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Preserve oral tradition: Gundecha brothers

Staff Reporter

`The mood of these songs is meditative'

MAKING A POINT: Hindustani Dhrupad singers Ramakant Gundecha, Umakant Gundecha and Akhilesh Gundecha at a face-to-face programme organised by the Kozhikode Press Club on Friday.

KOZHIKODE: Indian classical music tradition can be preserved only through the Guru-Shishya tradition or the oral tradition, according to Umakant Gundecha and Ramakant Gundecha, exponents of the Dhrupad style of music.

"The oral tradition of teaching music `one-to-one' alone can preserve it,'' the singers, popularly known as the Gundecha brothers, said at a face-to-face programme organised by the Calicut Press Club on Friday.

(Dhrupad music's origin is linked to the recitation of the Sama Veda. The nature of this music is spiritual, seeking not to entertain but to induce deep feelings of peace and contemplation in the listeners.

The word Dhrupad comes from `Dhruva,' meaning fixed or steadfast, and Pada, which means word or composition. The language of composition changed from Sanskrit to Brijbhasha between the 12th and 16th centuries.

In Dhrupad music, there are two parts: `Alap,' which is sung without words, and `Dhrupad,' sung with the accompaniment of `Pakhawaj,' a two-headed barrel shaped drum.)

``Dhrupad is a very old music — the oldest classical form of music of India, especially north Indian classical music. It can be a prayer to God. Basically, it is temple music. The oldest songs in the style are in prayer to gods and goddesses. There is now a growing audience for Dhrupad throughout India and abroad,'' the Gundecha brothers say.

Since there were very few singers of Dhrupad music, there were fewer performances and, hence, the music form had become rare. "There may be around five good Dhrupad singers in the whole country,'' they said.

The brothers, born in Ujjain, have started the Dhrupad Institute in Bhopal to train talented people.

"Any talented person is welcome to join the institution. We also welcome talented people from Kerala between the ages of 15 and 30. We have residential facility for students in India and abroad. We want to bring out accomplished singers from this institute,'' they said.

The Gundecha brothers have made certain experiments, such as singing the new poems of the famous Hindi poets, including (Suryakant Tripathi) `Nirala,' in Dhrupad style. But they are averse to bring out a music album, such as those in vogue. "We can consider bringing out an album in pure Dhrupad music,'' they said in response to a query.

Drawing a difference between `khayal' (standard classical vocal form in Hindustani music) and `Dhrupad,' the brothers said the mood of Khayal was `Sringara,' while that of `Dhrupad' was meditative.

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