The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : It was a musical downpour

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 29, 2007
ePaper

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

It was a musical downpour

Deepa Ganesh

Ustad Rashid Khan

Bangalore: Each time one listens to Ustad Rashid Khan, it becomes inevitable to recall the lines of Kannada poet G.S. Shivarudrappa: “Ella kelali endu naanu haaduvudilla, haaduvudu anivaarya karma nanage” (I don’t sing hoping that all will listen, singing for me is preordained, my karma). For Rashid Khan, music is a deep personal commitment; like prayer. And so, even at the risk of being perceived as taciturn, the maestro keeps just to his music. Even an overwhelming applause doesn’t elicit much of a response from him.

Call it serendipity: Saturday evening, when the city was graced by a downpour, Ustad Rashid Khan sang an outstanding Megh Malhar at the Barkha Ritu Festival, organised by Banyan Tree Events.

After a short alaap, he sang the beautiful vilambit jhaptaal bandish “Piya Nahin Aaye”. In the typical style of Rampur-Sahaswan gharana, he took to a slow, introspective elaboration of the vilambit khayal. The long, intense meends, rich evocative phrases marked the gradual unfurling of the raga. The rishab, which is at once the key swara of the raga and a precarious one to handle, came with such effortless grace by the ustad. The flashes of Malhar – now here, now gone – came in wonderfully, but left a lasting impact. His powerful taankari emerged with great clarity; even with the most complex gamaks and murkhis, Rashid Khan’s emotional quotient never saw a dip. He is perhaps among the best of musicians who work out such a fine balance between virtuosity and aesthetics. In fact, he was accompanied by the exemplary Jyoti Guha on the harmonium, who shared the maestro’s refined sensibilities. Satyajit Talwalkar played the tabla with such élan; there was not one harsh stroke. In the drut teentaal bandish, “Garaje ghata gan”, Rashid Khan with a passionately grave treatment sang so many variations of the word ‘ghata’, it almost seemed like he was wooing the cloud like a beloved. The presentation was lyrical and evoked rich monsoon images and moods. Rashid Khan sang a third bandish “Gagan chalath” which was packed with intricate swara patterns and laykari. He sang an equally fine Des, and ended it with a taraana, that was in a khayal-like style.

What came first lyric or melody? If one could get audacious after the Ustad’s outstanding music, the poet perhaps said: “Matte maley huyyutide, ninna nenapaagutide…” after one such downpour of melody.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka