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`Youngsters are like racehorses'
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Who says Generation Y is not interested in classical music, asks Pandit Jasraj
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The 73-year-old doyen of Mewati gharana, Pandit Jasraj, is full of admiration for the livewire energy of today's youngsters — Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash
PANDIT JASRAJ is angry with the media. Ask him why there are no icons like Bhimsen Joshi, Gangubai Hanagal, or himself in the next generation of artistes, and he retorts: "Kyon nahin?" and reels out 10 names, starting with Rashid Khan. "They don't become icons because you don't write a word about them." Why is it that newspapers go gaga over every DJ in town and every pop star who is kind enough to pay us a visit, he asks. "Not that I dislike other forms of music, but I can't understand your kanjoosi when it comes our own music."
You meekly protest: you give people what they want, that's the market logic at work. That makes him angrier. "You think young people don't like our music? Just come to one of my concerts, be it in Bangalore or New York, and just see how many young people come to listen to me. You think I would be running six schools in the U.S.A. if youngsters didn't like Indian music?"
Unlike most old timers who fault the younger generation for its lack of seriousness and commitment, this 73-year-old doyen of Mewati gharana is full of admiration for the livewire energy of today's youngsters. "Their mind is working double-time," he says in wonderment. But aren't there many distractions, like so many career options, so many forms of entertainment... not like before, when one learnt music and just music? He thinks for a while and comes up with a striking analogy: "We were like tonge ke ghode and they are like race ke ghode!"
Yes, there are changes, he admits. One often doesn't get as much time to elaborate a raga. You remind him that he compares the elaboration of a raga to the growth of a child in another interview. But is the child expected to grow up before its time on today's concert stage? "There is the time factor, which can't be ignored. Sometimes you can bring up the child to its youth and sometimes you can't... But this started long ago, when we started singing for AIR," he says. "You can't be rigid about things."
There's no longer any effort at preserving the purity of gharanas either. But that again is no cause for concern, says Pandit Jasraj. "If you are a good artiste any music becomes your own." It's only when one lacks talent that every influence begins to look like a separate patch... a bit of Jasraj, a bit of Joshi, and a bit of someone else. "Mayoos hone ki zaroorat nahin hain. The younger generation is quite on track," he says with a smile.
If half of Pandit Jasraj's confidence in the survival of Indian music comes from his faith in the younger generation, the other half comes from quite the other end of the spectrum: the spiritual powers of an ancient tradition. "It's not just a craft," he insists. "It's surrendering to God. Don't we sing when someone is born, when someone dies, and during every rite of passage?"
Pandit Jasraj was all of 14 when he realised that music is Bhagwan ki den. His elder brother and guru, Maniramji, suddenly lost his voice and no doctor could cure him. But their spiritual guru (then the king) Maharaja Jaiwant Singhji one day just said: "Today you will get your voice, Maa degi." And Maniramji sang Des from midnight till 6 a.m.. "That day I saw God. No mandir and no dargah is without a certain power." He cites a shloka from the Padma Purana. Vishnu tells Narada when asked where he lives: Na aham vasami Vaikunte, yoginam hridayam na cha. Mad bhakta yatra gayanti, thathra thishtami Narada.
Pandit Jasraj — known for rendering lyrics with great clarity (an aspect not paid much attention to in classical traditions) — is these days singing a number of Adi Shankara's compositions. Why this choice? He throws up his arms: "I don't know, it has just happened." As an afterthought, he says: "Whatever Shankara has written is very geya, singable... Start singing his shlokas, and you can't stop, really."
But one is a wee bit disconcerted by all this talk of spirituality because you wonder if it would alter the space of Hindustani classical music that has traditionally included a broad spectrum of people — Hindus, Muslims, people of various caste groups, tawaifs who fall outside the confines of middle-class moral structures... And what about all those beautiful khayals that speak of love, separation, and longing for sayyan?
This line of argument seems to make Pandit Jasraj angry again. "Spirituality is not a little a thing," he says, showing the "little" between his thumb and index finger. "It can fill a house, the whole world, the universe... Music is spiritual be it a Pandit singing or a Ustad singing... And who says love is not spiritual? Sringar, virah, seva... everything is spiritual. You should learn to see it. After all these years, I have come to the conclusion that love is really God."
BAGESHREE S.
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