In the night of the famous Asakusa area in Tokyo, on August 23, 2011, many Indian music lovers enjoyed the stage of an Indian coloratura at the Asahi Art Square. Ms. Kaushiki Chakrabarty Desikan, a young and hopeful Indian classical vocalist, made her debut in Japan, which was a part of the world music series titled Sukiyaki Meets the World active in Toyama city and its extended concert series, SUKIYAKI TOKYO.

     Her singing, backed by a mellifluous voice and precision techniques with virtuosity, deeply impressed the audience to breathe new breath in the Indian musical art.

     In her first song in Rag Bihag, she put deep stresses on the lower Ni (seventh) note particularly in Alap (free rhythm) section, which seemingly made the characteristics of the raga a bit ambiguous. In the following Bandish (tune) section in slow 12-beat cycle, Ektal, the raga shape was clearly described. In 10-beat Jhaptal in a medium tempo and fast 16-beat parts, she displayed the vocal techniques matched by none along with sargam (solmization).

     As shown in her Jawab-Sawal (Q&A) phrases with Mr. Subhasis Bhattacharya on tabla, and rapid interplays of same phrases between sargam and akar (vocalise), her singing contained much of instrumental elements, if compared with the vocalist of previous generations. Her voice range is wide and full of elegance, and the current voice quality seems to be deeper than that heard in existing CDs. We can expect further development in her music abilities. Mr. Ajay Joglekar on harmonium (portable organ) also gave an excellent accompaniment.

     Only a pity was that total musical experience would have been better if a balance between the vocal and instrumental sounds was better tuned.