Some recollections

Mushtaq Ali Khan: I had a chance to listen to his recording broadcast in AIR Delhi. I was completley moved by some of his eloquent phrases in Bageshwari that night. He moved you with very simple phrases which others could hardly do even with elaborate preparation and ground work and technique. I think only that recording is available with AIR. I had another person mentioning that recording of Bageshwari and he also told me the impact created by his simple statements. I later learnt that he is the Guru of Debu Chadhury who is very a well known sitar player. Debu is also a very good Guru and had trained a number of students in Delhi.

Wahid Khan: I have heard his National Programme on AIR. He had a very interesting method of progression which may appear to untrained ears as calculated permutations and combinations. However he had deep understanding of the moods of the ragas he had experienced and never was over emotional and he let the note combinations do its bit on the listeners. I was told that Amir Khan saheb was so impressed with his music, he modelled his gayaki on the basis of the style of Wahid Khan saheb. Interestingly both Wahid Khan and Abdul Karim Khan saheb were from Kirana gharana. HMV has released one recording of this master which unfortunately does not represent his greatness.

Abdul Sulaiman Khan: Initially I did not respond to Kumar Gandharva's music which I felt was too out of focus. Later I realised that he simply did not care too much for grammar. I started enjoying his ragas based on Malwa folk music and found it very refreshing. Later I became his fan. I distinctly remember one of his national programmes. He was accompanied by a tabalchi named Abdul Sulaiman Khan from Indore. It was a recital to remember and cherish. Normally Kumar is accompanied by Vasant Achrekar on the tabala. I did not know anything about the Abdul Sulaiman Khan. He played vey well and I felt sad that I did not know anyhting about this tabalchi.

As luck would have it, when I was auditing at a place called Chalisgoan I was sitting inside my room at about 7 pm., when I heard a rhythm being played on a tabla in the hall. I was surprised that the sound was very good and I could comprehend it to be tabla bols. Then I rushed out and found a person called Shaligram (who had come to assist us in processing and taking print-outs of the general ledger and books of accounts) was playing the bols on the tabla. I was fascinated and asked him where he had learnt to play the tabla. He was surprised about my interest in tabla and told me he had learnt from one of the great masters named Dulji Khan who had specialised in playing a bol 'Dhir Dhir Kidathaka'. Unfortunately people outside Indore do not know about this master. His son was Abdul Sulaiman Khan. Then I felt good that I managed to know something about the tabalchi who had accompanied Kumar the other day.

Nissar Hussain and Shobha Gurtu: Impressions

One of my most wonderful memories is Nissar Hussain Saheb's Chaya Nat. This Raga is a wonder in the Rampur Gharana style. Nissar Hussain is a master and it is very evident right from the start. He keeps you completely focussed and moves you along with his exquisite expressions of this raga. His style is very robust and has a no-nonsense approach. He will not talk about esoteric qualities and he will always say it is upto the listener to feel what they feel. His point is: it is the way his guru taught him and there can be no other discussions on the topic.

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I still remember the studio masters of Thumris from Music Today which featured Girija Devi, Ajoy Chakrabarti, Shobha Gurtu and one more person whom I do not remember now. I was asked to listen to masters by my friend who produced them for Music Today and he wanted me to listen to all of them together. We listened to all the four artistes and the one which stood out for the sheer power and suppleness was Shobha Gurtu's Thumris. She was at home with this medium of expression and did not do anything to impress and let her rendering do the needful. It was an experience in itself.

My friend also agreed with my observation and wrote the sleeve notes accordingly. Also Shobha Gurtu participated in one of the programmes in Vividh Bharati on the extraordinary life of the Sufi saint Bulle Shah of Punjab. Her voice really suited the rendering of this great saint's works which I love deeply. At one place the saint says, "Ved quran pad pad thak gaye." It really struck a chord in my heart. The great saint reiterates divine love to be the start and end of all. The scholarly study of Vedas and Quran simply exhausts you and you will never go anywhere without divine love. He refers to divine love as "Ruhani Ishq."

On "Swara"

I have heard Yunus Hussain Khan saheb extensively on Delhi AIR. He had a voice which was very attractive and not dry like other Agra Gharana singers. I always welcomed his round toned voice and his straight forward presentation. Of course later as I progressed I understood the sincerity of other Agra Gharana masters like Faiyaz Khan Saheb, Vilayat Hussain Khan saheb and others. I then started bothering only for their "swara" and stopped worrying about round tones etc.

In fact I came to feel that too sweet a tone hides something which is not agreeable. Let's take for instance a popular musician - I will call him X. X has a wonderful voice. His presentations are very carefully prepared and tone is given very high importance. However I never felt comfortable with his singing. I felt being misled. I was never stirred emotionally when he sang. Every thing was all right but still something was missing and I took a lot of time to understand what really was missing. I later understood he lacked "swara" (as understood by me through Raghava R Menon). 'Swa' means self and 'Ra' means shine.

The music in which 'self' shines is 'swara'. It is truthful to the extent of experience undergone and 'samskarams' received and blessings obtained from the guru. Such people do not have different voices for music and simple talking. Their talking voice and singing voice are the same. For them singing is talking and talking is singing. Being with them, one experiences their honest experiences of raga evocation. There is nothing like wrong or right in ragas. All the texts give only one side of the story. Ragas are like exalted beings. Some may experience different moods by evoking the same raga and this depends upon their own destiny and the heritage absorbed by the individual. This is applicable for fine arts as well as any other skill be it management or driving. The texts only provide a certain method for identifying and it is something like the sizes of shirts and pants. Certainly correctly identifying sizes of pants or shirts do not form any idea of the person who wears them. Similarly all the music books can only give some idea to the extent of their experience and knowledge of the respective authors and nothing more.

It requires additional intrinsic experience to understand and evoke a raga and this is completely depends upon one's sadhana, destiny and samskaram received. That is why I never bother about a critic who says so much about style or gharana. I simply go by my honest feeling and discount to the extent of my own pardha which might have fallen when I listen due to so many factors and prejudices.