Entertainment
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
He is truly offbeat
|
Pandit Sheshagiri Hangal, the foremost tabla player of Karnataka, has great hope for the future of Indian classical music
|
GRATITUDE Pandit Sheshagiri Hangal feels indebted to the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who gave artistes the cadre of officers in AIR
"A determined person can achieve anything; even disability cannot come in the way if there is a strong will to reach the goal," says the 83-year-old Pandit Sheshagiri Hangal, one of the country's leading tabla maestros and the guru of many a tabla stalwart like our own Pandit Ravindra Yavagal. In any conversation, the modest musician cannot help remembering all those people who have helped him achieve what he did. Known for his solid and mature theka (basic set of syllables played for one rhythmic cycle on the tabla), compared to the steady gait of an elephant, Pandit Sheshagiri Hangal has always won the appreciation of his seniors and contemporaries in classical music. He fondly reminisces: "In earlier days, artistes such as Begum Akhtar, Zarin Daruwala, Mushtaq Hussain Khan, had the practice of getting their own accompanists while on AIR's chain concert bookings. At Akashvani Dharwad, we successfully managed to break the trend by providing high quality saath, keeping the main performer satisfied always." The musicians at AIR, Dharwad had built such credibility that once during a recording Mushtaq Hussain Khan Sahib requested Pandit Sheshagiri Hangal to bear with him. "He was just too modest," says the musician who knows no pretence. His initiation into tabla was offbeat in that he started his music training with the sitar from Wazir Khan, and then violin, before he actually settled with the tabla. His family encouraged him to get into the timber business, but the young lad realised that it was the timbre and tone of the tabla that his heart longed for. Young Sheshagiri insisted upon pursuing the tabla, and had his early lessons from his uncle Ramrao Hangal. He had his first formal training from Pandit Lalji Gokhale (disciple of Ustad Ahmadjan Thirakhwa), who used to teach him whenever the latter came down to Hubli. After Lalji got transferred to Delhi, Sheshagiri approached Narayan Rao Indorkar (disciple of Ustad Jahangir Khan Sahab) for lessons. He recalls that when on a casual visit to Mumbai, he was suddenly asked to play at AIR Mumbai, without prior notice. Sheshagiri was nervous and unprepared, as he had heard about the stalwarts who were on Mumbai AIR station. He looked to his teacher for help and like a truly affectionate guru, Narayan Rao himself got his young student ready in no time — even if it meant that he had to himself play lehera (an accompaniment for tabla solo) for the young tabla genius.
"I was at once comfortable in the studio, when I heard the superb violin lehera that was provided. I was totally charged to play well — those 50 minutes of airtime proved to be a very important milestone in my career. After the performance, I was congratulated and blessed by the proficient tabla artiste Vinayak Rao Ghagrekar who was considered an ustad in jhaptaal (a 10-beat cycle of taal)," he says gleefully.
Pandit Hangal gave his first solo in 1949. Later, when AIR opened its Dharwad station, he joined with a modest starting salary of Rs. 120 in the year 1951. He reflects: "Due to the recognition I had by then, I was called by the Mangalore AIR staff for a slightly higher salary, but only on contract. It was Indira Gandhi, broadcasting minister then, who gave us artistes the status of officers in AIR." According to the new policy, all artistes had to appear in an audition that would grade them; Sheshagiri got an A grade in the year 1953. In 1969, he remembers the Sangeet Sethu programme on AIR's Vividhbharti channel in which his jhaptal, rudra tal, rupak and kiran tal brought him so much adulation that his critics had also now turned into fans.
As a tribute to Indira Gandhi, he composed the nine and a half matra Indira Tal, along with the some unique peshkar, kayda, chakradhar and gat in various taals. Sheshagiri Hangal maintains that playing the tabla as an accompaniment and tabla as solo are two different ball games altogether. He explains: "Whenever I accompanied, I used to gauge the requirement of the artiste and play accordingly so that it be a satisfying experience for them." It is no surprise then that some of the country's leading artistes such as Sawai Gandharv, Bhimsen Joshi, Mallikarjun Mansur, Basavaraj Rajguru, Jasraj, Haleem Jaffar Khan, Hirabai Badodekar, Girija Devi... used to prefer him as a tabla accompanist.
He has travelled widely across the globe and has never failed to get an overwhelming response from the audience. He recalls a specific instance in Basel, Germany, in which a man came up to him and said: "You made the tabla sing!" Unlike many other musicians of his age, Pandit Sheshagiri Hangal is very confident about the future of Indian classical music. "What we need are teachers who can pass on their knowledge to the future generations and not commercialise it."
SMITA BELLUR
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Entertainment
Bangalore
Chennai and Tamil Nadu
Delhi
Hyderabad
Thiruvananthapuram
|
