Book Reviews

THE MUSICAL HERiTAGE OF by M.R. Gautam, Abhinav Publications, New Delhi. 1980, Rs. 150.00 (In English).

The title of the book is rather deceptive, making it sound more ambi­ tious than the author perhaps meant it to be. It leads one to expect a con­ solidated attempt at projecting the long, rich tradition of Indian music as a sustained historical account. But. in truth what it really contains are 'a number of essays' (as Thakur Jaidev Singh rightly points out in his Foreword) written, with a degree of eclecticism, on different themes and aspects of Indian music, even though these essays have been strung together as 'chapters' of a single interwoven whole. Most musicians in India are suspicious of discussing music. Music, they say, is not talk. None would deny this plain truism. Even so, as M.R. Gautam points out in his Introduction: "There is another aspect of the art. made up of its history, its norms, its forms and formal rules, its styles and, together with these, its ethnic and social implications", a study of which "would certainly improve one's understanding and appreciation of the art." These words, from one who is himself a fine musician devoted to his art. are surely commen­ dable. M.R. Gautam has also lived up to his recommendations, writing a book on the discursive aspects of music, dealing with its history, theory, aesthetics, forms and stylistics. An artiste talking of his art can often speak with a grasp and under­ standing, a ready familiarity, which can only result from a close and direct involvement in an intense activity. This is especially true of those aspects of an art that concern usage and performance, the actual handling of form and technique. M.R. Gautam talks interestingly and provocatively of these matters. Thus, in his 'chapter' entitled 'Khvai, The Principal Classical Form', he gives us a lively description of the steps through which a Khva! is rendered. His account is thoughtfully interspersed with clusters of notations, illustrative of finer points of detail. One wishes, however, that the system of notation adopted had a more accurate correspondence with the music being mapped. It is no more than a string of sargam-s in Roman script. without any indication of important factors such as the duration of notes, their movement. the manner of their approach from one to another, the embellishments or graces to be used and other such musical phenomena. Granted that music, as it is made, cannot be exactly charted through notation, yet the methods of notation that do obtain today are much richer than the bare, skeletal one used by the author, which is a little reminiscent of the crude, frustrating system found in ancient texts like the Sangitaratnakara and the Brihaddeshi. In the final chapter, the author speaks with discernment about 'current trends' in music. He laments that the deeper musical values cherished by tradition are being lost sight of by musicians. One feels here that he is being inordinately critical of the best of modern musicians, losing sight of their achi­ evements. In fact. they are, in their own way, as aware of the profundities of raga as musicians of the past generations. Disparagement of the present is sometimes not a result of fair judgement but nostalgia for the older musicians

52 one grew up with when one was young and impressionable. In Indian music. where tradition is of the essence. every generation laments the past. for there lies the source. As the stream flows down it can only gather impurities. Older contemporaries of the days of Ustad Faiyaz Khan must have fondly remembered the ustads of their younger days, not finding the same quality in Ustad Faiyaz Khan, who had a new, distinct style and a vision of his own. Many of us can perhaps still remember how. in our younger days, Ustad Amir Khan . one of the ideals of Khya! singing today, was decried for his desecration of true musical values. The author makes the penetrating observation that with the advent of Khya/, "the singer was permitted to expand the Raga to the accompaniment of Tala, while the rhythm part was assigned to and looked after by the tabla player; the result was that real vt!ambit laya singing became possible." It was in Ustad Amir Khan's music that such singing found its perfect culmination. With him the free alap in nom tom. unaccompanied by tabla, became entirely merged in the tab/a-accompanied vistara of the slow Khya/, the theka becoming slow and reflective. its assertive individuality receding entirely into the background. This was not to the liking of many who heard Ustad Amir Khan when he was still young. though today we think of Khyal only in this mould. There has been a change, but has there been a loss? M.R. Gautam is one of those rare musicians who are proficient in the intricacies of both Karnatic and Hindusthani music. He tries to delineate the differences between the two in an informative 'chapter' entitled. 'A Short Com­ parative Study of Hindusthani and Karnatak Music Styles.' Pointing out that the essential distinction between the two styles lies in their different 'articulation of gamaka-s', he illustrates his statement with instructive examples and strikingly draws attention to these gamaka-s as they have been described in the Sangitaratnakara. A large part of the book is devoted to musical history and theory. The author's work in this area is not scholarly in intent or method and is obv1ously meant for the general reader. It lacks the liveliness of his comments on music as it is practised today. It is sketchy, devoid of substance and one m1sses the proper development of an idea in the light of evidence. The first 'chapter', 'Vedic Music-Its Contribution', traces the entire history of Indian music from Vedic Sarna to modern Khyal in barely 12 pages' One also notices factual errors The very first paragraph states that Sarna singing is no longer current; what is heard nowadays is Sarna recitation, not actual singing. Now, it is true that there are very few Samavedin-s today, but they do sing Sarna. It is questionable whether what they sing is Sarna as tt was sung in Vedic times-but this is quite another matter. In Chapter Ill. the author tells us that examples of Prabandha. which he call s the earliest song-form. are to be found in the Natva Shastra as well as the Sangitaratnakara. A large section of the latter text is devoted to Prabandha. but there is no mention of this form in the Natya Shastra. Th e earliest text w hich speaks of them is the Bnhaddesh1; written quite a few centuries after the Natya Shastra. It is arguable whether Dhruva-s. the songs sung in the ancient theatre and described in the Natya Shastra, were the precursors of Prabandha. But the author has not argued this point.

53 Th e printing (e xcept for the colour plates) of The Musical Heritage of India is quite good and one sincerely hopes that it w ill in spire other perceptive musician s to write on their art.

MUKUND LATH

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