North Indian Classical Vocal Music: Modernization Of A Great Tradition

Irfan Zuberi

Dedicated to Bharat Ratna Ust. Bismillah Khan (21 March 1916 – 21 August 2006)

Without music, life would be a mistake. Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)

“Music is a language with some meaning at least for the immense majority of mankind, although only a tiny majority of people are capable of formulating a meaning in it, and since it is the only language with contradictory attributes of being at once intelligible and untranslatable, the musical creator is a being comparable to the gods, and music itself the supreme mystery of the science of man, a mystery that all the various disciplines come up against and which holds the key to their progress.” Claude Levi-Strauss (1908-)

North Indian classical vocal music (henceforth Hindustani music) is one of the richest musical systems in the world. Understandably, there exists a plethora of writing on the subject varying from traditional treatises on music and aesthetics, autobiographies and biographies of musicians, historical analysis of various forms, academic work on genres and gharanas apart from a large corpus of writing which aims to ‘introduce’ Hindustani music to the uninitiated audiences.

In what follows, I have tried to keep in mind the uninitiated listener as well as the connoisseurs in the hope that that the uninitiated might find the information useful and the connoisseur might find some points worthy of consideration. Whether I have succeeded in this endeavour is another point altogether! After a brief discussion about the structure of Hindustani music, there is a detailed analysis of the two of the most prominent forms which are visible (or rather, audible) on the performance stage today – and khayal. It should be kept in mind while reading the following that I have attempted to analyze the period belonging to the departed greats of both these art forms since it is difficult (if not impossible) and premature to analyze the impact of the contemporary greats. The senior living practitioners of the art forms feature in this paper only as authenticating sources for the information provided below. Lastly, the final section broaches the various sociological, technological and economic factors influencing Hindustani music today with an intention of generating a debate around the points which have been mentioned briefly.

Structure

The music of India is perhaps one of the oldest in the world. It is also a major system of music that is essentially melodic and what is of great significance and interest is that it has retained this character to this day. Sounds follow one another expressing an emotional state and an aesthetic unity. This is in contrast to European culture where the early melodic music has changed into the current harmonic music. To my mind, this is the most basic and the most fundamental difference between the two musical systems which negates any attempt at a one-to-one comparison.

Page 1 of 11

The earliest defined music that we know of is that of the Vedas. Rig Veda was recited and Sama Veda (which is the sung version of the Rig Veda) was chanted in a descending manner using seven notes. This was the ecclesiastical melody, the margi sangeet (music of the Path meant only for occultic function and purpose) which was highly symbolic in nature. There also existed gandharva sangeet and desi sangeet which were the secular art forms. The former was a highly grammatized form (considered to be the up-Veda) comprising songs set to tunes in defined scales with proper tala using necessary accompanying instruments. The latter, on the other hand, was perhaps laxer in grammatical restrictions and its nature varied from region to region.

Centuries of history and cultural influences have moulded Hindustani music. In fact, till about the 15th century, musicological ideas and descriptions of the art show theoretical bases entirely different from that of today. Indeed the change is so great that we seem to have left an entirely different system of music and gradually moved into another! The earlier music was based on moorchhana paddhati (modal shift) whereas today’s music is founded on a universal tonic.

In essence, Hindustani music revolves around a raga which is a melodic scheme governed by certain traditional rules, but providing a great freedom for improvisation. These rules define and determine the notes of a scale that should be used, their order, prominence and the necessary melodic idioms which give it a particular ‘colour’ and rasa (emotive and aesthetic appeal). Based on these more or less strict limitations, the musician is free to create and herein lies his/her genius. The following are some of the more important conventions with regard to raga which are adhered to by the musicians in varying degrees of strictness:

1. A minimum number of swaras (musical notes) are necessary. No melodic structure with less than 5 swaras has the status of a raga. However, it needs to be mentioned here that there are differences of opinion here as well and the Dagars claim to sing a version of raga Hindol which uses just 4 swaras. The raga Malashree also consists of just 4 swaras. 2. The nature of a swara in a raga has to be definite: shuddha (natural), komal (flat) or teevra (sharp). That is, the raga should be assignable to a determined scale. 3. There should be basic rules governing aaroh (ascent) and avroh (descent). These could be called basic melodic and tonal syntaxes. 4. Certain characteristic phrases have to be used to give the raga its character and shakal (individual identity). 5. Like the punctuation in a linguistic unity, a raga also has its points of stasis. Some of the punctuations are grah, nyas, apanyas, vinyas and sanyas. What this means is that there are swaras on which a melodic section or phrase can rest. A wrong pause may change the mood of the raga and introduce technical and aesthetic confusion. 6. Every raga has its melodic centre or nucleus such that all movements within it gravitate towards this swara called the vadi. A subsidiary center of gravity is samvadi; the other notes used in the raga are called anuvadi and the dissonant swara is the vivadi.

However, it needs to be kept in mind that the aforementioned points are not rules laid down in any authoritative text; they are simply conventions which are broadly followed by musicians to grant a coherence and cogency to the ragas across the board.

Perhaps the most beautiful aspect of the world of ragas in Hindustani music is their relation to time and seasons. The 24 hours of the day are divided into 8 praharas (sections) of equal duration with the first prahara starting at 6 in the morning. The concept of sandhi is important in this regard. It could be best understood through an approximate translation – junction – the passing of night into day and vice versa. In a diagrammatic understanding the horizontal line of sandhi connects 6am and 6pm. All the ragas performed between 6am and 6pm are uttarang-pradhan

Page 2 of 11

(emphatic upper tetrachord) and the ones performed between 6pm and 6am are poorvang-pradhan (emphatic lower tetrachord). The ragas performed along the sandhi line are called sandhi-prakash ragas. The relation of ragas to seasons is best understood through stating a few examples such as Basant, Bahar and the Malhar group. It needs to be understood that these ragas have a strong correlation with the seasons but in no way can they be understood to be merely ‘seasonal’ and are heard from the performance stage throughout the year.

Let me now turn to the system of classification of this vast world of ragas. The formation of mela or thaat (scales) completely replaced the functions of the moorchhana (as was mentioned earlier). It is interesting that both the systems of classification – mela and thaat – were first introduced in the 17th century. While the former was introduced for Carnatic classical music by Venkatamakhi, the latter was first propounded by Ahobal in his seminal treatise Sangeet Parijat. The present reference scale in Hindustani music is that of Bilaval thaat which is almost the same as the western major diatonic. All the notes of this thaat are considered shuddha; any sound higher is teevra and lower is komal. The most popular, thought not necessarily the most logical, system of grouping of the ragas is the one that was put forth by Pt. Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande and it consists of 10 thaats: Bilaval, Khamaj, Kafi, Bhairav, Asavari, Bhairavi, Kalyan, Marwa, Poorvi and Todi. There exist quite a number of deficiencies and internal inconsistencies in this system (and the musicians are aware of them) but it is largely accepted and used as a tool for teaching.

Rhythm in Hindustani music is characterized by the cyclic tala so that there is a ‘coming back’ to the origin before continuing. This cycle is divided into parts which may or may not be equal. Tempo or speed is recognized by the word laya (the concept of time as it gets incorporated into music) which is usually of three degrees: vilambit (slow), madhya (medium) and drut (fast). Of course, there are variations at the extremes in terms of ati vilambit (very slow) and ati drut (very fast). The importance of laya can be understood such that if swara is considered to be one of the two pillars of Hindustani music, laya has to be the other. If the swara being produced is not conditioned by laya, it loses its meaning; in fact, it is laya which reveals the inherent musicality of the swara.

The most commonly used talas in the genre of dhrupad are Chautaal (12 beats), Dhamaar (14 beats), Sooltaal (10 beats) and Tevra (7 beats); those for khayal gayaki and instrumental music are Teentaal (16 beats), Tilwada (16 beats), Jhoomra (14 beats), Ada-Chautaal (14 beats), Ektaal (12 beats) and Jhaptaal (10 beats); the same for thumri, dadra, ghazal etc. are Keharwa (8 beats), Dadra (6 beats), Roopak (7 beats) and Deepchandi (14 beats).

Another crucial element of the Hindustani music universe is the drone which needs to be repeated and constantly heard during a performance. This is important because, as mentioned earlier, Hindustani music is based on the system of the universal tonic and it is upon hearing this permanent fixed sound that the musician is able to determine the meaning of particular swaras and establish a relationship between them. Although the musician’s ear unconsciously analyzes the notes being sung during a performance even without accompaniment, it is the sustained accompaniment by the tonic that makes this analysis a conscious exercise allowing the performer to check and avoid dissonance. The tambura (or tanpura) is used as the drone instrument in vocal as well as instrumental music. Even though it resides in the background of any performance, it is of extreme importance and is considered to be the “mirror” of swaras produced by the musician.

Page 3 of 11

Forms

Now that we have discussed the structure which is common to Hindustani music, let us come down to discussing the two major genres or forms. There exist two general categories in forms: anibaddha (free or open form) and nibaddha (bound or closed form). The former is not set to a tala nor do words form an integral part of it. There is no prescribed end to it either. A nibaddha piece, on the other hand, is bound by a tala, has words and definite parts with preconceived beginning and end.

Dhrupad

Of all the anibaddha sangeet, aalaap (elaborate introductory section of the raga) has the pride of place. It is the most elaborate, yet the most delicate, presentation of a raga. The maturity and creativity of a musician are tested in the aalaap which requires great patience and sensitivity in execution. It is rarely, if ever, accompanied by rhythm; it is free rendering and a prelude to a composition which follows. It usually begins at a slow pace in the mandra saptak (lower octave) and slowly builds up to enter the madhya saptak (middle octave) and culminates in the taar saptak (upper octave). According to Ust. Rahim Fahimuddin Dagar, aalaap is based on modified musical syllables of the following mool mantra (fundamental formula):

“Om antaram twam, taran taaran twam, anant hari narayan om”

The mantra is basically an invocation of the divine and its individual words are broken down into musical syllables and elaborated endlessly. In instrumental music, the terminology for anibaddha sangeet is aochaar, jod and jhala. Some would regard this statement controversial since I have omitted the term aalaap from the domain of instrumental music. I have done so taking into account an incisive statement by the great sitar player Ust. Abdul Halim Jaffer Khan who says that “it is impossible to ‘play’ aalaap on any instrument simply because it is impossible to maintain the sustenance and continuity of the notes at a very slow tempo using a mizrab, java or any other kind of plucking tool. It is for that reason that instrumentalists play a brief aochaar before getting into the jod.”

Let us now turn to dhrupad which is one of the oldest forms of Hindustani music that still exists today. It begins with the anibaddha aalaap and is followed by the exposition of the bandish which is set to tala. There are two kinds of dhrupad – darbari & haveli. While the former was the one which was performed in the courts and made the transition to the performance stage, the latter has been the preserve of the temples and is usually not heard on the concert circuit. It should also be clarified at this juncture that the term dhrupad is applied both to the form as a whole as well as specifically to the composition and this often causes confusion. The terminology used here implies not the composition but the genre of dhrupad.

The aalaap is the main feature of a dhrupad concert occupying a substantial portion of the performance. As stated earlier, it usually begins in the mandra saptak and vilambit laya and proceeds stage-wise culminating in the taar saptak and drut laya. This denotes the importance of the concept of laya because although the aalaap is free-floating and its temporal structure is not manifest, there is still a broad temporal pattern guiding its melodic unfolding.

The next stage of the performance is the delineation of the composition. Although the typical composition consists of the sthayi and antara (roughly translated into refrain and verse), the longer ones have four parts: sthayi, antara, abhog and samchari. This is a controversial assertion yet again because the accepted order reverses the last two parts. However, according to Ust. Rahim

Page 4 of 11

Fahimuddin Dagar, “the treatment meted out to the abhog is distinctively different from that of the samchari which, as the name suggests (sam + chari), is the conclusion of the four parts of the composition and is treated in exactly the same manner as the antara, the second part.” The accompanying rhythmic instrument during the composition is the Pakhawaj. On the whole, the typical colour of this form is its grandeur and dignity. The melodic progressions tend towards a certain stateliness of gait and finer ornamentations are not used when rendering the compositions which are primarily devotional and educational in content.

There are four accepted styles or banis of dhrupad – khandar, nauhar, gauhar (or gobarhar) and dagar. The khandar bani is ably represented today by Ust. Asad Ali Khan who is a beenkar. There seem to be no practitioners of nauhar bani left today and it is largely believed that it was this style which eventually evolved into the khayal gayaki of the Agra gharana since they usually begin their exposition with a ‘nom-tom aalaap’. The Mallick family is the torchbearer of the gauhar bani (to which Miyan is supposed to have belonged) with Pt. Ram Chatur Mallick, Pt. Vidur Mallick and Pt. Abhay Narayan Mallick as their foremost exponents. However, the dagar bani is by far the most prominent on the performance stage today with the Dagar family as its torchbearers. Major performers from the family include names such as Ust. Allabande Rahimuddin Dagar, Ust. Nasir Moinuddin Dagar & Ust. Nasir Aminuddin Dagar (senior Dagar brothers), Ust. Nasir Zahiruddin Dagar & Ust. Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar (junior Dagar brothers), Ust. , Ust. Rahim Fahimuddin Dagar, Ust. and Ust. Hussain Sayeeduddin Dagar. The family has also trained able disciples and talented performers such as Pt. , Gundecha Bandhu and Uday Bhawalkar.

It is a point to be noted at this juncture that there are 12 fundamental ornamentations (apart from 40 subsidiary ones) which are used in dhrupad: aakaar, gamak, lahak, dagar, duran, muran, kampit, andol, sphurt, soot, meend and hudak. However, the aesthetic principles governing the entire performance could be summarized through a quote by the legendary Baba Behram Khan Dagar:

“Ragatmak-swaratmak, shabdatmak-varnatmak, talatmak-layatmak and rasatmak”

These fundamental technical and aesthetic principles are the contribution of dhrupad to Hindustani music that are adhered to in other forms as well. We close the section on dhrupad with an educational composition about voice production by Nayak Baiju in raga Bihag (the lyrics have been given to me by Ust. Rahim Fahimuddin Dagar):

Sthayi: Swara tattva gyaan jeevan mukti ko roop saadhe tab paave Gyaan ko maram he gunijan suno pramaan

Antara: Jeev chitta phire tab paavak mein pravesh kare Deh vaayu ko le jaaye brahma granthi kar samaan

Abhog: Taate ooradh hove naabhi nikat swachchham dhwani Taate aaye hriday sthaan

Samchari: Tab kanth madhya pooran hoye Surpaan, apaan, viyaan, udaan, samaan Ya vidhi naad pragat hoye Nayak Baiju guru gyaan

Page 5 of 11

Khayal

The most popular Hindustani music form (in India) today is khayal gayaki. The word ‘khayal’ is of Persian origin and literally means an ‘idea’, ‘conception’ or ‘imagination’. There exist very many theories regarding the birth and evolution of khayal gayaki without any broad consensus. One stream of scholars trace its origin from dhrupad gayaki while another contends that it culminated out of the marriage between saadharan geeti and qawwali. Whatever may be the case, the names of famous composers Niyamat Khan ‘Sadarang’ and Feroze Khan ‘Adarang’ feature prominently in the evolution of the form. In terms of patronage, the names of Mohammad Shah ‘Rangeele’ and Sultan Mohammed Sharqui are taken with reverence. In any case, there are two kinds of khayal: bada (big) and chhota (small) the difference between which is essentially that of laya. The bada khayal adheres to vilambit or madhya laya and the chhota khayal is usually outlined in drut laya. Each khayal has two sections – sthayi and antara. The former is confined to lower and middle octave while the latter usually moves to the upper registers. The two sections are complementary to each other, forming a single cheez (song-text). It is generally agreed upon that the ornamentations used in khayal are: aalaap, bol-aalaap, taan, bol-taan, layakari, gamak, meend-soot and khatka-murki- zamzama. Adherence to these principles qualifies a gayaki to be called ashtang gayaki (a style composed of 8 ornamentation principles), the distinguishing characteristic of the Gwalior gharana, commonly accepted to be the first gharana in khayal gayaki. Apart from the tanpura, the accompanying instruments in a khayal performance are usually the Sarangi or Harmonium (or both) as melodic accompaniment and the Tabla as rhythmic accompaniment.

The bandish (composition) forms an indispensable part of khayal gayaki. It is a point to be noted in this regard that there have been a lot of great musicians who were also great composers. One might wonder that when there is no dearth of great poetry available, why would musicians find the need to compose new ones? This is a very vital question indeed and the reason given by Pt. Vamanrao Deshpande is that “the words of a song should have just a small degree of poetry in them which can be used as a take-off point into the melody such that it facilitates elaboration, embellishment and ornamentation.” In effect, the literary component must get ‘consumed’ by the musical component. It is for this reason that a contemporary vaggeyakar (composer and master of melodic and rhythmic aspects of the composition) like Pt. Ramashreya Jha told me the following about the art of creating new compositions: “A good bandish is one which has an aesthetic blend of sahitya and sangeet. At the same time, it’s meaning should be grounded such that it can be best described as gaagar mein saagar samaye hue!” Some of the great composers (with their nom de plumes in parenthesis) in Hindustani music have been Niyamat Khan (Sadarang), Feroze Khan (Adarang), Ust. Faiyaz Khan (Prem Piya), Ust. Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (Sabrang), Ust. Vilayat Hussain Khan (Pran Piya), Pt. Jagannathbua Purohit (Gunidas) and Pt. Ramashreya Jha (Ramrang).

Let us now turn to the oft-talked about but vexed topic of gharanas (musical lineages) in khayal gayaki. For starters, a musical tradition is not generally called a gharana unless it exists for at least three generations. This presupposes the necessity of producing at least three able artists, one for each generation – the founder, his disciple and the disciple’s disciple. From the musical point of view it seems important to notice two characteristics of the gharana system as outlined by Pt. Vamanrao Deshpande in his monumental work Indian Musical Traditions:

1. Each gharana has an artistic discipline of its own in addition to the common musical discipline followed by all gharanas. 2. Each gharana takes its origin from the quality of voice production of its founder.

Page 6 of 11

It is worthwhile to recall at this point that swara and laya were described as being the two pillars of Hindustani music earlier on. The treatment meted out to these two pillars and the combination produced thereof is one way to understand the style of a particular gharana. However, many more elements could be added to this list to help us analyze the system of gharanas. In her seminal work titled Khayal, Bonnie Wade has enumerated some of them:

1. Preference with respect to ragas. 2. Preference with respect to talas. 3. Preference with respect to compositions. 4. Preference with respect to performance tempo and its acceleration. 5. Preference with respect to improvisatory movements and types of articulation. 6. Structure of and strategies adopted to portray slow, medium and fast tempo compositions.

However, in no way should this list be considered exhaustive simply because it is impossible to arrive at a general theory with respect to gharanas and their stylistic affiliations. On the basis of the discussion up till now, let us take a couple of gharanas and talk about their birth and evolution, stylistic perspectives and peculiarities to illustrate this point further. As mentioned earlier, Gwalior is commonly accepted as being the first gharana in khayal gayaki and the names of Ust. Nathan Khan Peer Bakhsh, Ust. Bade Mohammad Khan and the three famous brothers Ust. Haddu Khan, Ust. Hassu Khan and Ust. Nathu Khan are taken with reverence for having sculpted this style. For Pt. Vamanrao Deshpande, the hallmark of this style is its “lucidity and simplicity depicting a simple fusion of swara and laya.” The khayal gayaki of the gharana is described as being ashtang and it is estimated to have moved at madhya laya adorned with linear laraazdaar and halaq taans studded with gamaks owing to its dhrupad influence. The first evidence of this gayaki is to be found in the short recordings of Ust. Rahmat Khan (son of Ust. Haddu Khan, d. 1922) which portray a kind of voice throw which is probably impossible to imitate! It is also commonly accepted that Ust. Rahmat Khan’s style influenced many artists of his generation including Ust. Abdul Karim Khan (founder of Kirana gayaki, 1872-1937) and Ust. Alladiya Khan (founder of Jaipur-Atrauli gayaki, 1855-1946). Pt. Madhusudan Kanetkar told me something very incisive in this regard. Asked about the style of his contemporary Ust. Abdul Karim Khan, Ust. Alladiya Khan is reported to have said: “Rahmat Khan ke baad Abdul Karim Khan jaisa sureela gavaiya nahin hua!” Not only does this show a high regard for Ust. Abdul Karim Khan, it is a reflection of how high the Ustad held the gayaki of Ust. Rahmat Khan (negating rumours that he was unhappy with his son Ust. Manji Khan for having been influenced by Ust. Rahmat Khan’s gayaki). In terms of preferences, the gharana is said to ‘specialize’ in familiar ragas like Alhaiya Bilaval, Yaman, Bhairav, Multani, Shree, Hameer, Basant etc. and make use of talas like Tilwada, Ektaal, Jhoomra, Ada-Chautaal and Teentaal. The bandishes (mostly traditional ones) are held in high esteem in the gharana and are looked upon as a “tools for showing different shades of ragas,” according to Pt. Laxman Krishnarao Pandit.

Let us now turn our attention to the gayaki of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana which takes its inspiration from its founder, Ust Alladiya Khan. Pt. Vamanrao Deshpande describes the style of this gharana as one which “achieves a complex fusion of swara and laya such that its musical medium becomes laya-conditioned swara.” According to Pt. Rajshekhar Mansur, “there is no pause and leisurely development of notes in our gharana. Music is conceived to be a continuum with the various components of gayaki looked upon as a well-knit whole to be carried forward together.” The vakra taans employed by this gharana are truly its striking feature because they conjure images of a whirling spiral being extremely intricate in nature as well as movement. In terms of preferences, the gharana tends to use traditional bandishes and use them primarily as musical vehicles rather than consisting of literary element. The gharana shows clear and marked

Page 7 of 11

[preference for aprachalit (or achhob) ragas such as Nat Kamod, Raisa Kanhra, Adambari Kedar, Sampoorna Malkauns, Basanti Kedar, Sorath, Lachchhasaakh etc. and utilizes talas like Teentaal, Jhaptaal and Roopak since they have an even, regular flow which allow an intricate patterning of rhythm and melody.

However, such analysis, though useful for conceptual clarity, does not give an adequate view into the gayaki of the various gharanas. I believe that the only tool for acquiring a sense of the differences between gharanas is to listen to the available recordings of their accepted masters. For example, it is impossible to understand the variety and diversity within the Gwalior gharana without listening to the recordings of Ust. Rahmat Khan, Pt. Ramakrishnabua Vaze, Pt. Krishnarao Shankar Pandit, Pt. Rajabhaiya Poochhwale, Pt. Vinayakrao Patwardhan, Pt. Narayanrao Vyas, Pt. D. V. Paluskar and others. Similarly, Jaipur gayaki cannot be comprehended without paying close attention to the styles of Surshri Kesarbai Kerkar, Pt. Nivruttibua Sarnaik, Pt. Mallikarjun Mansur, Pt. Vamanrao Sadolikar, Smt. Laxmibai Jadhav, Smt. Mogubai Kurdikar and others. It is the empirical evidence gathered from such an exercise which could possibly grant a clearer understanding of the differing styles of the gharanas in khayal gayaki.

There exist quite a number of other gharanas in Hindustani music and I am going to name a few of them (along with the names of their founders) to give a glimpse of the total picture in terms of the social organization of khayal gayaki. The Agra gharana is said to be one of the oldest gharanas tracing its origins to Haji Sujan Khan. However, khayal gayaki was introduced into this gharana by Ust. Ghagge Khuda Bakhsh (who is supposed to have learnt from Ust. Nathan Khan Peer Bakhsh of the Gwalior gharana) and the style was made immensely popular by Aftab-e- Mousiqui Ust. Faiyaz Khan (1870-1950). The Kirana gharana existed as a gharana of instrumental music prior to the emergence of Ust. Abdul Karim Khan (1872-1937) and Ust. Abdul Wahid Khan (d. 1949) who transformed it into a khayal gharana. The Rampur-Sehaswan gharana traces its roots to Ust. Inayat Hussain Khan who learnt from Ust. Haddu Khan (1849-1919) but the style was popularized on the performance stage by Ust. Mushtaq Hussain Khan (1874-1964) and Ust. Nissar Hussain Khan (1912-93). The founders of the Kasur-Patiala gharana were Ust. Ali Bakhsh and Ust. Fateh Ali Khan but the style was made truly immortal by the legendary Ust. Bade Ghulam Ali Khan (1902-68). Similarly, Ust. Chhajju Khan, Ust. Nazir Khan and Ust. Khadim Hussain Khan are credited as being the founders of the Bhendi Bazaar gharana but it was popularized by Ust. Aman Ali Khan and Smt. Anjanibai Malpekar (1883-1974). There also exist other gharanas such as Mewati gharana, Delhi gharana and Benares gharana but there does not exist enough historical information about their founders or peculiarities of style.

It needs to be kept in mind that even though gharanas are looked upon as a sort of “pedigree” (to use Daniel Neuman’s description) for a musician, it is common occurrence to find musicians who have learnt from a number of gharanas. What I am trying to emphasize is that gharanas are not watertight compartments and there has always existed a considerable amount of len-den between them. For example, Surshri Kesarbai Kerkar learnt from Ust. Abdul Karim Khan, Pt. Ramakrishnabua Vaze, Pt. Bhaskarbua Bakhle and sitar-nawaaz Ust. Barkatullah Khan before receiving a sustained taalim from Ust. Alladiya Khan. Ust. Mushtaq Hussain Khan is reputed to have said that “one never acquires art from one gharana alone; if one wants a variety of colours, one must learn many gurus.” However, this does not negate the importance of building a grounding and base in a particular gharana before moving to another and this is precisely the point which continues to be stressed upon by all the living greats.

At the same time, we have witnessed the emergence and rise of musicians who have broken down the (thin) boundaries between gharanas and their role cannot be stressed enough in the continuing evolution of khayal gayaki. It was perhaps befitting that Pt. Govindrao Tembe (1881-

Page 8 of 11

1955) described Pt. Kumar Gandharva (1924-92) as a “question mark” on the system of gharanas. Similarly, the style propagated by Ust. Amir Khan (1912-74) has held many vocalists under its spell for more than a couple of generations now. While an in-depth analysis of the styles of these two stalwarts would probably require a separate paper altogether, it is enough to state here that musicians like these have only strengthened the belief that “change is the only constant.”

Let me close this section by enumerating some of the other allied Hindustani music forms which can be heard today: Tarana, Khayalnuma Tarana, Trivat, Tappa, Chaturang, Ashtapadi, Sargam Geet, Tap-Khayal, Thumri, Dadra, Kajri/Kajli, Chaiti, Sawan, Jhoola, Bhajan, Ghazal and Qawwali. These forms are as rich as dhrupad and khayal and deserve to be studied separately.

Transition And Change

The independence of India in 1947 marked a watershed in terms of patronage extended to Hindustani music. In the words of Pandita Dhondutai Kulkarni, “we moved from raj ashreya to lok ashreya.” The rulers of Delhi, Lucknow, Rampur, Jaipur, Gwalior, Indore, Baroda, Kolhapur, Miraj etc. were not just great patrons but also ardent lovers of the art form. Some of them were even disciples of the top musicians in their royal courts! In any case, the respect received by the musicians seems unparalleled by all accounts. For purposes of illustration, Baba Behram Khan Dagar is chronicled to have received his monthly salary many times within a month as per the instructions given to the state treasury by Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II of Jaipur! However, with the crumbling of the royal courts, musicians were literally left to fend for themselves as they belonged to a social structure which had given way to another emergent one. The musical mehfil shifted from private soirees of the Maharajas, Nawabs and the rich and the famous to the public platform with large-scale conferences, open-air recitals and auditorium programmes. One of the most befitting descriptions of this shift can be gauged through a quote from Pt. Mallikarjun Mansur: “Pehle oonche darje ke gavaiye the par sunne waale kam the…ab sunne waale bohot hain par woh bade log gaye!”

The allied changes were related to the intervention of technology in various ways. The emergence of the microphone, recording and broadcasting meant considerable adjustment on the part of the musicians and were understandably met with varying degrees of resistance from them! The recording industry made its debut in the field of Hindustani music in 1901 with an HMV recording of the famous thumri and dadra singer Gauhar Jan. Since then, there has been no turning back and there has been a proliferation of commercial labels even though very few of them allow space to Hindustani music anymore relying largely on re-packaging earlier recordings. It is in this regard that the role and scope for private labels such as Underscore Records becomes important for granting space to young and upcoming classical musicians and also working on recordings of masters from yesteryear who did not “make it” in the commercial market owing to the lack of their “marketability”.

Broadcasting, spearheaded by the All India Radio, emerged as a “state patron” to Hindustani music with active role played by B. V. Keskar, Z. A. Bokhari and others to encourage musicians to record for the National Programme and participate in Radio Sangeet Sammelans. However, the sum paid to top-grade artists even today is laughable from all standards of human existence in any part of the world! In the last few years, private broadcasting companies have also emerged and have given considerable air-time to Hindustani music with Gadharv and Shruti (for Hindustani and Carnatic music respectively) as dedicated channels on Worldspace Radio. More such efforts need to be made to arrive at a proportionately equivalent air-time vis-à-vis popular or film music. Telecasting is an allied venture but the air-time allocated to Hindustani music on

Page 9 of 11

any National channel would not even come up to 1% (apart from Doordarshan Bharati which had to shut down due to “insufficient viewership”) and so it becomes a negligible vehicle.

Looking at the field of music education, the first names which come to mind are the two Vishnus of Hindustani music – Pt. Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande (1860-1936) and Pt. Vishnu Digambar Paluskar (1872-1931). It is perhaps not merely coincidental that Lord Vishnu is looked upon as “the preserver” and these two towering figures in Hindustani music bear testimony to this role! The first Gandharva Mahavidyalaya was set up by Pt. Paluskar in Lahore in 1901. He trained his disciples as not merely performing musicians but instilled in them the zeal to propagate Hindustani music to all corners of the country. Similarly, Pt. Bhatkhande is looked upon with reverence by all musicians for the formidable work he did in terms of systematizing the thaat system in Hindustani music and compiling traditional bandishes from all over the country for the benefit of the coming generations. The Bhatkhande Sangeet Vidyapeeth put into place a system of music education envisioned by him and continues to function to this day. However, a frequent critique of the institutions set up by the two Vishnus is their failure to have produced performing artists. It needs to be kept in mind in this regard that they were never meant for such a purpose! All that was sought to be achieved was the spread of musical literacy and the creation of ‘kansens’ (learned listeners) who could then go on to learn in the traditional guru-shishya parampara (master-disciple relationship). A recent work by Janaki Bakhle titled Two Men and Music contains an in-depth analysis of the contribution of the two Vishnus. In recent years, the ITC Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata (established in 1978) could be credited with doing reasonably good work in terms of imparting music education in the guru-shishya style in a modern setup and also successfully producing at least a few able performing musicians. SPIC MACAY (Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth), started by Dr. Kiran Seth in 1977, has also done valuable work taking the masters of traditional art forms to educational institutions across the country as well as abroad with an aim of instilling some sensitivity and building appreciation base for the rich cultural tapestry of India.

The late fifties and early sixties of the last century witnessed the “globalization of Hindustani music” led by Pt. Ravi Shankar, Ust. Ali Akbar Khan and Ust. Alla Rakha. In 1968, the Ali Akbar College of Music was established in North California in USA and the work carried on by the resident and visiting instructors in this institution as well as many others have certainly played a major role in familiarizing the Western audiences with the rudiments of Hindustani music. Performances by Pt. Ravi Shankar at the Monterey Pop Festival (1967) and Woodstock (1969) exposed the youth in the West to the magic of Hindustani music. Of course, the fact that George Harrison became a disciple of Pt. Ravi Shankar helped attract an even more formidable mass of people to explore the various forms of Hindustani music! The role played by the ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relations) is noteworthy in this regard since it continues to support foreign travel of many artists every year with a view to strengthen cultural ties with the rest of the world through the medium of cultural diplomacy.

In terms of changes within the structure and performance format of Hindustani music, there have been quite a few formidable changes. The commercialization of various aspects of society have not left music untouched and this has led, to some extent, to a homogenization of styles of performers and a standardization of the format of the performance. For example, a typical khayal recital nowadays usually features a couple of ragas (with the first one being the most expansive) followed by a thumri/dadra or a bhajan (or both). This structure is stuck to by almost all performers across the board and it would be a worthwhile exercise to trace back the germ of this format. Another feature of khayal gayaki and instrumental music today is the preponderance of taankari and the use of tihai patterns as tools to titillate and excite the minds of the listeners. Intelligent and proportionate use of these ornamentations have been adhered to by only a very

Page 10 of 11

few musicians. The genre of dhrupad has not been left aloof from such perilous tendencies with the creeping in of sargams, rhythm-accompanied aalaap (passed off as a misconstrued notion of the ancient practice of taar paran) and, in some cases, the introduction of harmony along with melody! It is perhaps then not too surprising that the coverage given to Hindustani music has gone down drastically and increasingly, classical concert reports find a place in entertainment pages of all leading dailies. Part of this problem is the same sort of treatment meted out by commercial labels irrespective of the genre of music being handled in order to fit into the larger world market where Hindustani music features mysteriously in the ‘World Music’ category!

Instrumental music has gained in currency over the years owing to wider acceptability around the world whereas vocal music loses out due to its literary component. However, it is a pleasing fact that vocal music, especially dhrupad, is experiencing a recent resurrection and rise in terms of interest from Western audiences. Jugalbandis and fusion music have emerged as (worthy?) contenders on the performance stage with a rise in terms of ‘experimentation’. Of course, successful attempts have been largely few and far between! At the same time, continuity within change has always been the only constant in the flowing stream of Hindustani music and that will continue to be the case.

I close this long paper by giving a few internet links for potentially interested readers to browse through high-quality articles and valuable recordings of the legends of Hindustani music wishing them pleasurable reading and ethereal listening: http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/ellpatke/Miscellany/music.htm http://homepage.mac.com/patrickmoutal/macmoutal/rag.html http://sawf.org/music http://sarangi.info/

About The Author

Irfan Zuberi is a national executive member of SPIC MACAY (Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth) and the editor of its newsletter, Sandesh. He is currently engaged in a documentary film project on senior classical music maestros of India and is working on an M. Phil thesis on the ‘Sociology of Indian Music’ from the prestigious Delhi School of Economics. He may be contacted at [email protected] .

Page 11 of 11