Niche for Gharanas too
|
The season is not without the vibrations of Hindustani music. JYOTI NAIR BELLIAPPA analyses the scene.
|
Collage by Ravi Kannan.
CHENNAI, THE cultural capital of South India, can boast of great performances in Hindustani classical music dating back to the 1940s. It was in the 1950s that Madras tuned into the legendary Ustad Bade Gulam Ali Khan Sahib of Patiala Gharana. The late Ghantsala, well known singer and film director, hosted the Ustad and his entourage at his Mambalam house. Hamsadhwani Ramchandran recalls an incident when the renowned G. N. Balasubramanian, euphoric about Khan Sahib's powerful voice, publicly prostrated before him, much to the disdain of fanatic lovers of Carnatic music.
Baroda Abdul Karim Khan Sahib enchanted the Madras audience with his delicate lyricism. He lived in Triplicane for a few days in the Ice House area, where a bookshop, the Naseem Book Depot now lies. The story goes that it was a common sight to find such a great maestro with his tanpura overwhelming the listeners with his most touching renditions. One day, while on a journey at the Thanjavur railway station, fully conscious of what was to follow, he breathed his last while strumming on the string of the tanpura.
The profoundly simple lives of maestros formed the foundation on which the romance for Hindustani classical music still rests. The Rasika Ranjani Sabha, the Music Academy, the S.G.S. Sabha, The Indian Fine Arts Society and the private chamber concerts under the patronage of T. T. Vasu, J. S. Prabhu, Embar Mannar Chetti and S. S. T. Chari provided an impetus to Hindustani classical in Madras. Lily Vijayaraghavan, a connoisseur of the Arts, recollects how she witnessed an outstanding performance of Hafiz Ahmed Khan Sahib at their chambers. "Madras was vibrating with music of both the North and the South, and I remember Saraswati Rane sang a duet with Heerabai Barodkar". Both she and K. V. Saroja remember how D. V. Puluskar's "Payo ji maine, ram rattan dhan payo" moved the Madras audience to great emotional heights. Madras also provided a platform to Abdul Karim Khan's disciple, Roshanara Begum, to Gangubai Hangal and Bhimsen Joshi, artistes of the same Kirana Gharana, to Rasoolan Bai and finally to Abdul Wahid Khan's star pupil, Heerabai Barodkar and Siddeshwari Devi, the famous Thumri singer. They affected the collective unconscious and lore of the Madras Music world.
These were in the Fifties.
In 1967, Sri Vireshwar Madri witnessed a triple bandish on the violin when Ustad Nissar Hussain Khan Sahib, Gulab Hussain Khan Sahib and Hafiz Hussain Khan were accompanied on the tabla by Sheikh Daot Khan of Hyderabad. This memorable concert took place at the Kalakshetra auditorium. In the 1970s, Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan stormed Madras with their music.
Under the guidance of T. T. Vasu, the Music Academy offered the New Year Eve concert to an outstanding Hindustani classical musician. Shanthi Baghavan, president, Kala Kruthi, and Hamsadhwani Ramachandran remembered Parveen Sultana drew the biggest audiences along with stellar performers Kishori Amonkar and Malikarjun Mansur.
ITC and Spic Macay brought quality concerts and moulded the artistic sensibilities of the young. Bharat Kalachar, Hamsadhwani, and in keeping with its tradition, the Music Academy, hosted Bismillah Khan, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Rashid Khan and Ajoy Chakroborty, each of whom present high standards with their own emphatic individuality.
Manju Zhaver of Parampara recalls hosting Lakshmi Shankar and Pt. Jasraj more than 20 years ago and his star pupil Sanjay Abhyankar in the presence of gracious M. S. Subbulakshmi, renowned Carnatic vidwan S. Ramanathan and art critic Y. G. Doraisamy.
Madras has had its fair share of teachers devoted to the tradition of Hindustani music gharanas. Krishnanandji taught music in Madras for 30 years. A great performer, he was both revered and feared for his stringent classical standards. Pushpa Lakshman was under his tutelage for eleven years. She feels, "His teaching was unique. The student could express his or her own creativity. There was no set pattern and no two people could render the bandish in the same manner."
He enabled a democratisation of music. His students performed along with seasoned artistes in a Tansen festival organised annually. To name a few, Trichur Ramachandran and M. S. Gopalakrishnan, practitioners of both Carnatic and Hindustani, were guided by him.
Kulkarni taught for thirty years and recently moved to Kolhapur leaving his 40-odd students to his Guru behen, Meera Savoor.
M. S. Kulkarni was one of the most popular teachers in Madras. His students have started a school, Aalap, to carry on his tradition. Meera Savoor, belonging to the Agra gharana of legendary Fayyaz Khan fame, has been teaching in Madras for the past 18 years. Meghna Dandekar of the Kirana Gharana is a performing musician and a teacher. President of Maharashtra Mandal, she feels, "Hindustani classical training background and experience help polish the voice for playback singing. [But] it is a challenge to mould students who have been trained earlier."
A. R. Rahman's sister, Ishrat, runs the Saregama music school at Kodambakkam and has helped those who want to make a quick impression on the audition circuit in playback singing. Ustad Munna Shaokath Ali, a professional ghazal and Qawwali singer, who had his initial training from Ustad Mohammad Bakhy and later from Shamboo and Shankar the renowned Qawwali singers, teaches dhrut bhajans, ghazals and taranas.
Surekha Kothari, a senior performing musician, has been studying music from Ustad Faiyyaz Ahmed and Ustad Niaz Ahmed of the Kirana gharana. She rigorously imparts minute detail of every lesson: a technique she has learnt from her gurus. Sriram Parsuram and Anuradha Sriram are proficient in both Hindustani and Carnatic styles, and have performed extensively in India and abroad. Their jugalbandis are eagerly awaited events. Parsuram has performed for the New Year Eve concert at the Music Academy — an honour accorded to outstanding Hindustani musicians. He guides a few students.
Lakshmi Sriram had her debut performance at the Music Academy in 1998. Belonging to the Gwalior Gharana, Lakshmi has imbibed many styles in her gayaki. She began teaching a year ago, and feels that structured training at the beginner levels in Hindustani classical is missing in Chennai. The most widely practiced classical form of the Hindustani system today is the khayal, a Persian term loosely meaning `idea' or flight of the imagination. This form gives the artiste the space to experiment with expression. Bhajans have been popularised by a spate of audiocassette releases. A well-known exponent in the city is Ramamoorthy Rao, a disciple of Bhimsen Joshi.
Rabindra Sangeet is also popular in Madras: Swati Bhattacharya gives lessons in these. The Temple of Fine Arts also runs a school for Hindustani classical. The Kalluri Sisters, daughters of Subbarao, have a large number of students. They do not strictly adhere to a Gharana, but exhibit aalap from Kirana, taan from Jaipur, boltaan from Agra and an aakar from Patiala.
Saumya Madan Gopal, the niece of GNB, runs the Sunaad Music School where she trains students in Hindustani classical music. A performing artiste, she has also worked with theatre groups like Alarippu from Delhi and Koothupattrai in Chennai.
Among the instruments, sitar takes precedence. Chandramohan, a disciple of Ahmed Hussain Khan Sahib, runs a school for the Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan. Janardhan, a respected disciple of Pt. Ravishankar, teaches sitar to some local and foreign enthusiasts. Highly acclaimed for his participation in the Tyagaraja festival at Thanjavur, he has performed a jugalbandi with Balamurali Krishna and promoted Hindustani classical music in Madras through Vishwa Kala Sangam. Visweswaran plays Hindustani classical on the santoor and has students from overseas who come for lessons during their vacation. He is equally well versed in Carnatic, and provides vocal support for his wife, the Bharatnatyam dancer Chitra Visveswaran.
Veereshwar Madri plays both the violin and Dilruba: he also gives lessons in vocal on the lines of the Panchaksharasamiti model. Janaki Rajagopalan, a professional accompanying artiste on the harmonium, trains pupils on the art of harmonium playing. Rajesh Dhavale, disciple and grandson of the late Sangeet Ratna Veerana Kamkar, teaches the tabla.
Package
Pramilla Gurumurthy, a performing artiste, is Professor and Head of the Music Department at Madras University. She recently introduced a three-month certificate course in Hindustani Classical and in Western classical music. "It is a package which includes an appreciation component and outlines similarities and differences broadly. A year-long Diploma Course is in the pipeline." Pramilla strongly feels that Madras University should offer a full course in Hindustani Classical music.
Chandermohan of the Ahmed Hussain Music circle feels that an affiliation with Gandharva Mahavidyalaya could be another alternative. "Given the expertise and the talent that is available in Madras, there should be no difficulty in arranging guest lecturers which could also be in keeping with the UGC norms," feels Pramilla.
A growing number of concerts and teachers are supported by sabhas founded for the promotion of Hindustani classical - the Ahmed Hussain Khan Music Circle, Vishavakala Sangam, Amir Khusro Sangeet Academy and Raaga-a Gathering among others.
Some of the mainstream sabhas in Madras also present a few Hindustani classical concerts in the December season. Bharat Kalachar's progressive and liberal Dr. YGP feels, "Hindustani classical is very pleasing to the ear and the heart. It has all the touches of emotion and Lasya Rasa. Not aggressive, though some Gharanas are more thunderous than the others. North has not recognised the greatness of South Indian Music. South, on the other hand, is very tolerant. In North, Carnatic music is appreciated only by the South Indians.
Krishna Gana Sabha is a case in point, where along with one Hindustani classical concert, Birju Maharaj, the prima donna of Kathak, has been presented many times." In January next year, Hamsadhwani and Amir Khusro Sangeet Academy will co-host a four-day festival presenting musicians from three different Gharanas. The Nungumbakkam Cultural Academy, the Karthik Fine Arts, The Indian Fine Arts Society and Nayaki are other names which come to mind.
The impact of Hindustani classical on the younger generation in Madras is an inexplicable phenomenon. They are gifted, eager to be trained and disciplined. Their training in Carnatic music is an advantage because it exposes them to elaborate material and large repertoires. But as L. Vasudev, vice-president, Nayaki, puts it: "Wish we had more artistes from the North but they ask for a hefty amount. Sabhas balk at that kind of fee. Unless local Hindustani classical artistes perform, it seems to be a question of matching resources." S. V. Krishnan, president, Naada Inbam, agrees: "Main problem here is monetary. There are two cultures going side by side — Carnatic and the so-called light film music. Light music is preferred by large sections for wedding concerts. Eminent artistes from the north quote high rates. Local culture is Carnatic. Hindustani has to compete with it."
Ramchandran of Hamsadhwani is convinced that "what is needed is a qualitative change and more of an all-India perspective." He says that the classical music legacy of India is neither all Carnatic nor all Hindustani. "They are like two beautiful halves with an organic unity, like two delightful shades of the same colour, like two faces of the same coin. The musical values that the two systems uphold are broadly the same. Only, the Hindustani musicians are given to development of limitless capabilities of articulation." The listener is also to be tuned to this highly charged state of consciousness. "Hindustani classical is not about questions and answers, not about taans and avartans, it is about purity and elaboration - the two jodi tanpuras, sur and no amplification," says K. V. Saroja, who sang for All India Radio between 1947 and 1955. The intensity with which a Hindustani classical practitioner presents each phrase has the power to evoke in the listener its entire image. It begins with awakening of the shadja and ends with the sounding of the taar shadaj in a climatic moment. This completes the portraiture of the raga presenting the musician in a heightened state of being. In Hindustani music, rigorous discipline and freedom coexist. In a true rendition of raga, the musician breaks free of time and establishes a rapport with the listener. For the listener, it is an experience come alive, an intimate communication that is complete.
"Om poornmada poornam idam poornaat poornam uchayate. Poornasye poornamaadaaye poornam ev avishishayate".
(The all-pervading sound Naad Brahma is complete in itself. That is complete, this is complete. When this complete comes out of that complete That complete alone remains.)
Today, the music of North and South are closer with new styles of fusion like `Indi-pop'. The south has been the more enterprising as the first fusion trends were from music directors from Tamil Nadu. It is common to hear sargams and talas of Carnatic system embroidering Hindustani raga based pieces. South Indian music directors are bestsellers in the north and singers from the south want to learn the Thumri, Dadra and Ghazal. Singers from the north want to learn immortal pieces of DKP, MS and MLV. On the whole, Hindustani Classical music has come to stay in Madras. The Khayal Gayaki, its stylized idioms like Thumri, Dadra and Kajri, have an enduring appeal and are heard with a fidelity to the classical idiom with the dedication and deference that is accorded to Carnatic music. These developments are in keeping with the universal spirit of music. As the poet Munna Shaukat Ali puts it, from Gopal Nayak and Amir Khusro to the present, music has forged relationships that have lasted forever.
"Yeh ilme mauseeki hai, dekh lo mashke sukhan karke ke kar lee rishtedari daher main sabne yeh funkar ke".
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Music & Dance
