Rhythm divine
GAUTAM CHATTERJEE
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Listening to the concert of Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan is bliss.
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PHOTO: DINESH SETH
FULL FLOW Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan is all grace.
When we listen to the early recordings of maestros like Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Ustad Amir Khan, and others and compare them with today's classical vocalists, we constantly miss the aura and the gayaki of these maestros. Amazingly, Varanasi was witness to a concert by just such a maestro the other day, when Ustad Abdul Rashid Khan of the Gwalior gayiki, came here to perform. At 97, the eminent vocalist's presence was an honour, especially for Spic Macay, whose Virasat Series of Spic Macay he inaugurated along with sarod maestro Ustad Asad Ali Khan. One generally finds musicians and other performing artistes go through a certain debilitation due to age. Be it Bismillah Khan or Sitara Devi, one cannot even imagine an artiste in the autumn of life being able to strike the pure and perfect note. But astonishingly Abdul Rashid Khan Saheb presented two ragas, Mian Ki Malhar and Puriya Dhanashri, with full grace and pure classical nuances, as if he were a vocalist in his 40s. While listening to him the other day at the Krishnamurthy Foundation, one found he enunciated the sandhiprakash raga Puriya Dhanashri with the grace associated with the good old days, and listeners were transported to the 1930s and `40s, in the golden days of the Gwalior gayaki.
Of course, this was the presentation of Gwalior Puria Dhanashri with the same accentual chaindari, gamak, layakari, firat tanas and khandani use of the Mandra Shadja. We can recall that Rashid Khan Saheb (born in 1909) had taken his initial training from his uncle Bade Yousuf Khan Saheb and then learned under Ustad Behram Khan's traditional lineage of the Gwalior gharana. Behram Khan was the first person who established Khayal in this tradition in the 19th Century. Haddu and Hassu Khan came after him.
Rashid Khan Saheb grew up during the era of Balkrishnabua Ichalkaranjikar, Vishnu Digambar Paluskar and others. He had the advantage of stalwarts like Chand Khan Saheb, Mehtab Khan Saheb and Barkudar Khan Saheb in the family. The extensive use of breath control and the Gwalior patterns of layakari are still his sustaining and unparallel qualities.
Finally he presented thumri in Manj Khamaj and tirvata. His two students accompanied him in singing, and Hafiz Khan accompanied on the harmonium. Rashid Khan Saheb presented a one-and-half hour spellbinding raga sangeet recital. His music seems pure and ideal. At present, numerous vocalists are performing the Gwalior tradition, notably Ulhas Kasalkar, Mita Pandit and others, but on hearing the gayaki of Rashid Khan Saheb, one realises that the purity of the tradition has been contaminated through generations and time.
No doubt Ulhas is currently the one and only young good Gwalior vocalist, but if the purity of this oldest gayaki is flowing with Rashid Khan Saheb, one can learn and continue this lineage and heritage of the Gwalior gharana. When Khan Saheb presented tirvat and thumris, he showed a fine balance of swaras and sahitya. He can still remember the intricate patterns of word chain and swaras to preserve the beauty of the tirvat, which nowadays is rarely sung.
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