Quietly flows the melody
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Ashok Huggannanavar, one of our lesser-known musicians, carries on with his music in the placid environs of Honnavar
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PASSIONATEAshok Huggannanavar doesn't make a loud statement of his music, saying he's happy where he is Photo: Courtesy M. SREEDHARA MURTHY
He carries a nondescript, small purse like pigmy deposit collectors do. He has the bearing of just another man in the crowd, with no airs whatsoever. And so you can mistake him for one. Ashok Huggannanavar, not an oft-heard name in urban music circles, is an eloquent musician and an articulate speaker. The gentle, quiet Huggannanvar, who teaches in the music department at a college in Honnavar, has been a disciple of many a great musician, including Basavaraj Rajguru and Sangameshwar Gurav.
Eraguppi Lingappa, fondly known as Lingaraj Buva, Huggannanavar's maternal uncle, was one of the greatest musicians of his time. But sadly, like many others, he never made it to the mainstream. Lingaraj Buva, Panchakshari Gawai and Mallikarjun Mansur were contemporaries and disciples of the renowned Nilakant Buva of Miraj.
The phenomenally talented Lingaraj Buva, who used to sing for Vamanrao Master's drama company, was a great influence on the young Huggannavar.
He got to listen to his uncle's riyaz at home and picked up the genre with ease. He enjoyed singing, but his father Ramappa Huggannanavar, a retired primary school teacher, fearing for his son's future, ordered an immediate stop.
However, after a hiatus, Huggannavar's music revived in college and he bagged prizes in every other competition. That was when his father realised his son's talent shouldn't be frittered away. With his father's blessings, Huggannanavar started formally learning from his uncle, who would take him for a walk into the fields and break into a song. He would ask the young man to repeat after him. "But what about the taanpura?' I used to ask in bewilderment. `The shadja has to take birth in the mind and not from the taanpura,' he would explain. Not that it made great sense to me then, but now I know what a scholar he was," he says. He was taught rare, unheard ragas, without making them seem like they were unusual. It was only much later in his life that he realised the worth of his uncle's teaching.
"I got into M.Sc. Botany but was hardly interested. I would miss classes and (Mallikarjun) Mansur (at the time head of the music department) had noticed it. He coaxed me to complete my course and promised to get me into the music course. And he kept his promise," he recalls gratefully. The six-year course was brought down to one year and Huggannanvar given a seat as promised.
The great Basavaraj Rajguru, one of the teachers for the course, in the one of the early classes put the students through a small test. It was Huggannavar's turn and he sang a cheez his uncle had taught him. No sooner had he finished than Rajguru asked him if he had learnt it from Eraguppi Lingappa. "We used to listen to him with our mouths wide open," Rajguru told the class.
Says Huggannavar: "Unlike other musicians, Rajguru was a simple man. He made no discrimination and had enormous love for his students. He was a teacher to the core. I remember how he would cancel the classes if I couldn't make it," recalls Huggannanavar affectionately. It was at his behest that he later went to Sangameshwar Gurav for advanced lessons. "I had learnt a lot of music, but did not know how to present it. Sangameshwar Gurav gave my music a definite shape." During the Kundagol Sawai Gandharava Punyathiti in the Eighties, there was a competition and Huggannanavar took part in it. Gangubai Hangal, who was the judge, was impressed by the youth's competence. She recommended him highly among the music circles and urged that he had to be taken notice of.
In one of his first few concerts at Delhi, the legendary harmonium player Mohammed Dholpuri didn't look too pleased to accompany this chit of a boy. But the disdain evaporated when Huggannavar commenced Vijayanagari, a raga that even stalwarts think twice before singing, and stunned his audience. Even Dholpuri was humbled into silence.
While most musicians are clamouring for space and opportunity in urban spaces, Huggannanavar is contented being in Honnavar, doing his riyaz, teaching his students and singing for an occasional concert that comes his way. "When there is no forum for me here (in Bangalore), why should I come? I'm happy where I am," says this unassuming musician.
DEEPA GANESH
Lahari Recording Company is releasing Ashok Huggannanavar's album, Bairagi, this evening at Ananya auditorium, Malleswaram, 6 p.m.
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