The bow of bliss
ANJANA RAJAN
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Continuing the series on accompanists, meet sarangi exponent Shiv Sewak Mishra.
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A HUNDRED NAMES FOR ANANDA Shiv Sewak Mishra in New Delhi. Photo: Shanker Chakravarty
Spending an afternoon with an artiste from the old guard is a worthwhile experience. The attention to detail, the vivid memories, remind us of the holistic approach of old-timers. They remind us too, that Indian arts were nurtured in a milieu where codification did not spell dogma, where categories did not mean watertight compartments. Shiv Sewak Mishra, sarangi exponent and employee of New Delhi's Kathak Kendra, carries just such a milieu about him.
"I grew up in Hariharpur villagein Uttar Pradesh's district Azamgarh. My father Gopi Mishra used to play the sarangi. I would always be fiddling with it when he was away. Finally he started to teach me when I was about nine-ten years old. My first sarangi had a Saraswati figure carved on it. It was made of mehndi wood. I also learnt from other family elders," he recounts.
The sarangi, it is well known, is also called a "sou rangi" - an instrument of 100 moods - or sabrangi - all moods. "Or, you can think of it as `sa-rangi' - one which is steeped in the colour of the note Sa. You know, the sarangi has a body just like the human body. It has a stomach, a chest, it has eyes and ears, etc. And it is the only instrument that can follow the human voice completely. I have not loved any instrument as much as I love the sarangi," says the veteran artiste who accompanied Birju Maharaj for years in his Kathak performances and classes. He has also accompanied Saswati Sen, Malti Shyam and others.
"I learnt the flute and the harmonium too, out of interest, but I prefer the sarangi," he says, adding humbly, "It's another thing I couldn't learn as much as I would have liked."
The "badshah" of course, is singing, he says, "Because it is complete in itself. And without the song, even playing an instrument is difficult."
Myths and motives
Of the many types of sarangi he mentions, "Ravana played the sarangi and pleased Lord Shiva with it. So one type is named the Ravan-hattha sarangi. In the old days it was played to please God. Automatically, if God is happy, you become happy."
Taught singing by his maternal uncle Jeevan Lal Mishra, he points out, "All sarangi players used to sing too. And the songs were all devotional. Classical songs don't have too many words, but those few are enough to convey the meaning. No matter how much we repeat them, we feel enriched, blissful and full of strength." In the past, there were two sarangi accompanists for a singer. "The one who sat on the singer's right was the better player, better paid too. If accompanying a dancer, the sarangi player stood behind the dancer with the instrument tied to the waist. Gradually, institutes came up and with radio, etc., the tabla and sarangi players got more chances to perform."
As for ananda, "When the dance, tabla, melody, all come together, that ecstatic `Wah!' rises automatically to your lips."
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