The emerging generation of Khayal vocalists

This essay is now published in my book:

Raag Jhinjhoti, Alap-Jod. 1991

My recording of Jhinjhoti (Alap-Jod) from 1991, has been amongst  the YoutTube uploads which elicited some acknowledgement from connoisseurs. When first uploaded four years ago, it was in three parts. It is now an intergated listening experience.

Jhinjoti Alap and Jod, Deepak Raja 1991

(c) Deepak Raja 1991

Raga Multani July 12, 2014

A musician is only as good as his last concert. Mine took place on Guru Purnima (July 12) 2014, after a 20-year delinquency from riyaz and partially, also from taleem. I have shared of YouTube what I could deliver.

CREDITS: Inspiration:Ustad Vilayat Khan. Blessings: Pandit Arvind Parikh. Riyaz sangat: Praveen Karkare and Vaibhav Kadam. Concert sangat: Omkar Gulvady. Sound and video: Priyobrata Potsangbam. Webmaster: Moumita Mitra. Thank you all for your encouragement and support.


Raag Multani on Sitar by Deepak Raja

(c) Deepak Raja 2014

Vasantrao Deshpande Award. January 19, 2014. Acceptance speech

 Vidwan Vikku Vinayakram conferring the award

डॉक्टर वसंतराव देशपांडे स्मृति सम्मान जो मुझे आज प्रदान किया गया है, उसके लिये मैं वसंतराव देशपांडे प्रतिष्ठान के विश्वस्तों का हृदयपूर्वक आभार मानता हूँ.

जहाँ ज्ञान रूपी गंगा का संगम कला रूपी यमुनासे होता है, वहां सरस्वती स्वेच्छासे अवतरित होती है. उस स्थान को हम प्रयागराज कहते हैं. ऐसेही प्रयागराज थे पंडित वसंतराव जी. उनकी स्मृतिमें ऐसे सम्मानका स्थापित होना सर्वथा उचित है. परन्तु वसंतोत्सव के अंतर्गत जाहिर सभा में इस विशाल जनसमुदायकी उपस्थितीमें इस सम्मानसे मुझे आभूषित किया जाना एक असाधारण घटना है.

संगीतकारोंका सम्मान ऐसी सभाओंमें प्रायः होता है, क्योंकि वे जनसाधारणका मनोरंजन करते हैं. साहित्यकारोंका भी इसी कारण सार्वजनिक सम्मान होता है. परन्तु, एक संगीतज्ञका कार्य साधारनतया न जनसाधारण तक पहूँचता है, और न ही मनोरंजन करता है. उसकी शक्सियतका दायरा संगीतज्ञोंकी जमात तकही सीमित होता है. अपितु, आजके प्रसंगका यही निष्कर्ष निकालना होगा कि  मेरा कार्य अंशतः रूपसे विद्वत्समाज तथा रसिकसमाज दोनों तक पहुँच पाया है. इसका श्रेय में उन प्रेरणा स्रोतों और पारिबलों को देना चाहूँगा जिनके कारण यह संभव हुआ है. उन्हीकी बदौलत आज मेरा कार्य आपके सम्मानके काबिल हुआ है.

Deepak Raja: acceptance speech

संगीत जगतमें मैंने जो उपलब्धियां हासिल की हैं, उसके कई पक्ष हैं. उनमेसे कुछ प्रमुख पक्षोंका आज संक्षेपमें उल्लेख करना मेरे लिए उचित होगा.

प्रथम है कला पक्ष, या संगीतकी सर्जन प्रक्रिया का पक्ष. इस प्रक्रिया में हमें राग तत्त्व तथा उसके प्रत्यक्षीकरण की समझ हासिल होती है। यह समझ हमें हमारे गुरुजनोंसे प्राप्त होती  है. आज मै मेरे उन गुरुजनों को आदरपूर्वक नमन करता हूँ जिन्होंने मुझे ५ वर्ष की उम्र से आज तक विद्यादान के योग्य समझा. क्रमशः, दिल्लीके श्री चन्द्रकान्त गन्धर्व, पुणेके उस्ताद उस्मान खान, बम्बईके श्री पुलिन देव बर्मन, और बम्बईके पंडित अरविन्द पारीख से मैंने सितार तथा सुरबहार की शिक्षा ली. तदुपरांत, मैंने ख़याल गायकी की तालीम बम्बईमे विदूषी धोंदुताई कुलकर्णीसे  ली. विद्या के अलावा गुरुजनोंका और गुरुपरिवारोंका प्रेम भी अपनी संस्कृतिमे बड़ी एहमियत रखता है. आज मेरेलिए गर्वकी बात है कि इस समारोह में आज मेरे गुरुपरिवारों का भी प्रतिनिधित्व बहुत संतोषजनक है. धोन्दुताईजी की वरिष्ट शिष्या और प्रख्यात लेखिका, नमिता देविदयाल, तथा उस्ताद विलायत खान के साहबजादे, हिदायत खान साहब आज बम्बईसे इस सभामें शामिल होने मेरे साथ आए हैं. और, मेरे दिवंगत गुरु, बर्मन साहब के पुणे स्थित पौत्र, आदित्य देशमुख भी आज इस सभा में हाज़िर हैं. गुरु परिवारका ऐसा प्रेम बहुत खुशनसीब को ही मिलता है, और प्रेरणाका अद्वितीय स्रोत बना रहता है.

दूसरा है ज्ञान पक्ष. जिसे भी संगीत शास्त्र के विषय को समझना हो उसे, बीसवीं शताब्दीके युगप्रवर्तक संगीतज्ञों के कार्य का अध्ययन तो करना ही होता है. परन्तु, अन्तर्राष्ट्रीय स्तर पर समकालीन समाजको यदि संबोधित करना हो तो आधुनिक विचारधाराओं से अवगत होना आवश्यक हो जाता है. इस सन्दर्भमें मुझे संगीत जगतके दो महान बुद्द्धिजीवियोंका व्यक्तिगत मार्गदर्शन मिला. दिल्ली विश्वविद्यालयमें सौन्दर्य शास्त्र के प्राध्यापक और शास्त्रीय संगीतके प्रखर विद्वान, डॉक्टर सुशील कुमार सक्सेना लगभग ५० वर्षों तक मेरे सांगीतिक जीवनमे रूचि लेते रहे, और मेरा मार्गदर्शन करते रहे. उनके आलावा, प्राध्यापक अशोक रानडेने भी लगभग २० वर्षोंतक मेरे कार्य का मार्गदर्शन किया. इन महानुभावोंने मुझे संगीत के प्रति एक आधुनिक नज़रिया प्रदान किया.

तीसरा है श्रवण पक्ष. हिन्दुस्तानी संगीत के किसी भी पहलु पर यदि आत्मविशवास के साथ कुछ कहना हो तो उसकी परिवर्तनशीलता और उसके वैविध्य को समझे बिना कहना असंभव है. परन्तु, साथ ही साथ, इस परिवर्तनशीलता में छिपे स्थायित्व, और इसके वैविध्य में छिपी समानता को समझे बिना भी इस परम्परा के किसी भी पहलु पर टिप्पणी नही हो सकती. अर्थात, एक संगीतज्ञ ने कितना और कैसा संगीत सुना है, उसी अनुपात में उसके दृष्टिकोण या अभिप्राय का सम्मान होता है. इस दृष्टी से, अपनी युवावस्था और प्रौढ़ावस्था में प्रत्यक्ष सुना गया संगीत किसी भी संगीतज्ञ के लिये पर्याप्त नहीं होता. सन १९०२ में शास्त्रीय संगीत का ध्वनिमुद्रण आरंभ हुआ. तबसे, लाखों घंटों का शास्त्रीय संगीत मुद्रित हो चूका है. इस पूर्ण खजाने का किसीको भी उपलब्ध होना असंभव है. सदभाग्यवश, मेरे कार्यमें मेरे कुछ संगीत-प्रेमी मित्रों ने कल्पनातीत सहयोग दिया. उनके ध्वनि-मुद्रिका संग्रहों से मुझे पिछले २० वर्षों में लगभग ३५०० घंटों से ज्यादा संगीत का अध्ययन करनेके लिये मिला. इन मित्रों का  मैं आज श्रद्धापूर्वक आभार मानना चाहता हूँ. वे हैं: बमबईके श्री किशोर मर्चेंट, अहमदाबाद के श्री भारतेंदु जानी, और नडियाद (गुजरात) के प्राध्यापक रोहित देसाई. इन मित्रों की सद्भावना के बिना मेरा लेखन शुष्क रहता.

संगीत समालोचन का चौथा पक्ष है अंतःकरण पक्ष: प्राध्यापक रानडेने इस पहलु से मुझे अवगत कराया था. उनका कहना था की जब भी हम हिन्दुस्तानी संगीतके बारे में कुछ भी कहते या लिखते हैं, तब हम संगीतकार का अपनी कला के साथ रिश्ता कैसा है, इस तथ्य को नज़रंदाज़ नहीं कर सकते. इस विचार का महत्व मुझे तब समझमे आने लगा, जब मैंने एक के बाद एक संगीतकारों की व्यक्तिगत मुलाकातें लेना आरंभ किया. इस अनुभवके आधार पर मुझे तीन प्रमुख वृत्तियों के दर्शन हुए, जो भारतीय विचार प्रणाली से तर्कसंगत हैं. नवोदित कलाकारों से लेकर दिग्गज कलाकारों से बातचीत से यह आभास हुआ की एक संगीतकार का उसकी कला से रिश्ता सात्विक हो सकता है, राजसिक हो सकता है, अथवा तामसिक हो सकता है. किसी भी वृत्ति का कलाकार सफल संगीतकार हो सकता है. परन्तु , हर वृत्ति की तासीर अलग होगी; खुशबू अनोखी होगी।  तदुपरांत, यह भी देखा गया है की एक ही कलाकार के जीवन में अलग अलग दौर पर यह वृत्तियाँ अलग अलग शक्तिसे प्रतिबिंबित हो सकती हैं. एक संगीतज्ञ की दृष्टी में यह पहलु प्रायः सार्वजनिक चर्चा का विषय न होकर सिर्फ समझने का विषय हो सकता है. परन्तु, इसका मुल्यांकन किसीभी कलाकार की सांगीतिक प्रतिभा को समझने के लिये महत्त्वपूर्ण है.

मेरे कार्य का पांचवा पक्ष है प्रकाशन पक्ष. एक संगीतज्ञ की हैसियत से मैंने प्रथम कार्य १९९० के आसपास चेन्नई से प्रकाशित मासिक, श्रुति, के संपादक श्री पत्ताभिरमण के प्रोत्साहन से किया. तत्पश्चात, १९९२ मे न्यू यॉर्क स्थित इंडिया आर्काइव म्यूजिक कंपनी ने मुझे उनके द्वारा प्रकाशित ध्वनिमुद्रिकाओं पर टिप्पणियां लिखने का कार्य सौंपा. १९९२ और २००५ के बीच १०० ध्वनिमुद्रिकाओं पर टिप्पणियां लिखी गयी. प्रत्येक टिप्पणी ८००० से १०,००० शब्दों की थी. सन २००५ में श्रुतिके संपादक और इंडिया आर्काइव म्यूजिक कंपनी के मालिकने मुझे मेरे अनुसंधानको पुस्तक रूप में प्रकाशित करने की अनुमति दे दी. जब मेरी पहली पुस्तक की प्रतिलिपि तैयार हो गयी, तब, सौन्दर्य शास्त्रविद, प्राध्यापक  सुशील कुमार सक्सेना ने उसके प्रकाशन की सिफारिश उनके प्रकाशक, श्री सुशील मित्तल से की. श्री मित्तल के साथ मेरा सम्बन्ध इतना सदृढ़ हो चूका है, की आज तक उन्होंने मेरी लिखित तीन पुस्तकें प्रकाशित की हैं, और चौथी पुस्तक का कामभी आरंभ कर दिया है.

मेरी मूल शिक्षा बिज़नस मैनेजमेंट की हुई. आधे से ज्यादा कार्यकाल व्यवसायिक गतिविधिओयों में बीता. इसके बावजूद, आज जाहिर सभामे एक संगीतज्ञ की हैसियतसे मेरा आपने सम्मान किया. यह सब माता सरस्वती की कृपा के बिना होना असंभव था. उन्हीके आशीर्वाद से संगीतके विभिन्न पक्षों का मुझे ज्ञान मिला, और उस ज्ञानको, मेरी समझके अनुरूप, सभ्य समाज के समक्ष प्रस्तुत करनेका अवसर प्राप्त हुआ. माता सरस्वती के उन सर्व सेवकों का मैं आज आभार मानता हूँ जिन्होंने मेरे इस कार्य को संभव बनाया, और एक बार फिर उन सब सेवकों की ओरसे इस सन्मान को विनम्रतापूर्वक स्वीकार करता हूँ.

© Deepak S. Raja 2014

Raga Shuddha Chhaya: Elusive component of a popular compound

This essay is now published in my fourth book:

Removing it from here was considered proper, though not contractually obligatory, in order to protect the investment of my publisher in the book. 

DR

Dhondutai Kulkarni (1927-2014)

Dhondutai Kulkarni, the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana stalwart, refused to flow with the tide of populism, and consolidated her position as a zealous custodian of the gharana’s musical assets.  This meant accepting a marginal presence on the concert platform, a life devoted to teaching, and an ascetic lifestyle.

Sushri Dhondutai Kulkarni, the last exponent of orthodox Jaipur-Atrauli Khayal vocalism, breathed her last on May 31, 2014.  In the music community, she was known primarily as the sole disciple of the legendary Kesarbai Kerkar (1890-1977). This was factually correct, but only partially descriptive of her musical persona. Dhondutai was groomed by three other exponents of the style evolved by Ustad Alladiya Khan (1855-1946) Natthan Khan, Bhurji Khan, and Lakshmibai Jadhav – before she came under Kesarbai’s tutelage, and Azizuddin Khan thereafter.  In Dhondutai’s own assessment, Bhurji Khan was her primary trainer who had coached her to the level of a performing musician, and Kesarbai had been more like a sparring-mate polishing up her impact on the concert platform.

Against this background, with three of her five mentors being members of the founding family of the lineage, Dhondutai had the maximum imaginable access to the accumulated musical wisdom of her Gharana, as variously reflected in the musical temperaments of her mentors. From these mutually compatible influences, she forged an original musical statement and remained, after Kesarbai’s retirement, the most authoritative interpreter of the stylistic lineage.

The recognition of Dhondutai’s style as “orthodox” Jaipur Atrauli is important because, during Dhondutai’s own lifetime, Kishori Amonkar, her junior by a few years, and a product of the same lineage, had launched a revisionist interpretation of Jaipur Atrauli vocalism, which took female vocalism by storm. While orthodox Jaipur-Atrauli vocalism emphasized the majestic aloofness of its Dhrupad-Dhamar inspiration, its revisionist offshoot went headlong into a solicitous, endearing romanticism, inspired by the stylistics of the Thumree and popular genres. Amonkar replaced the elitist stance of orthodox Jaipur-Atrauli with a markedly populist stance and, not surprisingly, left the orthodoxy gasping for breath. Dhondutai refused to flow with the tide of populism, and consolidated her position as a zealous custodian of the gharana’s musical assets.  This meant accepting a marginal presence on the concert platform, a life devoted to teaching, and an ascetic lifestyle.

The hallmark of Dhondutai’s Jaipur-Atrauli legacy was a distinctive voice culture, which ensured continuity of the musical experience across the entire melodic canvas, and subtlety and complexity in all departments. Her treasure of Raga-s included a host of melodic entities which are rare. Many of these were compound Raga-s, whose names were familiar, but their melodic engineering was unique to the Jaipur-Atrauli lineage. Even in the performance of common Raga-s, her interpretation had the oblique – sometimes intriguing and even baffling -- quality typical of the lineage. Her melodic contours were devoid of angularities, and distinctive for their curvilinear form, moving in loops and spirals. In her musical expression, melody wrapped itself around the beats of the rhythmic cycle, giving it a subtle swing, which never became an explicit pulsation. The result was often an unexpected emphasis or elongation of some notes, which enhanced the enigmatic quality of the Raga form. The internal structure of each movement in her renditions kept changing all the time, thus avoiding repetitiveness and monotony.

Because of these features, orthodox Jaipur-Atrauli vocalism was considered highbrow. Elitism and aloofness embedded themselves as second nature in the conduct of Jaipur Atrauli musicians. An extreme manifestation of this was the musical persona of Kesarbai Kerkar. Its reflection in the persona of Dhondutai Kulkarni, however, never approached Kesarbai’s abrasiveness.  As a performing musician, Dhondutai would not bring her music down to the appreciation levels of her audiences; but she would make every effort to raise the level of appreciation of the audiences. In every concert I have heard, she would certainly include a rare or a compound raga, painstakingly explain its melodic structure, preface the Khayal rendition with an abnormally long alap, and ensure that the musical content of her performances was not met with bewilderment.

Through her broadcasts on All India Radio, Dhondutai enjoyed national stature as a vocalist for almost half a century. In the last two decades that I have known Dhondutai, her stage performances were infrequent. But, whenever they were held, every connoisseur in the city made sure that he was present. She was invited to perform and receive awards by some of the most influential cultural organizations in the country. Amongst her many awards were the Mallikarjun Mansur Award, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, and the Maharashtra Gaurav award.

Teaching provided her a livelihood; but her approach to it was missionary, and totally lacking the

Dhondutai Kulkarni with the author (2003)

commercialism of present-day musicians. She had benefitted from Kesarbai’s totally non-commercial decision to bequeath the lineage’s musical assets to her.  Dhondutai was motivated likewise to bequeath those assets to as many worthy recipients as possible. To her students, she often pointed out that they (her disciples) were fortunate that she had remained unmarried. Had she had her own children, she would have taught them – rather than her disciples – the crucial secrets of her art.  She also believed that, had she decided to start a family, she would never have been able to acquire the musical assets that she could accumulate by remaining a spinster. But, clearly, there was in her persona also a mother who could never be. To her disciples, tough and demanding as she could be as a teacher, she was everybody’s idea of a mother.

Dhondutai’s legacy of commercially distributed recordings is meager.  There exists a modest unpublished archive of her concert recordings, which awaits processing and dissemination. Her accomplishments as a Guru are more evident. The finest living products of her grooming are Manjari Vaishampayan, who performs and teaches in the US; Namita Devidayal, author of the celebrated book “The Music Room”, who unfortunately does not perform; and two youngsters who are currently making waves on the concert platform – Aditya Khandwe and Rutuja Lad.

Dhondutai bequeathed a substantial part of the lineage’s musical wisdom to a few recipients. Her training will remain the foundation of their musicianship. But, the music they sing will inevitably be shaped by their interaction with today’s audiences. Their talent and ingenuity will decide whether orthodox Jaipur-Atrauli vocalism survives Dhondutai, or gets swamped by the romanticist Tsunami that hit the Khayal coastline about four decades ago.  

 Deepak S. Raja

Hindustani Music in the Baroda State

This essay is now published in my book:

Musicologist... by an unorthodox route

In 1967, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, made the mistake of giving me admission to the 2-year full-time MBA programme. There was no possibility of correcting that error. So, 45 years after I graduated, the institute decided to acknowledge similar mistakes by running a special feature on performing arts in the The IIMA Alumnus magazine. In the pages of this feature, I find myself in the distinguished company of people like Mallika Sarabhai. They asked me to recount my life in music. I am sharing here what I wrote.

By the time I joined IIM-A (age: 19), I had received about 12 years of training as a sitarist,  become a respectable performer, and also advanced substantially towards a respectable diploma in Hindustani music. I was at IIM because a performing career in music was an unacceptable risk, and an academic career in musicology looked unattractive.  But, music wasn’t going away anywhere.

After graduation, I continued to learn and practice the sitar, as I pursued careers in media research, business journalism, periodical publishing, and financial consultancy.  Between 1986 and 1992, I enjoyed a short stint as a performing musician, winning respect for my command over the instrument, and the soundness of my approach to music.

The performing life was heady, but not sustainable at my level of musicianship. The economics of it were absurd, and each concert demanded preparatory practice of at least six to eight hours a day for a whole month. Besides, I wasn’t anybody’s idea of a future Ravi Shankar or Vilayat Khan. So, it made sense to seek a less insecure place for myself in the music world. 

The opening came in the early 1990’s in the form of an invitation from the late Mr. N Pattabhiraman, Editor of SRUTI magazine, to contribute critical essays on Hindustani music. Thus was launched my career as a musicologist.  Around the same time, India Archive Music Ltd. (IAM), a New York based specialist producer of Hindustani music, commissioned me to write musicological commentaries on CDs produced by them. Between 1995 and 2004, I wrote commentaries of 8000-10,000 words each for over a 100 of their CDs. The commentaries helped IAM emerge as the most successful and influential producer of Hindustani music outside India.

By 2004, SRUTI had published perhaps fifteen of my critical essays, and IAM had received over a million words of commentary written by me. The SRUTI Editors, and the owners of India Archive Music encouraged me to recast the knowledge-base I had created in the form of books. The manuscript of my first book “Hindustani Music – a tradition in transition” was accepted by DK Printworld, New Delhi and published in January 2005. Then came “Khayal Vocalism – Continuity within change” in 2009, and “Hindustani Music Today” in 2012.  My fourth book “The Raga-ness of Raga-s” is scheduled for release by June-July 2014. The fifth book, written partially under a Senior Research Fellowship of the Ministry of culture, Government of India, is likely to be published by end-2015.

Not having trained as a musicologist, I could never address the academic community in a language that it respected. My stance, as a writer on music, could only be that of a serious student of music – at best a connoisseur -- sharing his understanding of the tradition with other seekers of knowledge and insight.  Despite this, it appears that the content and style of my writings have come to appeal -- in varying degrees -- to both these segments. Access to connoisseurs is the more gratifying of the two because they engage actively with the performing tradition, and are a part of the quality control mechanism that regulates the art.

By any financial yardstick, music has been a loss-making department of life. This seems a small price to pay for the credit side, which is unquantifiable… and priceless.

Prof. SK Saxena. pioneering aesthetician of Hindustani music

This essay is now published in my book: