Entertainment
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
A prey to popular beat
MANJARI SINHA
|
Roshan Bharati's ghazal recital in New Delhi the other day showed fluency of expression but tapered off in the selection of ghazals.
|
IN THE NAME OF EMBELLISHMENT: Roshan Bharati
When many ghazal singers claim they have been trained in classical music, they mostly mean they can take a turn up and down or skirmish the scale with the acrobatics of technique. They can also identify a raga or two, for what they want to achieve in their music, this minimal ability is obviously enough. They have what they call a great deal of popular appeal. Their compositions may be based on a raga but they hardly know how to deal with it, and keep wandering from one raga to another. Each song follows a stereotyped use of phrase and motion so that after you have listened to one or two and tasted the texture of their voice, every song is predictable.
All this was observed in a recent concert at the India Habitat Centre in New Delhi when Anuradha Arts of Jodhpur presented an evening of ghazals by Roshan Bharati of Kota. Born in a family of musicians, Roshan got training in ghazal singing from his father Yasmin Khan. He has a stage presence and an appealing voice. The basement theatre was full with people clapping on every other couplet of the shayari. In fact, Roshan requested them to do so, if they liked it. To ensure that the audiences are convinced of his classical training, he even sang sargams now and then. His resume mentioned that his grandfather Ustaad Jamaal Khan sang raga Darbari in his ear at the time of his birth, and above all, he has done doctorate on Begum Akhtar. Surprisingly, there was no trace of this in his singing.The classical tradition not only trains your voice but also inculcates good taste in the selection and rendition of ghazals. Begum Akhtar chose to sing Ghalib, Jigar Moradabadi, Mir Taqui Mir, Qateel Shifai, Firaque Gorakhpuri et al, and she respected the lyrics, the soul of ghazal, taking care not to hurt them by sheer technique in the name of embellishment. Her phrasing added force and meaning to the lyrics. There was a feeling of understatement and discipline, a belief in classicism untainted by musical exhibitionism in her singing. Instead of acquiring a Ph.D Begum, Roshan should have acquired some of these qualities from her art of ghazal singing.
Roshan sang a ghazal of Shahid based on raga Bhimpalasi, Hakim Nasir in Shiva Ranjani, Daanish and the likes with traces of Desh, Tilak-Kamod, Jaijaivanti and other sweat sounding melodies without sticking to any of the chosen raga as if singing on man ki tarang. He seems to be inspired by Mehdi Hasan and Ghulam Ali but doesn't believe in any discipline associated with classicism. There is no doubt about his capabilities. A good degree of fluency in expression and voice modulation was evident in the interpretation of some ghazals, but the selection of ghazals showed his tendency towards cheap popularity, or may be, this is due to the changing value system these days.
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Entertainment
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
