All posts by wellnmed@gmail.com
V.N. Bhatkhande: A seeker who helped in bridging Hindustani and Carnatic music
Photograph of the special 15 paise postal stamp, issued on September 01, 1961 in honour of the late V.N. Bhatkhande | Photo Credit: The Hindu Archives – PIBB
V.N. Bhatkhande’s extensive travels helped bridge North and South
One of the most fascinating structures in the Qaiserbagh area of Lucknow is the erstwhile Pari Khana, the building, which housed the numerous courtesans in the service of the Nawabs of Avadh. In its time it must have been home to much music and what is interesting is that it continues to do so even now, the Bhatkhande Music Institute Deemed University being headquartered here. And that institution has a story that bridges both the Hindustani and Carnatic systems.
Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande (1860-1936) remains a landmark figure in the world of Indian musicology. A resident of Bombay, he was trained in music while young and retained sufficient interest in it even after reaching adulthood, when he qualified in law and set up practice at the High Court of Bombay. Circumstances so arranged themselves that he could soon devote his entire energies to music, his wife and daughter passing away thereby freeing him of the necessity of earning for a family. It was then that he began to ponder over the fact that Hindustani Music did not have a structured curriculum of teaching and remained largely an oral tradition.
Bhatkhande travelled far and wide across North India, collecting information about the way music was taught in the various gharanas. He then moved South, coming to Madras in 1904. He had established contact with Thirumalayya Naidu, a local connoisseur. Having met up with Naidu at the Cosmopolitan Club, he attended a concert performance by Bangalore Nagarathnamma at a Sabha on Ramaswami Street, George Town. Bhatkhande’s account of her performance remains the only review of a concert by this redoubtable artiste.
The Bhatkhande Institute Deemed University
It was, however, his subsequent interactions with other names deep down South that had a greater impact on him. He travelled to Ramanathapuram to meet ‘Poochi’ Srinivasa Iyengar. He came to know that Subbarama Dikshitar had just then published his Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini and went to Ettayapuram to see him. In Madras, he met Thiruvottiyur Tyagier and Tachur Singaracharya among others. The interactions were not altogether as fruitful as Bhatkhande would have wished, language being a great barrier. In his daily jottings, published later by the Indira Gandhi University at Khairagarh, as Meri Dakshin Bharat Ki Sangeet Yatra (My Musical Journey in Southern India), Bhatkhande noted that while all the musicians he met came across as great and saintly personalities, they were unable to explain to him much of what they practised.
He did manage to obtain valuable manuscripts — the Chaturdandi Prakasika of Venkatamakhin and the Svaramelakalanidhi of Ramamatya. These, and the observations he had made while touring North India, along with other manuscripts, helped him classify Hindustani ragas under a system of ten, which is rather like the melakartas of the Carnatic style. He wrote extensively on Hindustani music and his four-volume Hindustani Sangeet Paddhathi is even today the standard text for the North Indian style of classical music. Bhatkhande also began organising All India Music Conferences, which focused on Hindustani Music.
In this he was greatly supported by Rai Umanath Bali, a prominent Taluqdar of Avadh. It was the latter’s dearest wish that a college for Hindustani Music be established in Lucknow while Bhatkhande preferred Delhi for its location. The two argued over it for nearly a decade before the latter was finally won over in 1922. The fourth All India Music Conference was held in Lucknow in 1924 and a resolution was passed for the setting up of a music college in that city. The music-loving Nawab of Rampur threw his weight behind the setting up of the institution. This became reality in 1926, with syllabus fashioned by Bhatkhande. The All India College of Hindustani Music was inaugurated at the Pari Khana by Sir William Sinclair Marris, the then Governor of the United Provinces. Six months later, the college was named after him.
Rather interestingly, this was to have an impact in Madras. It was in 1927 that the All India Congress Session was held here with a music conference being held in parallel. That saw the birth of the Music Academy with one of its mandates being the setting up of a Teachers’ College of Music, “on the lines of the Marris College.” The Queen Mary’s College, which had offered music as an elective course with no theory classes for over a decade, began to offer a two-year intermediate course from 1927. Two years later, the Music College in Chidambaram, now a part of the Annamalai University began functioning. That institution too borrowed from the Marris College pattern.
It was only in 1948 that the Marris College changed its name to give credit where it was due — becoming the Bhatkhande Institute. This scholar, intrepid traveller and seeker deserved his name being preserved for posterity. In 2000, the Institute became a deemed university.
source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> In Search of Music> Music / by Sriram V / March 29th, 2019
Catharsis through art
For Neha Singh, MA Fine Arts student from Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi, art is a miraculous alternative medicine for a speedy recovery and better receptivity for patients.
Kochi :
“Won’t it be beautiful to see a landscape when you are admitted in a hospital, rather than white walls and plain curtains,” asks Neha Singh, who was in the city recently as part of her internship project to learn about Raja Ravi Varma paintings. For Neha Singh, MA Fine Arts student from Kashi Vidyapeeth, Varanasi, art is a miraculous alternative medicine for a speedy recovery and better receptivity for patients.
Neha had spent time at the Kowdiar Palace to learn about the paintings of Raja Ravi Varma during which won appreciation from Gauri Parvathy Bhai, member of the erstwhile royal family of Travancore, for her artwork and contributions. During her stay in Thiruvananthapuram, she visited hospitals including the Santhwana Hospital at Ambalamukku to spread messages on the therapeutic effect of art.
She believes in the pursuit of innovation with the intention of developing her own potential as well as nourishing the talents of children. The idea of healing through art struck her while thinking of an idea to help people physically or psychologically with her talent. According to her, art therapy is not just about exposing patients to artwork, but also involving themselves in the process.
“In art therapy patients are encouraged to create paintings and craft works. Though art cannot be termed as an alternative to medicine, it can assist to make the patient receptive, thereby making the treatment procedure much easier,” says Neha.
She often visits children in hospitals and gifts them her paintings. “Mostly children tend to panic more while in the hospital. As an artist, my presence with my paintings and spending time with them has shown remarkable happiness on their faces. Undoubtedly, a patient is more receptive to the treatment and cures faster while they are relaxed,” said Neha.
Neha is a multi-talented personality and a two time World Records holder. In 2017, she made a World Record by creating the map of India with more than 16 lakh glass beads. In September 2018, she was back in the headlines after making another World Record by creating a Hanuman Chalisa with more than 38,417 fingertip impressions in a 449 feet cloth which has entered in Eurasia World Records.
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Kochi / by Steena Das / Express News Service / March 06th, 2019
27
26
25
24
Singer Malini Awasthi talks about her musical journey and being an authority on the folk traditions of Uttar Pradesh
Now it’s such an open market and there are no barriers like there were earlier, says Malini
Malini Awasthi. / Rashbehari Das
Celebrated Indian folk singer Malini Awasthi — who sings in dialects such as Awadhi, Bundelkhandi and Bhojpuri — was in the city to perform at a classical music festival recently. Awarded the Padma Shri in 2016, Malini originally hails from Lucknow, but now shuttles between Delhi and Lucknow. A t2 chat with the singer.
When did you start singing?
I come from a traditional Brahmin family in Uttar Pradesh but my parents were very open-minded and believed that girls should know music. I learned music from various gurus. My father was a doctor and we moved from one city to another and a great deal of my musical education took place in Gorakhpur. I was there for eight years and I learnt from Rahat Ali Khan saab and Shujat Hussain Khan saab. Shujatji is from Rampur gharana and Rahat Ali Khan saab is from Patiala gharana. Then I moved to Lucknow for my post-graduation from Bhatkhande Sangeet University. Classical has always been a part of my grooming and learning but meanwhile our gurus also taught us light music — gazals, thumri, bhajan.
The folk of Uttar Pradesh always attracted me and I thought not enough is being done. It hadn’t got its due and I felt there was a class difference — if it was classical people would say it’s great even if there’s no ras. Music is all about ras and folk people who are untrained, ungroomed can move you to tears and it’s not easy to do that. So I thought somebody needed to do this. I started collecting songs, learning from my taiji, my grandmother… every woman in UP plays the dholakand sings songs. In the ’70s and ’80s every house used to have a dholak, sadly not anymore. I remember as a teenager, writing those lyrics down and trying to sing. These songs have been passed on to the newer generation through oral tradition.
What have been the highlights of your folk music career?
A lot of them! Now everyone knows in India that if anyone needs to know about UP ka folk, they should contact Malini Awasthi. Very early in life, Jagjit Singhji had heard me sing kajri in Sa Re Ga Ma and told me, ‘Malini I had no idea that there are varieties of kajri and you have presented us three.’ I told him, ‘I can present you two more’. Recently, I performed at India Habitat Centre in Delhi and Amjad Ali Khan saab and many more were there. I chose to perform some rare songs ofmirasans — they were women folk singers who were invited to sing for weddings or other festivities at home. So I sang sehra, mubarakbadi and a lot of rare wedding songs. By the time I finished, Khan saab just got up and said, ‘We all need to go to stage to felicitate her. Where were you all these years?’ It was amazing.
There’s another instance 10 years back, when my guru Girija Deviji was travelling and came to my performance in Delhi straight from the airport. I got very scared because a guru is a guru… I was performing the journey of folk from lullaby to nirgun. In the middle of the performance, I realised she has just come and stood there… when I finished, I went and touched her feet. She just held me and said, ‘I respect you for this… what I teach, everybody sings. But this is your own creation, your own audience.’ Then she started singing a folk song on our way back, earlier I had never heard a folk song from my guru because she sings classical.
What’s your daily riyaaz routine like?
Woh toh karna hee hai till our last breath. There’s a saying — sur will support you as long as you give respect to sur. If you forget sur and one fine day you want him to support you, he won’t. That’s the key. There’s nothing without riyaaz. My journey has been of almost 40 years and I do 20 to 25 minutes classical palta every day.
Which are your go-to songs when you’re in a solemn mood?
I think it keeps changing with age. These days, thanks to YouTube, I started listening to a lot of Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskarji and Bhimsen Joshiji. At times, I would just listen to the ’70s and ’80s English songs… go back to listening what we grew up listening to, like Abba, Paul Anka and Bee Gees. Otherwise, I enjoy listening to Mehdi Hassan saab. It’s a wide range… I sing folk but I listen to all kinds of music.
What’s your take on the music of today?
Now it’s such an open market and there are no barriers like there were earlier. By barrier I mean very strict restrictions on who can come on stage, who can perform where. There used to be so many dos and don’ts. It was good in a way because we were ultimately generating quality. Now it has become a democratic setup — everybody can put up a song on YouTube and be your own producer. There is no more hierarchy of music companies, which is good because everybody is creating independent music. Also, there is a great deal of world music influence. I think they’ve done Western music and done it all, now they are coming back to the roots and want a sitar.
Otherwise, music is now being created in a studio on a machine, you don’t need people or a harmonium. It’ll obviously kill the soul and that’s happening. But if you speak about classical, it’s good to see a great deal of young people in India learning classical music. But what we lack today is gurus of that quality. I think I’ll start a guru-shishya parampara this summer.
Any current band that you follow?
I appreciate the kind of music they do but unfortunately I don’t think bands have been very consistent in their numbers. One song can be good and the second song not so good… that also speaks of creativity, it often sounds repetitive. I like Maeri of Euphoria, Indian Ocean was very good, Parikrama during the ’90s was good. But there’s so much of music happening that I feel good bands suffer because of that. Earlier, there used to be limited festivals, people would look forward to them and they would also remember the performances. Now with visual medium available 24×7 at your fingertips, it’s all over and the recall quality of any performance has reduced.
What’s your take on the music reality shows?
There’s no doubt that talent comes out. In every reality show, you’ll see 10 good singers, there are no dearth of good singers. Shreya (Ghoshal), Sunidhi (Chauhan) have made their career out of reality shows and that too at such a young age. But what people forget is that they made it big because they never stopped learning even after winning shows. Sonu Nigam kept learning from Ghulam Mustafa Khan saab for so many years. Even if you win a reality show, it’s good for identity and confidence boost but beyond that you shouldn’t stop learning.
Who are your favourite singers?
Lataji (Mangeshkar) is an all-time favourite. And Begum Akhtarji is somebody I really respect. She was the one and only original diva… look at her voice quality, her class and the way she would sit and sing. Ghazals made her famous but I’d say that she was a typical Uttar Pradesh singer. She sang Holi, kajri, jhula, purvi, dadra….
And from Bollywood?
Arijit (Singh)… I just love him!
source: http://www.telegraphindia.com / The Telegraph, online edition / Home> Entertainment / by Ushnota Paul / March 22nd, 2019