Music with memories
JITENDRA PRATAP
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At an evening dedicated to the late Shafaat Ahmed Khan, Ustad Rahim Fahimuddin Dagar and Prateek Choudhury filled the air with superb melody.
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Dhrupad maestro Rahim Fahimuddin Dagar.
Rich tributes were paid to the late Ustad Shafaat Ahmed Khan at a memorial concert presented at the India International Centre by the Ustad Yunus Hussain Khan Memorial Society. This society has rendered yeoman service to the cause of music by regularly organising classical music concerts to promote elder and young classical musicians.
The late tabla maestro, besides being one of the leading exponents of the Dilli gharana, was also most sought after as an accompanist by some of the most noted instrumentalists of the country, including Ustad Amjad Ali Khan (sarod), Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma (santoor), and Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia (flute) to name just three. But what endeared him most to a very large section of music lovers and his admirers were his simple and lively mannerisms and good will towards one and all. He passed away when he was only in his early 50s. He had been suffering with liver and kidney afflictions during the last several months of his life. Yet, he never mentioned his painful sufferings to anyone.
The eminent sitar exponent and former Dean of Delhi University's Faculty of Art and Music Debu Choudhury paid glowing tributes to the memory of the late tabla maestro and recalled his long and intimate association with him. In his condolence message, the President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam said, "I was able to hear him a number of times and was shocked by his sudden demise." Messages were also received from several other leading musicians including Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. According to him, "The way he used to play the tabla moved everybody's soul. He used to play very wisely with me."
The memorial concert opened with Prateek Choudhury's tuneful alap-jor-jhala in the good old time-tested Raga Yaman. Listening to his sitar recital after several years, one felt delighted to observe the depth and artistic maturity he has now attained. The tuneful glides were indeed soothing. His unfolding of the raga's numerous hidden contours was indeed with scholastic insight, which is in line with one who has already been awarded a Doctorate by Delhi University for his intensive and valuable research-cum-study in Indian music.
HOMAGE THROUGH MUSIC Sitar exponent Prateek Choudhury
In Prateek's detailed exposition in alap-jor with methodical development of the raga's essential features , he displayed an air of serenity and technical proficiency. The three compositions rendered by him (a maseetkhani, another in madhya Ek tala, and finally the super-fast in Teen tala) were embellished with lively and refreshingly etched variations, many of which were breathtaking. Brilliant tabla accompaniment by Ustad Mohammed Akram Khan, besides his own rounds of scintillating solo variations, added utmost charm to the recital.
Regal Bhopali
The pentatonic raga Bhopali as taught in the primary classes at musical institutions acquires quite a different aura when handled by music stalwarts such as Ustad Rahim Fahimuddin Khan Dagar, the present doyen of the Dagar clan. He had the rare good fortune of learning for several decades under the guidance of his illustrious father, the late Ustad Rahimuddin Khan Dagar of the erstwhile Indore durbar.
The set of notes in raga Bhopali is exactly the same as those of as many as six other ragas with a common format. In order to carve out the authentic contours of this raga, one needs to stay clear of the nuances of the others with the same set of notes. This certainly is a stupendous task, which only a musician of Ustad Fahimuddin Dagar's calibre can really perform.
One has on several occasions heard the rendering of Bhopali by Dagar Sahib and on each occasion felt delighted with its being released by him with refreshingly created melodic charms. The dhrupad composition "Taan-talwaar" with its martial flavour reminded one of another similar composition "Taan-kaptaan" in the raga Adana, a musical gem in the repertoire of the Patiala gharana's Ustad Aliya-Fattoo. Dagar Sahib rendered the dhrupad in Bhopali with much aplomb and followed it up with a colourful dhamar in raga Hamir. A brief and fast 10-beat Sool tala composition in raga Sohni came as a befitting finale to the evening. Pandit Balkrishen's adroit pakhawaj accompaniment was with much aplomb.
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