A new song for Newcastle
ANJANA RAJAN
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Vocalist Vijay Rajput talks about adapting Hindustani music traditions in the U.K.
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Photo: Rajeev Bhatt
RIGHT VIBRATIONS Vijay Rajput in New Delhi.
Indian artistes commonly refer to their gurus with tears of gratitude, with a beatific expression on the face, or with a hand gripping the earlobes as if in atonement for the temerity of naming such an exalted soul. We take it in our stride, since revering the guru is an intrinsic part of Indian culture. And with Indian arts being among our prime exports, these subtler aspects of the culture too find a way of communicating to foreign learners. Ask vocalist Vijay Rajput, among the younger disciples of Hindustani music doyen Pandit Bhimsen Joshi. Rajput is Artistic Director of Gurukul, an Academy of Indian Classical Music in Newcastle upon Tyne in the U.K.
“The student and teacher are like friends there,” says Rajput, who visited India recently. “And they ask questions you struggle to find answers to,” he notes, adding that he gave one of his CDs to an advanced student to analyse, “and he wrote a three-page essay!” The approach has its pros and cons, he feels, since Indian music, being emotion-driven, cannot be too highly regimented.
Gurukul was established with an aim to offer excellence in musical training along with the ambience of Indian culture to students in Newcastle. “We have around 40 students, and about 50 per cent of them are English,” says Rajput. “We keep to the practice of removing the shoes, sitting on the floor for lessons, etc.”
Sourced in devotion
Rajput, who also teaches at the Leeds College of Music and at Newcastle University, says now he is “trained” in teaching the art to non-Indians. “At first it was very difficult. However, music has no language. You do have to pay attention to the pronunciation though. Our music is sourced in bhakti sangeet, so I start with that. That way they learn about the culture too. They learn about Goddess Saraswati, they also learn that a musician is praising God, be it Saraswati or Allah or Krishna.”
On this visit, Rajput’s thrust was on getting in touch with friends and seniors and collecting compositions for his repertoire. He also arranges study tours for his students. “Now I am planning to send a group to see Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Delhi University’s Music Faculty, etc. I want them to see how kids here struggle to learn music.”
Rajput is an alumnus of both these institutions. He started training at Gandharva Mahavidyalya under the late Guru M.G. Deshpande in 1987. “I continued with him till ’91. Alongside I also trained under Guru Vinaychandra Maudgalya,” says Rajput. By that time he had also graduated in Music from DU, from where he subsequently completed his Masters and a PhD on Sawai Gandharva — legendary guru of Pandit Bhimsen Joshi.
“From 1991 I have been with Guruji (Joshi),” says Rajput. The changeover was not, however, instantaneous. Wishing to immerse himself in the guru-shishya tradition of full-time study with a guru, Rajput went to a Pandit of the Gwalior gharana in Mumbai. However, things didn’t work out with the ustad. Then he went to Pune and approached Joshiji. “He checked me out for a year-and-a-half. Then finally, one Ganesh Chaturthi, he said, okay, you can start.” Training started in ’93, and Rajput remained with his guru till ’98, when he got a job with the Song and Drama Division. He has been in England since 2004.
“You can’t be rude to a student over there,” Rajput notes. Not that Panditji is harsh. “I have never heard him get angry,” he says. “I realise now as a teacher, that an artiste can sometimes feel impatient. My hands would tremble before Guruji. But he explains in such an easygoing manner. He never put pressure.”
Rajput feels he is lucky to have learnt alongside Panditiji’s son Vasudev. The fact that he had completed his M.A. too was helpful. “I might be the youngest of his disciples,” he points out. “But he has blessed me abundantly. Such great artistes teach through vibrations too.”
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