Dancing fingers
ANJANA RAJAN
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Continuing the series on accompanists, here is tabla and pakhawaj player Yogesh Gangani.
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`Ours is mainly a family of dancers. There is no question of feeling that musicians who accompany dance are slighted,' says Yogesh Gangani, a relative youngster in the illustrious Gangani family of the Jaipur gharana of Kathak.
Employed at the Kathak Kendra, New Delhi, Yogesh, a popular tabla and pakhawaj player who has accompanied a number of senior Kathak dancers, learnt percussion from his elder brother Fateh Singh Gangani, another well-known artiste on the Kathak scene in New Delhi.
Trained in the tabla and pakhawaj, Yogesh says his favourite is the tabla. Not always though.
"I thought I would be a dancer. My elder brother (eminent Kathak dancer) Pandit Rajendra Gangani taught me Kathak since I was 16. I wanted to emulate him and other charismatic dancers like Aditi Mangaldas. But suddenly, after seeing stalwarts like Pandit Kishan Maharaj, I developed a fascination for the tabla, and put all my energies into that. My last dance performance was in Aditi ji's production `Ganesh' in 1991."
As an accompanist, Yogesh has performed with celebrated dancers like Gitanjali Lal, Prerna Shrimali, Veronique Azan, Durga Arya, Ram Mohan Mishra, Kajal Mishra, besides his brother Rajendra Gangani and Aditi Mangaldas.
His dance training is a decided advantage for Yogesh. "If you have learnt dance, it is very easy to pick up the bols of any pattern. I have even played with Raja Reddy. I played tabla to all his Kuchipudi bols. Having learnt dance helps me to put life into my accompaniment," says Yogesh enthusiastically.
Playing the tabla for Kuchipudi was not his only exposure to `fusion'.
Yogesh has performed in a percussion ensemble led by mridangam artiste Tanjavur Kesavan.
He also had occasion to perform with the famed percussionist Pete Locket in the U.K.
Having toured India and the world as a musician, Yogesh places the credit for his success at the feet of his elders.
"I am particularly grateful to Aditi ji, Gitanjali ji and my gurus, especially Raju bhaiyya," he says fervently.
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