The art of being a listener
ANJANA RAJAN
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He has provided tanpura accompaniment to scores of artistes over three decades. In the ongoing series on accompanists, meet Diwan Singh, the man who revels in the art of the ear.
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Photo: R.V. Moorthy
SUCCESS IN THE BIG CITY Music is Diwan Singh's meditation.
Like the drop of rain that falls from a cloud and wends its way to the sea via untold routes, Diwan Singh could not know, as a child of 10, that he would find refuge in an ocean called music. His is a familiar face on stages where classical music is presented. Familiar because he sits just behind the main artiste, playing the instrument that is the life force of Indian music - the tanpura. Bhimsen Joshi, Jitendra Abhisheki, Mallikarjun Mansur, Shobha Gurtu, Hari Prasad Chaurasia... the list covers a spectrum of stalwarts.
Often one finds the soloist's disciples playing the tanpura. If it is a vocal concert, they often sing along too. This is part of their training as soloists in the making. Diwan Singh's story is different though.
"I came to Delhi from Almora in search of earning. I was from a poor family and had to leave home before I was 10. When I was 11, a friend of mine took me to Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, because the boy working there had just left. Hearing the classical music for the first time, I found it very strange."
It was the devotional music of Lata Mangeshkar and Kumar Gandharva that drew him into the classical fold, recalls Diwan.
"Bhaiji (Professor Vinay Chandra Maudgalya, founder of the Vidyalaya) wanted me to learn vocal music, but I was very shy to sing before him. I did learn to play the flute under Guru Prakash Saxena though."
Asked to play the tanpura for visiting artistes, Diwan realised the need to know more about its workings. "It's like knowing how to look after your car," he explains.
Gradually he learnt to tune and maintain the instrument. "I would sit by myself at night, listening to the sound of the tanpura. Whenever the instrument makers from Miraj came, though they wouldn't teach, I would observe their work. I learnt how to work on the bridge - jawaari ka kaam. This has to be done after about a year."
Recognition too
Today his skills are recognised and he trains interested students of the Vidyalaya in the finer points of the tanpura. Pandit Dinkar Kaikini called him over from Delhi to repair his tanpura. "When artistes from outside Delhi send in for a tanpura, it is my job to identify which instrument goes to which artiste," relates Diwan, adding, "Not everyone can perform solely depending on the tanpura. That's why many artistes take the swar from the harmonium."
Smaller tanpuras cannot match the sound quality of the bigger traditional ones. "Great artistes like Ali Akbar Khan, Vilayat Khan, Hari Prasad Chaurasia, would use two big tanpuras.
If you place two such tanpuras next to each other and strum the strings of one, the strings of the other will reverberate. In small instruments, for one, you won't get the swayambhu swaras. And if you use a tanpura without the tumba (gourd), you may as well tune a guitar to the appropriate notes."
Diwan has grown, as has the institute that nurtured him. Times have changed and tanpuras, especially the big ones, are less in demand. "The instrument makers of Miraj have taken to making drum sets and guitars," he says ruefully. "At the Vidyalaya we buy lots of tanpuras every year just to help them stay in business."
One thing has not changed though. Diwan still sits in the stillness of the night playing his tanpura. "Listen carefully and you can hear all the notes emanating from the two main notes. As the silence gets deeper, you hear more and more."
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