya performing at India Habitat Centre chose to begin with the awe-inspiring Raga Megh and explored it in all its facets. His voice is of the quality required to highlight this masculine raga--powerful, sweet, true and wide-ranging. The slow Khayal, 'Badra barse' in ektala was developed with graceful gamaks and gradual movement up the scale. The drut Khayal was set to jhaptala, and the first line, 'Garje ghata ghana' came to life with his imaginative embellishments. He dwelt on each word separately, and boltaans in tan format were masterly. A fusillade of tans in conclusion rained down and drenched listeners with their majesty and spontaneity. A third item in the same raga framed in drut ektala was elaborated at a rapid tempo with lightning and highly stylized sargams, boltaans and taans.

It was the charming vocal recital by a Calcutta artiste, Shantanu Bhattacharyya, at India International Centre in New Delhi last week which stirred within me the thoughts of the musical glory of Bengal. The finest compliment one could pay Shantanu would be that he has inherited almost all virtues of Ajoy Chakravarty. Shantanu's second raga - Rageshwari - was as thrilling. Particularly arresting were a few specialised usages typical of Rageshwari. One was the exquisite retreating tonal curve between Dha Ga, the other Dhaiwata's delatory elongation to Nishada and yet another was the extra fine spurt Ga Ma Dha Ni Sa culminating in a glistening Tar Shadja. The composition in the lively ektala was scintillating.