‘Kedar at sunrise is an outrageous idea for a majority of Indian connoisseurs’
There are a number of points in Hindustani classical music which have remained unresolved for many years due to a bunch of causes, foremost amongst them being the heavy weight of custom and an unwillingness to face the ever-changing actuality. However, this doesn’t imply that those that are deeply on this artwork kind aren’t grappling with these points in any respect.
What is the relevance and significance of the famed ‘gharana’ system in the present day and what modifications have taken place within the final century and extra? What does the time period ‘gharana’ connote nowadays? Is the time-raga principle nonetheless related and will it’s adhered to when Hindustani classical music will be accessed any time on the Internet? How has social media impacted this music? What is the raga-ness of a raga?
All these points and extra have been mentioned threadbare by sitar and surbahar participant and musicologist Deepak Raja who’s an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and Watford College of Technology, U.Okay., in addition to being a former Editor of Business India and Secretary General of Indian Newspaper Society. Raja has authored many articles and books, together with Hindustani Music: A Tradition in Transition, Khayal Vocalism: Continuity with Change and The Musician and His Art: Essays on Hindustani Music. Top musicians like vocalist Ulhas Kashalkar and santoor maestro Shivkumar Sharma, and musicologist Lyle Wachovsky have written forewords and introductions to them. And, they carry us the joyful revelation that the main lights of Hindustani classical music like Kashalkar and Sharma do take into consideration the theoretical in addition to sensible issues that crop up on occasion.
Demise of the gharana
Gharana is particular to Hindustani classical music and has a two-fold that means — a clan of musicians, in addition to a method recognized with a specific clan. Ever since Kumar Gandharva introduced the demise of the gharana system, an never-ending dialogue has been happening within the music world concerning the gharana and guru-shishya parampara. Kashalkar, who has efficiently built-in parts of the Agra and Jaipur gharanas into his Gwalior gharana fashion, has this to say: “Considering the strengths of the gharana institution, no one can argue that it has no relevance today. Though the major gharanas stand considerably weakened in recent years, their wisdom is not totally lost yet. The urgent need is to ensure the transmission of this wisdom from one generation to another.”
Kashalkar questions the burgeoning observe of incorporating Carnatic ragas into the Hindustani repertoire as a result of, “In addition to differences in scales and intonation practices, the very notion of raga-ness is very different in the two traditions.” He provides: “…there is no yardstick for validating the raga-svaroopa (melodic personality) of Carnatic ragas in Hindustani transformations.”
Raja feels that the gharanas are fading away however “this truth calls for neither lament, nor rejoicing. Hindustani music is builit on the foundations of continuity within change. This reality will remain operative as long as Hindustani music remains an improvisation-dominant tradition, impossible to transmit without a substantial dependence on the aural experience.” Unlike Western music, Hindustani, and in addition Carnatic, music will not be written, it needs to be learnt from the guru. And, the disciples have so as to add their very own artistic enter to no matter they’ve learnt from the guru. This provides rise to completely different kinds inside a gharana in addition to among the many gharanas. In Raja’s opinion, stylistic variety will stay “as long as India remains a multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic sub-continent.”
Enabled by expertise
Raja’s books are wealthy in technical explanations and historic info, and in addition supply a large glossary of musical phrases. A person with a contemporary outlook and imaginative and prescient, he takes under consideration the varied methods of transmitting and receiving music that expertise has enabled. This journey started with the appearance of the recording and playback expertise and reached the current occasions when extra music is listened to in digital areas moderately than in musical soirees or public concert events or properties. This change has additionally prompted him to have a second take a look at the time-raga principle, which is particular to Hindustani classical music.
In a provocatively titled chapter ‘Kedar at sunrise’, he places the speculation to essential examination. “In Hindustani music,” informs Raja, “every raga is prescribed for performance during a specific three-hour time-slot of the twenty-four-hour daily cycle.” Just a few ragas will be carried out any time of the day or evening, and there are just a few seasonal ragas which can be carried out solely throughout these seasons. There are many musical in addition to psychological arguments for this affiliation between ragas and time however Raja, like so many different musicologists and music lovers, doesn’t discover the speculation very convincing.
And, he’s not alone. Many a present-day prime musician feels that the speculation has outlived its utility as one can’t inform the distinction between 12 p.m. and 12 a.m. inside an auditorium the place lighting and different circumstances are totally managed. However, the load and awe of the custom is a lot that musicians proceed the custom. That’s the explanation behind the title of the chapter as “Kedar at sunrise is an outrageous idea for a majority of Indian connoisseurs”.
The uneasiness with the time-raga principle in addition to its violation are fairly seen on the earth of Hindustani music nowadays. Some years in the past, this author attended a night music programme the place the organisers requested the musicians to sing morning and afternoon ragas. A vocalist, virtually in tears, begged for the viewers’s forgiveness with folded fingers as he started to sing Todi. But, on this age of YouTube and Spotify, if one can take heed to a raga at any time of the day or evening, why can’t musicians replicate the expertise for his or her viewers in a dwell live performance? Something to noticeably take into consideration.
The author is a senior Hindi poet and journalist who writes on politics and tradition.
