Raga Jaitashree: A primary raga or a compound?

Jaitashree an averagely well-known raga performed around sunset, and popularised primarily by vocalists of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana in the latter half of the 20th century. In pre-20th century texts, it has also been called Jaishree or Jayantashree, and described as a variant of Shree. Authoritative texts on raga grammar differ on whether this raga is an independent primary raga, or a compound of raga-s Jait and Shree. Bhatkhande, however, recognises that there exists a practice of using Shuddha Dh (instead of komal) in the raga, which suggests the influence of raga Jait.

On the authority of Bhatkhande and Vinayak Rao Patwardhan, the raga’s scale may be documented as follows:

Ascent: S G P N S’ 
Descent: r’ N d P M^ G r S. 

Predominant contemporary practice would suggest:

Ascent: S G P S’ 
Descent: r’ N d P M^ G r S. 

According to Bhatkhande, either Ga or Pa could qualify for the status of the vadi (primary dominant) in the raga. There is no reference in major texts to the probable Samvadi (secondary dominant).

On the same authority, the chalan (skeletal phraseology)is documented here:  

S G G P or G r S G/ P d M^ G/ M P N S’ or d P S/ S’ G’ r’ S’/ N r N d P/ P M^ d M^ G/ M^ G r S. 

The contemporary treatment of Jaitashree suggests two distinct approaches. One is a formalistic blend of Jait in the ascent, with Shree in the descent. This is evident in the rendition of Ulhas Kashalkar (EMI/HMV: STCS-850267), and an unpublished recording of his Guru, Gajanan Rao Joshi. In this formal approach, the stark Jait ascent (S-G-P-S) is meticulously preserved, allowing the heptatonic phrasing of Shree to surface only in the descent.

The other is a less formal blend of the two ragas, evident in renditions of Kishori Amonkar (BMG-Crescendo:50578) and Vijaya Jadhav-Gatlewar (Music Today: A-92064). In this version, phrases from Shree are also used occasionally in the ascent, and phrasing typical of Puriya Dhanashree is allowed to occur in the mid-octave region. This latter blend also features certain phrases like S-M^-P and S-G-M^-P, which are neither clearly Jait, nor clearly Shree.

While musicological texts may be reluctant to acknowledge the compound character of this raga, the aural experience of the raga, as currently performed, has unmistakable features of Jait as well as Shree.And, it is fair that devices used for blending the two raga-s be examined.

In this context, the recordings of Kishori and Vijaya do raise issues about the universal applicability of the Jaipur-Atrauli method of structuring compound ragas. In this method, alternating phrases from the component  ragas are rendered sequentially and often in a dovetailed manner, in order to shape the melodic personality of the compound raga. This is, indeed, very cerebral and produces very enigmatic melodic entities most of the time. However, in rare cases -- such as Jaitashree -- this approach can lead to the unintended entry of alien phrasing, even if only momentarily. Such apparitions would seem to compromise the melodic integrity and individuality of the resulting melodic experience.

In comparison to the Jaipur-Atrauli style complex blend, the formalistic blend evident in the recordings of Ulhas and Gajanan Buwa sounds far more coherent, distinctive, and convincing. Besides, the resulting melodic entity has a far clearer identity of its own, independent of Jait as well as Shree.

Deepak S. Raja
(c) India Archive Music, New York, the finest producers of Hindustani music recordings. 

Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur (1910-1992)

Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur was amongst leading Khayal vocalists of the post-independence period, and the only significant male vocalist to have been trained by the founding family of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana.

THE GHARANA

ALLADIYA KHAN

The lineage regards Ustad Alladiya Khan, belonging to a family of Dhrupad vocalists practicing the Dagar Bani style, as the founder of its khayal vocalism. He was trained by his uncles, Daulat Khan, and Jehangir Khan. Alladiya Khan also admitted the profound influence of Mubarak Ali Khan, a vocalist of the Gwalior gharana who once served the Jaipur court.

The spread of the gharana’s style was greatly helped by his brother, Hyder Khan, who was also trained by their uncles. Both the brothers had gifted sons, who also disseminated the style of the gharana. Outside the founding family, the two most distinguished exponents of the Alladiya/ Jaipur-Atrauli gharana were Kesarbai Kerkar [1892-1977], trained by Alladiya himself, and Mogubai Kurdikar [1904-2001], trained by Alladiya Khan, and probably also by Hyder Khan. In the same generation, was also a great, but forgotten, vocalist, Lakshmibai Jadhav, who was trained by Hyder Khan. In the following generation, the most famous exponent of the gharana was a migrant from the Gwalior tradition, Mallikarjun Mansoor [1910-1992]. In the succeeding generation, Mogubai’s daughter, Kishori Amonkar, gave a new direction to Jaipur-Atrauli vocalism to emerge as the queen of Khayal vocalism.

Beyond the second generation, disciples, rather than descendants of the founding family, have kept the tradition alive. Alladiya Khan, his brother, sons and nephew became highly sought-after as teachers because of their sophisticated style, and the rarity and complexity of their raga-s. An aura of elitism developed around the Alladiya Khan style, and attracted mature musicians trained in other gharana-s. It is remarkable that, despite permitting migration from other gharana-s into its fold, the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana managed to maintain its distinctive flavour for at least three generations. Another interesting feature of the gharana is that, though founded by male vocalists, it has remained overwhelmingly dominated by female vocalists.

JAIPUR-ATRAULI STYLISTICS

According to Vamanrao Deshpande, the principal features of the Jaipur-Atrauli style are subtlety and complexity in all departments. The gharana has perfected the technique of linking swaras in a manner that reveals their individual beauty along with their role in phrasing appropriate to a raga. The melodic contours are distinctive for their curvilinear form, moving in loops. The tempo is moderate, and the melody is accompanied by a rhythmic swing. The melody and the rhythm are constantly in state of play with each other, though in fractions of beats. In its totality, Deshpande considers the orthodox Jaipur-Atrauli style high brow, and akin to a  musical bank for musicians.

PANDIT MALLIKARJUN MANSUR

Mansur’s music represented a confluence of three influential musical traditions. In childhood, he was trained in Carnatic music. In his youth, he studied under one of the stalwarts of the Gwalior tradition. And, finally, he migrated to the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana, to achieve great success and distinction as an exponent of its unique style.

He did not have either an authoritative voice, or an imposing stage personality. He was a picture of simplicity, and humility, totally focused on his music. A man of deep spirituality, and spartan lifestyle, he made his impact by the mastery of his art, and seriousness of purpose. He had spent so large a part of his life as a virtual nobody that, when he finally became somebody, it no longer mattered to him.

By some conspiracy of circumstance, Mallikarjun had to wait till 60 to convert his musicianship into a career. Late though recognition was in coming, it was generous. Mallikarjun was decorated by the President of India with a Padma Shri, the Padma Bhushan, and the Padma Vibhushan. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, an Honorary Doctorate of the Karnataka University, the Kalidas Samman of the MP government, and a nomination to the Karnataka State Legislative Council.

Childhood and grooming

Pandit Mallikarjun Mansur was born in a family of musicians at Mansur in Dharwad district of Karnataka state. His father was deeply involved with Kannada musical drama, and his brother was a member of a theatre troupe. At the age of eight, Mallikarjun quit school, and joined his brother’s troupe as a singer-actor. He became extremely popular in juvenile mythological roles as Dhruva, and Pralhad.

His first music teacher was Appayya Swamy, a vocalist, violinist and playwright in the service of the theatre company. Swamy taught Mallikarjun the basics of Carnatic music. Later, while touring with his theatre company, Mallikarjun had the opportunity of performing on stage before the Gwalior gharana stalwart, Nilkanthbuwa Alurmath. Alurmath was impressed by young Mallikarjun, and persuaded him to concentrate on serious music. Mallikarjun’s employers volunteered to pay Alurmath’s fees of Rs. 100 per month – a princely sum in those days -- for training Mallikarjun. After six years of rigorous training under Alurmath (age 12-18), Mallikarjun left the theatre company and moved to Bombay in search of a career and a Guru who would illuminate the path ahead.

During his early travels with theatre groups, Mallikarjun had heard the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana founder, Ustad Alladiya Khan, and wanted desperately to learn from him. Lacking in confidence to approach the great man, he obtained an introduction to his son, Manji Khan. After hearing the two 78 rpm discs Mallikarjun had released, Manji Khan accepted him as a disciple.However, Mallikarjun’s apprenticeship with Manji Khan ended within two years due to the mentor’s untimely demise in 1937.

The logical step thereafter was for him to continue studies with Manji Khan’s brother, Bhurji Khan, who was a classicist and an outstanding teacher. This apprenticeship lasted almost 10 years, during which Mallikarjun mastered the Dhrupad-based style of Alladiya Khan, and his repertoire of rare, complex, and esoteric raga-s along with the familiar ones. By his own claim, Mallikarjun had mastered 125 raga-s by the time he completed his tutelage with Bhurji Khan.

Towards the end of his life, he wrote a transparently candid autobiography in Kannada “Nanna Rasa Yatre” (My emotional journey). The work was written, according to him, as an expression of gratitude to his Gurus, and later translated into English by his son, Rajshekhar as "Rasa Yatra".

In the profession 

Mallikarjun spent the prime of his life unable to convert his musicianship into a viable performing career. According to some accounts, his mother and wife managed the household with considerable ingenuity. He continued to broadcast over All India Radio, worked with the recording company, HMV, for a few years as a producer, and spent almost ten years as Music Advisor to the Dharwad station of All India Radio. These commitments kept him geographically grounded, and unable to create a following through concert appearances in different parts of the country until he was almost 60. Fortunately, his austere and disciplined lifestyle had kept him sufficiently fit and musically active to reap the rewards of late success.

In March 1969, Kamal Singh, the thumree and ghazal singer, invited Mansur to perform at a Sangeet Mehfil in Bombay. At this concert, the music world almost re-discovered Mallikarjun Mansur, after which he did not look back. He soon acquired national stature and popularity, which he retained until he could sing no more.

In addition to his redoubtable musicianship, the rediscovery of Mallikarjun at the age of 60 was probably aided by several environmental factors. In the 1970s, the stage was being taken over by the romanticists who were busy shedding the formal aloofness of khayal vocalism, and reaching out to larger audiences  – Kumar Gandharva, Kishori Amonkar, and Jasraj.  The towering male vocalists from the pre-independence era, steeped in orthodoxy, had mostly either retired or departed by 1970. Of the two remaining stalwarts, Ameer Khan departed in 1974, leaving Bhimsen Joshi as the sole significant orthodox survivor from that era. The post-independence generation of vocalists had yet to make a mark on the music scene.

Something of a vacuum appeared to exist in the orthodox segment of khayal vocalism, as also in male vocalism. In this environment, Mallikarjun had the additional advantage of being an exponent of Jaipur-Atrauli gharana, which still had a following nostalgic with memories of Kesarbai Kerkar, Mogubai Kurdikar and Lakshmibai Jadhav. The emergence of an outstanding male singer from this hitherto female dominated gharana in that environment was bound to be received with the enthusiasm that it did.

Musicianship

Mallikarjun Mansur had a high-pitched tenor voice, which lacked the depth of Ameer Khan and the authority of Bhimsen Joshi, but impressed with its charming vibrancy and sincerity. It had withstood the ravages of time well, and he could use it effectively in two octaves without loss of musical value almost till the end of his performing career.

He was justifiably admired for his vast repertoire of raga-s in khayal vocalism, as well as Nayasangeet and devotional songs in Kannada as well as Marathi. His khayal repertoire featured a judicious mix of rare raga-s like Basanti Kedar, Nat Bihag, or Khat, moderately uncommon raga-s like Sughrai, Kukup Bilawal, or Kamod, and popular raga-s like Yaman Kalyan, Deshkar, and Adana. His vilambit and madhyalaya khayal bandish-es were mostly drawn from the Jaipur-Atrauli tradition, while his drut khayal bandish-es were often from other gharana-s.

The most striking feature of Mansur’s music is immediacy with which it grips the audience. Mansur required no gradual build-up of the raga mood with a prelude alap before he launched the bandish-es. He could jump straight into percussion-accompanied music at almost any tempo, and establish an instant rapport with the audience. This direct, even dramatic, feature of his music perhaps went back to his childhood and youth as a singer-actor in the theatre. It was, incidentally, also suited to the orthodox Jaipur-Atrauli style of compact khayal rendition.

Mansur believed that his short, two-year training with Manji Khan of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana had left the deepest impact on his style. It is debatable whether this exposure overshadowed his later and longer training with Bhurji Khan of the same gharana, or even erased all traces of Gwalior vocalism he had absorbed during his formative years. In its totality, however, he remained close enough to orthodox Jaipur-Atrauli stylistics for other members of the gharana to acknowledge him as one of their own.

© Deepak S. Raja 2011

Raga Kedar: abandoning the austere form

Kedar is amongst the most popular post-sunset ragas. The raga belongs to the Kalyan thaat, and within it, to the sub-group that permits twin-Ma usage - shuddh and tivra (sharp). Other popular ragas in this sub-group are Hameer, Chhayanat, Kamod, Nand and Behag. Although the contemporary raga is relatively non-controversial, it has an interesting history which impinges upon its contemporary performance.

Scholarly literature suggests that, not long ago, the raga was probably pentatonic (S R M P D) in the Bilawal that (parent scale). Subsequent melodic enhancements have made the raga hyper-heptatonic (S R G M M^ P D n N S’) in the Kalyan thaat.

Chalan (Contemporary):
S R S / S M / M G P / M^ P D P M / M^ P S' (or) DD P S' (or) M^ P D N S' / N S' D N D P (or) S' DD P / D M^ P M / M S R S (or) G M R S (or) M R R S 

The raga revolves around the Sa-Ma axis. A mature musician can bring Kedar to life, with just three sweeping intonations: S-M, M-P, P-S'. I have heard the late Sarangi maestro, Abdul Lateef Khan do this with stunning impact.

Writing in the first quarter of the 20th century, Bhatkhande provides detailed guidelines for the skilful handling of the swara enhancements that Kedar has "recently" accepted. The purpose of these guidelines would appear to be to subject the austere (probably pentatonic) image of the traditional raga form to as small a compromise as possible. The Bhatkande guidelines suggest that the recent enhancements have probably regularised the involuntary intonations that crept into the rendition of the raga in the process of seeking the convenience of easier rendition. As in the case of many other ragas, these conveniences relate to eliminating the repetitions of some swaras, and narrowing the intervals between adjacent swaras as represented in the traditional, austere, form.

Thus, at the lower end of the ascent, S-M-M-P, became S-M-G-P; and PP-D-P-M gave way to M^-P-D-P-M. The traditional antara ascent P-P-S' was replaced by M^-P-S' or M^-P-D-N-S'. In the descent, S'-D-D-P yielded to S'-D-N-D-P, and M-S-R-S was replaced by M-G-M-R-S or M-R-S.

By its very name, raga Kedar is associated with Lord Shiva, the Destroyer, a formidable deity of ascetic temperament. As such, the raga is considered to be amongst the more profound ragas of the Hindustani system. In order to preserve its profundity, the musician is required to present it with a certain reverence and deliberateness. This prescription is confirmed by the raga's complex vakra [zigzag] phraseology, which would suffer a degree of "flattening out" at higher levels of swara-density.

The contemporary Kedar would be unconvincing as a representation of the daunting Lord Shiva. Apparently, the melodic enhancements have progressively diluted the raga's austere aural image, and allowed it to drift towards prodnounced Lalitya --a romantic/sensual experience.

Deepak S. Raja 
(c) India Archive Music, New York, producers of the finest recordings of Raga Kedar. 

Indra Kishore Mishra: The vintage flavour of Dhrupad

How much Dhrupad is there in contemporary Dhrupad? Connoisseurs with a taste for such conundrums will find plenty of grist for their mill in the music of Indra Kishore Mishra. While the established Dhrupad lineages re-engineer the medieval genre as a global brand, Indra Kishore (Born: 1957) struggles for acceptance of a style zealously insulated against change for over three centuries in a remote corner of India. Combating geographic isolation and generations of oblivion, Indra Kishore has established himself, and his Bettiah gharana (stylistic lineage) of Dhrupad, on India’s musical map. The Indian Dhrupad “establishment” treats him with respect. But, the recent revival in the fortunes of the genre has, so far, left him relatively untouched. With the visibility gains from CDs published in the West, he may yet ensure the durability of his unique style.

Indra Kishore’s ancestors migrated from the Mughal court, in the 17th century, to the patronage of Bettiah (District Champaran in Bihar) on the India-Nepal border. The Bettiah aristocracy was committed to preserving traditional musical forms and modes of rendition. According to a leading scholar, the Bettiah Dhrupad lineage was originally the fountainhead of the Dhrupad tradition in the entire Eastern region of India, including Bengal.

When the princely family was dispossessed, Bettiah musicians had to pitch their art in the emerging marketplace against the more visible lineages – the Dagars and the Malliks/ Tiwaris of Darbhanga. Indra Kishore took up the challenge after his father, Mahant Mishra, waged only a half-hearted battle for recognition. While ascending the ladder of the profession, Indra Kishore also confronts the daunting task of making his anachronistic style acceptable to contemporary audiences.

The music of Indra Kishore Mishra 

The observations here are based on attendance at concerts and a study of two CDs recorded by Indra Kishore for foreign recording companies. In 1994, Makar Records, a Paris-based recording company released his CD with raga Bageshri (Alap, Dhrupads in Chautal and Jhaptal, a Sulatal bandish and a Tarana in Adi tala) and raga Pancham (Alap and Chaturang in Tivratala). The other CD under review was recorded for India Archive Music, New York and features raga Chandrakauns (Alap, Dhrupad in Chautal, a Sulatal bandish, and a Tillana in Teental and raga Megh (Alap and Sulatal bandish).

The two CDs emphasise the centrality of the bandish-es to the musical ideology of the gharana. Each CD features the main raga with three and even four bandish-es. The variety in bandish-es deserves a remark. The two CDs feature bandish-es in Chautal, Jhaptal, Sulatal, Tivratal and even Teental. The repertoire includes a Tillana (Tarana), generally scoffed at by rival Dhrupad gharana-s because of its alleged association with dance, which was once considered an "inferior" art. Indra Kishore’s repertoire also includes a Chaturang, a rare compositional form, which combines four forms of articulation – poetry, percussion sound symbols, sargam, and meaningless consonants. The repertoire of the rival dhrupad gharanas seems, in comparison, restricted.

To have been the mainstream genre, Dhrupad would have needed, in its heyday, to be much richer in terms of variety than it now is. Like Khayal today, it could have embraced several minor genres, which shared its stylistic predilections, but differed in other ways. A good example of such genres is the Tillana/ Tarana, which has evidently remained a satellite to the mainstream genre through the Dhrupad as well as Khayal eras. It is therefore possible that Indra Kishore’s lineage preserved the variety, while others did not.

Where Dhrupad begins and where it ends is an  irrelevant debate for the music lover. Indra Kishore need not be considered a specialist performer of the Dhrupad genre as currently understood by most people. He is a performer of medieval music. He sings several of the genres that his family has preserved for over three centuries. It just so happens that the currently identifiable Dhrupad was the mainstream genre three centuries ago, and is also the mainstay of his repertoire.

True to his medieval moorings, Indra Kishore’s treatment of raga -s is often archaic. His Megh is rendered to the Vrindavani Sarang scale, with twin-Ni usage, rather than the contemporary Madhmat Sarang scale with only Komal Ni. In Bageshri, he makes explicit use of the R-g-M phrase considered highly questionable in contemporary music. His use of Pa in Bageshri is more explicit than is currently advised. For the discerning listener, the dissonance caused by these issues is transient because of his firm grip over raga grammar. The average listener may, however, be confused by unfamiliar melodic contours. In some cases, the nomenclature of raga-s can also cause discomfort. The raga Indra Kishore calls Pancham is today better known as Bhinna Shadja or Kaushik Dhwani. The name “Pancham”, on the other hand, is today recognised either as the old name for the modern raga Hemant, or a rare and entirely dissimilar raga of the Marwa parent scale.

As a musical experience, Indra Kishore’s alap is radically different from Dagar and Darbhanga renditions. His alap conforms to the principle of steady escalation of melodic density and pulsation. But, unlike the popular Dhrupad styles, Indra Kishore’s alap does not follow the three-tier structure of vilambit, madhyalaya and drut alaps. His alap does not have a strictly anarhythmic prelude in vilambit laya. A subtle pulsation of melody is evident from the very beginning. As the alap progresses, the pulsation becomes more categorical and more brisk through several stages of escalation. Even at the highest level of swara-density, however, it does not match the density of the drut alap encountered in the Dagar tradition.

His alap is, in effect, a single piece of seamless pulsating melody, with a sthayi and an antara incorporated into each stage of escalation. The seamless quality is enhanced by the omission of the Mohra, a signatory phrase of the raga conventionally rendered as a separator between the various stages of alap presentation in the Dhrupad tradition.

The melodic treatment of his alap is also interestingly unfamiliar. Although it features the “nom -tom” articulation commonly found in Dhrupad alaps, the melodic contours he defines have a lyrical quality strongly suggestive of a song being sung, but with the poetic element missing. This seems to impart to his alap a story-telling intimacy, rich in emotional meaning. This feature suggests a possibility that the melodic component of the alap is actually assembled from fragments of bandish-es. Indra Kishore’s alap possibly harks back to the early days of Dhrupad as an art form. At that stage, before the alap evolved as an independently conceived solo movement, it may have relied on fragments of pre-composed Pada-s to satisfy the need for an abstract (improvised, tala-neutral and poetry-free) exposition of the raga form.

While the rival Dhrupad gharana-s frequently perform only two stanzas of traditional Dhrupad bandish-es, Indra Kishore’s bandish -es, in Chautal as well as Jhaptal, feature four stanzas – sthayi, antara, sanchari and abhog. Indra Kishore renders the four parts of the bandish strictly in sequence, several times over, with tremendous emotional involvement, but without any melodic or rhythmic improvisations. This poetry-based approach imbues his renditions with an emotionally charged quality, which is in contrast to the aloofness characteristic of bandish renditions in the rival gharanas of Dhrupad.

The ideological restriction on improvisations focuses musical/ creative energies on the communication of poetic meaning by preventing their diversion towards the cleverness of melodic-rhythmic design. This is why Indra Kishore’s bandish renditions have an endearing quality not encountered too often in familiar manifestations of Dhrupad.

The fast-tempo bandish-es in the minor tala-s, such as Sul or Tivra, or Adi, exhibit a greater sense of artistic freedom in rendition. He may either render them, like Dhrupad bandish-es, with just the repetitive iteration of the pre-composed form at a steadily increasing tempo, or decide to display his mastery over rhythmic improvisations. In these bandish-es, he makes generous use of tihais (a melodic-poetic phrase articulated thrice in a row to create a rhythmic impact), and dogun (enunciation of the bandish at twice the pre-composed pace) iterations, and more complex forms of layakari (play with rhythm). However, even at the fastest tempo, the poetic form is not allowed to degenerate into meaningless articulation.

Indra Kishore presents contemporary audiences with an unfamiliar model of music making within the Dhrupad genre. As music, it offers the entire range of aesthetic experiences from the devotional to the titillating. Despite its archaic features, his is a highly cultivated art. It is sparse on artifice and exploding with emotional energy. It comes straight from the heart and goes straight to the heart. This quality – perennially relevant to music --may have the potential to circumvent the obstacles to Indra Kishore’s success.

This, however, is an “Indian” viewpoint --discerning of musicianship per se, without genre-based preferences or prejudices, and accepting of stylistic diversity between lineages performing the same genre. Considering that Dhrupad’s constituency today is substantially outside India, such appreciation amongst Indians constitutes no assurance of success for Indra Kishore.

The genre that Western audiences recognize today as the “real” or “authentic” Dhrupad is no longer “Padashrita” (poetry -driven) and “Swarashrita” ( melody-driven) – as originally conceived – but Swarashrita and Layashrita (rhythm-driven). Dhrupad is, indeed, being globalized in order to service its trans-continental market.

Indra Kishore’s music, pegged to the poetic -melodic axis, is pitted against this reality. Notwithstanding his formidable musicianship and the richness of his repertoire, he remains on the fringes of the Dhrupad revival. If his style should drift into oblivion after him, Dhrupad will have lost some of the stylistic variety it still presents in a fast homogenising musical culture.

Deepak S Raja 2004
(c) India Archive Music, New York, producers of the finest recordings of Indra Kishore Mishra. 

Manjiri Asnare Kelkar – “The concert is still the real thing”

Introduction: Manjiri Asnare-Kelkar (born: 1971) was selected by the Sangeet Natak Akademi for the first Bismillah Khan Memorial Award for Young Musicians in early 2007. A few years earlier, India Today hailed hers as the “voice that spans not merely two octaves, but two centuries”. She became a broadcaster on All India Radio at the age of 16, after topping its nationwide talent-search, and currently occupies the “A” grade. She holds post-graduate degrees in English Literature and Music. In less than a decade, she has established a significant presence on the Indian concert platform, acquired a following abroad, and released five commercial recordings.

Manjiri spoke to Deepak Raja on June 3, 2003

My family is deeply involved with music. My grandfather was an Attorney in Amravati (a town in north-eastern Maharashtra state), and an excellent tabla player. He belonged to the Gyan Prakash Ghosh lineage. The family home was never without music and musicians. Because of my grandfather’s love for music, my father also got involved. He trained as a Tabla player and, in his youth, stood first in the All India Radio national talent search competition.

I was brought up in Sangli (southern Maharashtra), where my father served as a professor. He still performs regularly on All India Radio and, of course, accompanies me whenever he can. He was keen that I should study music. When I was five, I was sent to a music school to learn singing. Simultaneously, I was sent to a dancing school to study Kathak. By the age of eight, I was admitted to the best music school in Sangli run by Chintubuwa Mhaiskar, a Gwalior trained vocalist.

I did well in both. By the age of ten, I could hold the dance floor comfortably for upto 90 minutes, and was winning dance competitions all over the state. At the music school, I was identified for personalised attention and guidance from Chintubuwa. By then, I was also teaching myself a little bit. I had become a fan of Malini Rajurkar, especially her Tappa renderings. So, I bought her cassettes, painstakingly took down the notations, and perfected them by rote. By the time I was fifteen, I could present a decent 30-minte Khayal, started winning competitions and being invited to perform. The time had come to choose between music and dance. Quality dance training was available only in Bombay or Pune. Pursuing dance after marriage and children is always a big uncertainty in our society. So, I dropped dance, and stuck to music.

I hit the crossroads again at the age of 17, when I graduated from high school, and secured admission to engineering college. That would have ruled out any significant achievement in music. But the path to music, too, was uncertain, as there was no top class mentor within reach. Hoping that this problem would get solved, I abandoned engineering in favour of music. The problem did get solved soon when Madhusudan Kanetkar (affectionately called Appa) retired from All India Radio and returned home to Sangli. Like all Jaipur-Atrauli vocalists, he was known to be very selective about accepting students, and had so far accepted none. He heard me and agreed to a trial period of six months. That was 15 years ago. Five years ago he moved to Pune, and, around the same time, I moved to Nashik after my marriage. But, my training continues. While we were in Sangli, I trained with him twice a day for two to three hours in each session. After relocation, either he visits us for a month at a time, or I visit him for three or four days at a time.

Learning with Appa was a major transition. I had, by then, studied music for almost 13 years. My basics were sound, but I had no clue about stylised singing with a stamp of gharana pedigree. Within a month of starting lessons, I was totally lost. I had unlearnt what I knew earlier, and was struggling for a grip over what I was now being taught. One day, I broke down before Appa. He said that my learning would now begin since I realised I knew nothing. He was right. After that, my music sorted itself out quite fast.

Appa is an unorthodox teacher. He believes that I have to sing my own music in my own voice. He merely wishes to give me an approach, which must inevitably wither away as my musical vision takes over. He never insists that my music be exactly like his, or even conform to the orthodox Jaipur-Atrauli style. He insists I study the great vocalists of all gharanas, observe their special features, and adopt what I like. He encourages me to sing many raga-s, which are not sung in our gharana, but are popular today. He locates good bandish-es in them, sets them to our style, and teaches me how to handle them. He does the same for raga-s performed in our gharana, but for which drut bandish-es were not composed in his time. He does not give any importance to a musician being able to sing a hundred raga-s. What is important is that a raga’s boundaries, and the frame of a bandish, be treated as sacred. His training emphasises the spirit of the raga-s, and of bandish-es, so that I may capture their musical potential in rendition.

Even my semi-classical repertoire has been developed under Appa’s guidance. He believes that I should remain actively involved with light music because that will add to the emotional richness to my classical renditions. I was interested in Tappa-s. So, he compiled a repertoire for me, and taught me how to handle each bandish. I loved Natya-sangeet. So, he studied that genre, and guides me on rendition. He has also studied and taught me Thumrees. But, I have performed them only on a limited scale because I am not yet entirely comfortable with the genre. Holding audience interest with unstructured melody, without the support of raga grammar, and at ultra slow tempo, is tougher than it seems. But, I am working on it.

I have never felt that Appa’s lack of performing experience is a handicap for me. For one, although he never sings in public, his music in private gatherings is charismatic. Secondly, in his career as a broadcaster, he has interacted closely enough with the greatest musicians of all gharanas to understand the niceties of relating to audiences and building a career. Yes, I do make occasional mistakes in judging audiences, and deciding what to sing. This cannot be blamed on my Guru. This risk is a part of a musician’s life, and each musician has to manage it in his own unique way.

In addition to the obvious aspects of professional risk, there are some inscrutable risks, too. There are some venues where I seem to repeatedly perform well, and others where I feel consistently uninspired. This has nothing to do with the acoustics, or audience profiles, or with anything one can explain. Isn’t it the same with temples? Some nondescript temples transport you instantly into a different world, while some magnificent ones leave you cold! Some concert halls seem vibrant with musical energy, while others seem sterile.

When I observe such patterns, I sympathise with our traditional belief that the performing arts have their own presiding deity (Ranga-devata), which has blessed some concert platforms, and frowned upon others – why this should be so, nobody has ever told me, and I have not asked. The notion of Ranga-devata helps us to come to terms with every risk to the success of a performance that we cannot understand. Once you are in the profession, you perform wherever you are invited, say your prayers to Ranga-devata, calm your nerves, and begin.

I am often asked how my training in dance helps my career as a vocalist. The obvious aspect of this is my command over the rhythmic element in music. My music Gurus have been saved a lot of effort because of this. The less obvious advantage is my understanding of body language, and what it does for my stage presence. It is not knowledge I can consciously use; but it is there, and it is working. Even though we reach more people today through recordings than concerts, the concert is still the real thing.

(c) Deepak S. Raja. 2003
Read a detailed profile of the artist in: "Khayal Vocalism: Continuity within Change".
The finest recordings of Manjiri Asnare Kelkar have been produced by India Archive Music Ltd. New York. IndiaArcMu@aol.com

Raga Miya-ki Todi.... reluctant differentiation

Miya-ki Todi, also known as, Todi, Darbari Todi, and sometimes Shuddha Todi, is amongst the more popular morning ragas of Hindustani music. The raga also represents the Todi parent scale of Hindustani music, corresponding to the Shubhapantuvarali Mela of the Carnatic (South Indian) system. The raga derives its name from its association with the legendary musician, Miya Tansen (16th century)

It is a raga of considerable antiquity, documented in textual sources by the name of Varali, Varati, or occasionally, Varati-Todi. The prescribed time for the raga is the first three-hour slot after sunrise. Its character is profound, and its essential mood is somber. Despite this, the raga has attained a decent presence in the classicist as well as romanticist genres of Hindustani music.

Bhatkhande (died: 1937), the earliest modern commentator on the raga, documents the raga as heptatonic in the ascent (S-r-g-M^-P-d-N-S’) as well the descent (S’-N-d-P-M^-g-r-S). Reflecting the practice of his times, he reports several interpretations of the raga with respect to the dominant tones. He pronounces (komal) Dh as vadi (primary dominant); but acknowledges, with disapproval, the fact that some musicians accord this status to (komal) Ga. According to him, (komal) Ga, along with (komal) Re are candidates for the status of samvadi (secondary dominant). By this logic, the raga’s centre of gravity will fall in the upper tetrachord.

Bhatkhande (Bhatkhande Sangeet Shastra, Vol. IV, 2nd Edition. 1970. Sangeet Karyalaya, Hathras) distinguishes Miya-ki Todi from its closest sibling, Gujri Todi by a very simple discriminant. The removal of Pa from Miy-ki Todi makes it Gujri Todi. He acknowledges the attempt to differentiate the two ragas also by their respective centers of melodic gravity, with Gujri being anchored in the Purvanga (lower tetrachord); but he does not see this distinction being practiced by his contemporaries. Implicitly, and even explicitly, Bhatkhande allows for considerable latitude in phrasing, with no threat to the distinctive melodic character of the raga.

About half a century later, Subbarao (Raga Nidhi, Vol. IV, 4th Edition, 1996, 1st edition: 1965. Music Academy, Madras) acknowledges two variants of the raga. One is hexatonic in the ascent (S-r-g-M^-d-N-S’), and heptatonic in the descent.  The other is similar to Bhatkhande’s description, heptatonic in both directions. In both variants, Subbarao prescribes a very sparing use of Pa, and only in the descent, almost suggesting one phrase (M^-d-P) as the only permissible usage.

Subbarao regards (komal) Re, (komal) Ga and (komal) Dh as important melodic centers of the raga, but is non-committal about the vadi-samvadi pair. He reverses Bhatkhande’s notions regarding the respective centres of gravity of the two sibling ragas – Miya-ki Todi, according to him is anchored in the Purvanga, while Gujri Todi is centred in the Uttaranga. Consistent with this, he attributes to Gujri Todi the vadi-samvadi pair (Dh and Ga/Re) that Bhatkhande had ascribed to Miya-ki Todi.

Writing another quarter of a century later, Manikbuwa Thakurdas (Raga Darshan, Vol I, 1st edition. 1987. Krishna Brothers, Ajmer) agrees with Bhatkhande on the tone material – heptatonic in both directions – and with Subbarao on the sparing use of Pa, mainly in the descent. His identification of the vadi-samvadi pair does not, however, entirely resolve the problem of raga differentiation with respect to Gujri Todi. He pronounces (komal) Ga and (komal) Dh as vadi-samvadi of Miya-ki Todi, while permitting Gujri Todi to be performed with the same set of dominants. He does, of course, admit that Gujri Todi is also acceptable with the roles reversed -- (komal) Dh as vadi and (komal) Ga as samvadi.

An important feature of Miya-ki Todi, acknowledged by all authorities is the special emphasis on (komal) Re and (komal) Ga in the raga. Their documentation formalizes the use of suppressed frequencies of these two swaras.

There is, indeed, an evolutionary trend in these writings, as they appear to seek a sharper progressive differentiation between Miya-ki Todi, and Gujri Todi. The diversity in practice, however, militates against a categorical differentiation.  This has obliged authorities to unanimously acknowledge the robustness of the raga, and differentiate it from Gujri Todi almost entirely by the sparing deployment of the Pa swara.

The only other risk of confusion worthy of mention, despite being insignificant, is with respect to Multani, which deploys identical tone material. Multani has a distinct scale with a hexatonic ascent (SgM^PNS’), has three jumps and loops in the descent (S’N/ PdP /gM^g /SrS), and deploys two pivotal swaras of Miya-ki Todi and Gujri Todi – (komal) Re and  (komal) Dh – only subliminally.

The robust melodic character of Miya-ki Todi would explain why it has become immensely popular across genres of music in the North as well the South. This also explains why the Todi family has proliferated, with its distinctive melodic features being modified to shape several variants – such as Lachari Todi, Bahaduri Todi, Bilaskhani Todi, Phirozekhani Todi, Ahiri Todi, Hussaini Todi, Laxmi Todi.

The skeletal phraseology of the raga may best be documented conforming to the Bhatkhande prescription, because it is the most liberal, and legitimizes the diversity of contemporary practice. It will be noticed that the prescription permits deployment of the Pa swara in both directions, while also allowing its total omission in either.

Chalan (Skeletal phraseology).
N. N. S r g / r g r / r g M^ P or r g M^ g P/ g M^ d P / M^ g M^ d / N d P / d d  N S’ [or] M^ d N S’/ N S’ r’ g’ r’/ d N S’ r’ g’ / r’ g’ r’ S’/ N r’ N d P / M^ P d M^ g [or] N d M^ g / r g r S

Though the reluctant differentiation between Gujri Todi and Miya-ki Todi may be more widely practiced today, we need to accept that the categorical and the reluctant have both been in practice for at least a century.

Deepak S. Raja
(c) India Archive Music, New York. Producers of the finest recordings of Raga Miya-ki-Todi.

Girija Devi: The queen of Benares

For over a century now, the Benares Hall of Fame has read like the “Who’s who” of Hindustani music. The latest addition to it is Girija Devi. Born in 1929, she is amongst the most distinguished vocalists of our times, and the reigning queen of the Benares tradition of Thumree and allied genres. In a career spanning almost six decades, she has charmed three generations of Indian music lovers. In the 1990s, she started performing abroad, and acquired an enthusiastic following in Europe and North America.

Two Indian universities have conferred D.Litt degrees on her. She has been decorated with the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1978), and the Padma Shri (1973) and Padma Bhushan (1989). The Grand Dame of the Thumree has served a long stint as a Guru at the ITC Sangeet Research Academy in Calcutta, and continues to guide students at the institution.

The acknowledgment of Girija Devi as the greatest living exponent of the semi-classical genres, though well deserved, probably underrates her stature. The phenomenon has its roots in the prejudice against the courtesan culture of Northern India, which nourished the romanticist genres. In its contemporary garb, the bias seeks to portray the semi-classical genres as inferior demands on musicianship, and berates the Khayal renditions of the Thumree singers.

Like most rationalisations of prejudice, this one may not withstand scrutiny. Many specialist Thmuree singers recorded 78 RPM discs of Khayal during the pre-independence period, in addition to their semi-classical repertoire. And, HMV, then a monopoly, would not have published their Khayals had they not been acceptable to the audiences of that era as being on par with those of Khayal singers.

In the emerging paucity of specialist Thumree performers after independence, Girija Devi could have comfortably forgotten all about the Khayal and encashed her scarcity premium. Instead, she struggled successfully to restore to the Benares tradition its prestige as a reservoir of multi-dimensional musicianship.

I make these observations based on a study of about seven hours of her music spread over a sufficiently long period to enable defensible inferences. The sample includes  renditions of Khayal, Tappa, Tarana, and pieces of semi-classical genres such as Thumree, Dadra, Chaiti, Kajree. The spectrum of raga-s covered is also large enough, though biased towards “Thumree raga-s”: Madhuwanti, Abhogi, Poorvi, Devgandhar, Yaman, Bihag, Kafi, Desh, Bhairavi, Ghara, and Pahadi.

Girija Devi, the Khayal vocalist

Girija Devi’s Khayal repertoire is centred around popular ragas. A rare raga like Devgandhar, however, appears on her published repertoire. She renders even a common raga like Madhuwanti with meticulous attention to the subtleties of grammar. Mechanistic and stereotypical tan patterns, commonly found in present-day Khayal music, rarely appear in her renditions. Upto the 1980s, the speed and clarity of her tans could compare with the best.

The distinguishing feature of the Khayal genre is its “formal aloofness”. Formalism refers to its end-to-end linear architecture involving a progressive enhancement of melodic-rhythmic density and complexity. Aloofness of demeanour describes its restrain in the sculpture and ornamentation of melody. For their formalism, Girija Devi’s Khayal renditions are unimpeachable. On the aloofness dimension, they might appear to veer towards the romanticist genres.

The tilt towards romanticism is a tricky issue in the contemporary context. Since the advent of Jasraj, Kumar Gandharva and Kishori Amonkar, the Khayal itself has abandoned a good deal of its aloofness. The romanticism of these luminaries is more categorical, and more self-conscious, than that of Girija Devi. Compared, however, to Benares stalwarts the preceding generation, Siddheshwari Devi and Rasoolan Bai, Girija Devi’s Khayal renditions appear romanticist. In conclusion, Girija Devi’s Khayal renditions cannot be dismissed as “Thumree-like” by contemporary standards of demeanour.

The apparent condescension of the music establishment towards Girija Devi’s Khayal renditions warrants diagnosis. Firstly, her renditions do not conform to any of the major gharana stereotypes by which the Khayal world recognises the genre. Her style may, therefore, come through as “a style without a style”. The other reason is related to the realities of demand and supply. Her brilliance as a Thumree singer attracts an immense scarcity premium, and tends to overshadow her competence in the abundantly available Khayal. While the pattern is predictable, it does not make the consequences fair to her musicianship.

Girija Devi in the semi-classical genres

As an exponent of the romanticist genres, Girija Devi is an original musician. In its detail, or even in its broad approach, her music cannot be compared with the Benares stalwarts of the earlier generation – Rasoolan Bai and Siddheshwari Devi. Her thumrees induce a state of sustained inebriation because of the unique interaction she engineers between the poetic, melodic and rhythmic elements.

This heady quality owes a great deal to the manner in which Girija Devi deploys rhythm. By her own admission, she performs her lyrical, slow-tempo (Bol-banav) thumree-s, and even Hori-s (compositions related to the spring festival of Holi) predominantly in Teental variants (16 beats) like Jat, and Adha Theka. These forms have more commonly been performed in Deepchandi (14 beats). The distinctive cadence of teental variants exercises a tighter grip over melody than that of Deepchandi. But, at Girija Devi’ usual tempo for the Teental variants, this categorical rhythmic pattern is made to perform a reluctant rhythmic function. This paradox appears to be a potent inducer of intoxication.

It would be surprising if we did not find a method in music that has such impact. Girija Devi’s bol-banav (melodic improvisations on fragments of poetry) in her Thumrees covers all the sections of the verse in proper sequence. Though informal, the melodic progression is akin to the alap in a Khayal rendition, with clearly defined sthayi and antara stages, anchored in the lower and upper half of the melodic canvas respectively. In her renditions of Tappa-s (a fast-paced genre of semi-classical music), despite the total architectural freedom available in the genre, Girija Devi adopts a steady intensification of melodic complexity as an indication of linearity.

Considering the poetry-dominant, and architecturally amorphous character of the Thumree, Girija Devi’s international following is an enigma. It would suggest that, even in a poetry based genre, melody and rhythm do not require the explicit delivery of literary meaning to communicate emotional meaning. While highlighting the quality of Girija Devi’s musicianship, these implications also challenge those who blame Brij Bhasha, the language of the Thumree, for the decline in its popularity. Evidently, it was musicianship that failed the Thumree, more than Brij Bhasha did. No less a thumree exponent than Bade Gulam Ali Khan wondered why thumrees could not be performed in other Indian languages -- a Bengali thumree, a Marathi thumree, or even a Carnatic thumree!

The musical personality

Central to her Khayal as well as semi-classical renditions is her musical personality. She shuns excessive aloofness in Khayals as much as she steers away from seductive intimacy in her Thumrees. Her command over the melodic and rhythmic elements is such that she can deploy them within any framework with equal facility. Her depth of involvement in the poetic element drives the melodic element to achieve the appropriate emotional communication. For this, she neither requires the aggressive vocalisation and intonation found in some styles of khayal, nor the ornate embellishment of melody normally encountered in the Thumree. Graceful melodic contours defined by elongated meend-s (glissandi) are her primary device for communicating the musical idea. And, it works equally well in the classicist and the romanticist genres. This austerity in the deployment of melodic ornamentation may owe a lot to her second Guru, Shrichand Mishra, a product of the Dhrupad-inspired Seniya tradition of vocalism.

She performs Khayals as well as Thumrees at an ultra-slow tempo, and allows the poetic and melodic elements to work together conceding to rhythm no more than its role as a binding force of music. This melody-poetry dominant approach keeps her Khayals warm and friendly while it keeps her Thumree renditions free from mushy sentimentalism. In both genres, however, emotional values are delivered effectively and in appropriate doses. This feature of her music is inconceivable without a virtuoso command over raga-ness. In Khayal rendition, her grammar is, of course, impeccable. A tricky raga like Devagandhar is a cake-walk for her. But, even in her Thumree renditions, the liberties she takes with raga-grammar are extremely judicious. Despite the permissiveness of the genre, her renditions appear to deliver the complete aesthetic satisfaction of a raga presentation. Only trained musicians and perhaps a minority of connoisseurs appreciate that delivering such satisfactions while breaching the rules of grammar demands a much higher level of musicianship than by conforming to them.

It is not necessary to compare Girija Devi with earlier generations of stalwarts from the Benares tradition to acknowledge her versatility and musicianship. Nor does she require the nostalgia premium of being the last great representative of the tradition. She stands tall amongst contemporary Hindustani vocalists, independently of these considerations.

Deepak S. Raja 
© India Archive Music Ltd. New York.

The finest recordings of Girija Devi have been published by India Archive Music Ltd., New York.

Raga Ahir-Lalit: an evolving melodic entity

The creation of Ahir-Lalit is credited to Pandit Ravi Shankar. It was first recorded by him on a 78 RPM record [STCS-850176], probably in the 1950’s, and again -- this time an elaborate presentation – in 1979 [STC-850064]. The raga has been a part of his concert repertoire for several decades, and has been popularised by several younger musicians of the Maihar-Senia gharana.

The hyper-hexatonic raga [S r G M M^ D n] is, ostensibly, a combination of raga Ahir/ Ahiri, and Lalit, both early morning ragas. However, since Ahiri is heard mainly as a Bhairav variant, Ahir-Bhairav, for most listeners Ahir-Lalit will be unable to escape the shadow of Ahir Bhairav over the Lalit facet of the raga.  In this respect, Ahir-Lalit belongs to a group of compound ragas introducing the Lalit flavour into other ragas, all of which were created around the middle of the twentieth century. During this period, the legendary Kesarbai Kerkar of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana made Lalita-Gauri, a blend of Gauri and Lalit, her trademark. A little later, Yunus Ahmed Khan, an Agra gharana vocalist, reportedly created Lalita-Sohini, a blend of Sohini and Lalit.

In all these cases, the melodic idea was simple – that of adding the unique twin-Ma effect of Lalit to another raga, while keeping the other raga substantially intact as the major presence in the resultant melodic entity. Interestingly, in all these cases, the base-ragas for the introduction of the Lalit effect, happen to be ragas of fragile independent raga-ness. Gauri is treacherously close to Puriya Dhanashree, and difficult to render in its purity. Sohini, which shares its tone material with Puriya and Marwa, is a raga of very limited melodic potential. Likewise, Ahiri too is a raga difficult to sustain as an independent melodic entity. This is also why Ahiri is almost always encountered in its Ahir-Bhairav manifestation. This could also have provided the inspiration for the creation of Ahir-Lalit.

This evidence would suggest that the main purpose of the Lalit- effect has been the enhancement of a base-raga’s melodic potential, and/ or enabling it to shape a more distinctive melodic entity. This logic may not explain why, and how, these Lalit-blended ragas were created. But, it could explain why they caught the imagination of the music community, and acquired legitimacy, and even gained currency.

Ahir-Lalit can be understood by reference to the tone material and the Vadi/ Samvadi swaras [primary and secondary dominants] of three ragas, Ahir/Ahiri, Ahir Bhairav, and Lalit, as documented by Subba Rao [Raga Nidhi, 4th edition, 1996, Music Academy, Madras].

Ahir/Ahiri: S r G M P D n  [Vadi: S, Samvadi: P]
Ahir Bhairav: S r G M P D n [Vadi: M, Samvadi: S]
Lalit: S r G M M^ d N  [Vadi: M, Samvadi: S]
Ahir-Lalit: S r G M M^ D n [Vadi: M, Samvadi: S]

Speaking strictly in terms of tone material, you get Ahir-Lalit by substituting the Pa of Ahiri or Ahir-Bhairav with a tivra [sharp] Ma. Another way of looking at it from the Lalit perspective. Viewed from this angle, Lalit becomes Ahir-Lalit by replacing its komal [flat] Dh with a shuddha [natural] Dh. Ahir Bhairav and Lalit could have an additional basis for compatibility by virtue of sharing the same Vadi/Samvadi [Ma, Sa]. This, however, is controversial because some authorities consider Pa/Sa to be the Vadi/Samvadi of Ahir Bhairav. [Thakurdas, Manikbuwa, Raga Darshan, Vol.IV, 1st edition, Lakshminarayan Trust, Rajpipla].

On the evidence of Pandit Ravi Shankar’s rendering considered here, the melodic centre of gravity of the raga is in the purvanga. It appears that the vadi/samvadi of Ahir-Lalit are intended to be Dh and Ma respectively. A reversal of these roles would push the raga too close to the early 20th century Lalit, which utilised the shuddha Dh, instead of the contemporary komal Dh; and such does not appear to be the composer’s intention.

Beyond these basic issues of raga grammar, the melodic personality of Ahir-Lalit can be documented only by reference to its skeletal phraseology [chalan], as evident from the vilambit alap rendered by its composer, Pandit Ravi Shankar [STC-850064 of 1979].

Chalan: S D. n. D/ D. n. S r/ n. r S/ r G M M^ M/ M^ D/ M D n or M^ D n/ D n r’ S’/ r’ n S’ n D/ M^ D G M M^ M/ r G M G/ G r S n. D./ D. n. r S. 

There are several noteworthy aspects to this chalan. Firstly, Dh is given considerable importance, as it is in Ahir Bhairav. The oscillated and accentuated treatment of [komal] Re, characteristic of Ahir-Bhairav [D-n-r-r], has also been retained. But, the G-M-r-S characteristic of the Bhairav facet in Ahir-Bhairav is missing.  As in Lalit, Ahir-Lalit ascends into the uttaranga either from the shuddha Ma or from the tivra Ma, -- more often from tivra Ma. Again, as in Lalit, Ahir-Lalit uses both, Ga and shuddha Ma as resting points, with shuddha Ma being the more frequent of the two.

It is fair to acknowledge that this chalan, documented from a single recording, may not represent either the entirety of the raga’s image in its creator’s mind, or its evolution over the years. It must also be recognised that even if Pandit Ravi Shankar has performed this raga a hundred times during his long career, he has merely set it on the path of evolution. The raga will continue to evolve for several generations on the concert platform and in the recording studios before it gets established as a member of the raga pantheon. To this extent, any rendition of the raga cannot yet be subjected to an authoritative yardstick of “authenticity”.

Deepak S. Raja
(c) India Archive Music Ltd., New York, producers of the finest recordings of Hindustani music.

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan (1922-2009)

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan was amongst the handful of musicians to have achieved iconic status in the post-independence era. As the heir to the legacy of his father and Guru, Ustad Allauddin Khan (died:1972), he was at the forefront of the renaissance that enabled instrumental music to match vocal music in terms of maturity and surpass it in popularity.

With over a 100 commercial releases, he was amongst most prolific and successful recording artists of the 20th century. As a missionary of the Hindustani music tradition in the West, he was, arguably, the most influential. The legendary violinist, Lord Yehudi Menuhin, who introduced him to the West, called him “an absolute genius” and “the greatest musician in the world”.

Ustad Ali Akbar was perhaps the single most decorated musician of his generation. In India, he was decorated with the Padma Vibhushan. In the US, he received the National Heritage Award conferred by the National Endowment for the Arts at a White House ceremony. Principal amongst the many awards he received are Honorary Doctorates from a large number of Indian and American universities, the Kalidas Samman, the Mahatma Gandhi Cultural Award, the Ustad Enayet Khan Memorial Award, and several Grammy nominations.

In 1997, the Indian Ambassador to the US invited him to perform at the United Nations in New York, and at the Kennedy Centre, Washington DC to commemorate 50 years of India’s independence.

Pioneering contribution

As a Sarod player, the Ustad created a distinctive vocabulary for the instrument which now influences the idiom of all Sarod players, cutting across gharana affiliations, and whose echo can also be heard in the artistic style of other plucked lutes, such as the sitar and the Classical Guitar. This achievement is more significant than is commonly recognized.

Until his father’s time, the Sarod, newly evolved from the Persian and Afghan Rababs – both relatively unrefined instruments -- was incapable of delivering sophisticated music acceptable to contemporary audiences. In the 1930s, Ali Akbar’s father, Allauddin Khan, and uncle, Ayet Ali Khan, re-engineered the instrument to respond to modern musical requirements. It took Ali Akbar Khan less than 15 years after its re-engineering to exploit the Sarod’s new-found musical potential, and emerge as one of the most mesmerizing musicians of the 20th century.

Ali Akbar Khan’s contribution was also significant in another respect. In the tradition he inherited, instrumental music attempted to mould itself after either the vocal genres – Dhrupad, Dhamar, Khayal, and Thumree – or the idiom of the medieval Rudra Veena. While being well versed in the traditional idiom, Ali Akbar pioneered the drift of instrumental music away from traditional reference points, and towards a more purposeful exploitation of unique features of the instrument. Indeed, he personally guided the Hawaiian Guitar pioneer, Pandit Brijbhushan Kabra, towards re-engineering the instrument for Hindustani music, and developing a unique technique and idiom for it.

A child of destiny

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan was born at Shibpur (East Bengal, now Bangladesh). He learnt vocal music and several instruments with his father, Ustad Alauddin Khan, and the rhythm instruments from his uncle, Fakir Aftabuddin. Finally, as desired by his father, he pursued the Sarod.

Of his apprenticeship with his father, the Ustad told an American interviewer  – “ up to the age of sixteen or seventeen, I had not been allowed to say anything except yes or no. If I said no, my father would beat me. I learnt to speak only here in America, because I had to teach”. In his autobiography, Pandit Ravi Shankar recalls – “Ali Akbar told me he had been compelled to practice fourteen to sixteen hours a day, and there were times when Baba tied him to a tree for hours and refused to let him eat if his progress was not satisfactory.”

The Ustad gave his first public performance at Allahabad at the age of 13 or 14, and cut his first commercial disc at 21. His professional career began soon thereafter, when he was invited to join the service of the Jodhpur Maharaja. He served there for seven years till the Maharaja’s demise.

Thereafter he moved to Bombay to pursue a career as an independent musician. The turning point in his career came when, in 1955, Menuhin invited him to perform in the US. During this trip, he performed Indian music for the first time at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, gave the first TV performance of Hindustani music in America, and cut the first Long Playing (LP) record of Hindustani music, which was introduced by Menuhin himself.

In 1956, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan set up the Ali Akbar College of Music in Calcutta. In 1967, he set up the college in San Rafael, California. Thereafter, he remained a resident of California, and guided a branch of the college at Basle in Switzerland, run by his disciple, Ken Zuckerman. Under the Ustad’s stewardship, the Ali Akbar College became a veritable powerhouse of Indian cultural influence, at which a galaxy of eminent Indian musicians assisted him in propagating the Indian musical arts.

The Ali Akbar College is believed to have, by now, trained over 7000 Americans and students of other nationalities from its three bases in San Rafael, Basle, and Calcutta. The San Rafael establishment is preserving over 35 years of recorded training sessions conducted by the Ustad, and documenting over 10,000 compositions, which his father, Allauddin Khan had learned or composed. Several of the alumni of the Ali Akbar College head departments of music at some of the most prestigious universities in the US.

His music

The Ustad’s repertoire was a rich mix of common raga-s like Durga, Shree, Todi, popular light raga-s like Piloo, Sindh Bhairavi, Zilla Kafi, and classical and semi-classical or folk-based melodic entities created by him. Amongst his own creations, the most successful classical raga-s have been Chandranandan, Gauri Manjari, and Jogiya Kalingara. Amongst his more celebrated semi-classical creations are Bhoop-Mand and Palas Kafi.

He had a peerless command over melody, and evolved several new directions for exploring the melodic potential of ragas (melodic matrices). He was an unmatched master of the rhythmic element in music, and performed in a wider range of talas (rhythmic cycles) than any of his contemporary instrumentalists. He was a “musicians’ musician”, held in awe by the musicians’ community for his uncanny blend of orthodoxy and path-breaking innovativeness.

The duet artist 

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan was amongst the most successful duet artists of the 20th century. Partnering with only sitarists, he gave memorable duets with Ustad Vilayat Khan in the 1950’s. For films, he also did a few duets with Pandit Nikhil Banerjee. The most durable, partnership, however, was forged between him and Pandit Ravi Shankar in the 1960s.

Of the Ali Akbar-Ravi Shankar duet, Lord Yehudi Menuhin had said – “To be present, as I have been, at a chamber music recital by Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan, each goading the other to new heights of invention, is an experience more magical than almost any in the world. One is in the presence of creation”.

The film music composer

Ustad Ali Akbar Khan enjoyed a long and fruitful association with the film industry. In 1953, he composed the music for Chetan Anand’s “Andhiyan”. Thereafter, he composed the music for Ivory-Merchant’s first film, “The Householder”. His music for Tapan Sinha’s “Kshudita Pashan” won the President’s award for the best music of the year. In 1960, he composed the music for Satyajit Ray’s “Devi”. He collaborated later with Bernardo Bertolucci on the music for the film “Little Buddha”.

Unaffected soul

The Ustad created, and inhabited, a world of his own – a world in which there were only Swaras (musical notes), Ragas, Talas, and Bandishes (compositions). This world of his remained insulated from the world outside. His worldly affairs were managed entirely by his family members and trusted disciples. Even when he performed on the stage, he was oblivious of audiences. He spoke to his Sarod, and his Sarod responded with the grace, depth, and luminosity that no other Sarod has been able to match.

Despite having settled in the US, he was never, even feebly, accused of transgressing the aesthetic boundaries of Hindustani music. He remained untouched by the torrent of recognition and media attention that flowed towards him. His personal life remained personal. He lived for his music, and music alone.

Thus spake Ali Akbar Khan
Excerpts from interviews

“For us, as a family, music is like food. When you need it you don’t have to explain why, because it is basic to life.”

“Real music is not for wealth, not for honours or even the joys of the mind… but as a path for realization and salvation.”

“If you practice for 10 years, you may please yourself; after 20 years you may become a performer and please the audience; after thirty years you may even please your Guru; but you must practice many more years before you finally become an artist – then you may please even God”.

“Singing instrumental music is most important because while you play an instrument, you are singing through the instrument. Actually, you are singing inside.”

(c) Deepak S. Raja, 2010

Marwa, Puriya & Sohini: The tricky triplets

Marwa, Puriya, and Sohini are three ragas born from the same scale (S-r-G-M^-D-N). The three are also amongst the most popular ragas in Hindustani music. So, evidently, most musicians believe they know how to handle these ragas. For the discerning listener, however, renditions of these ragas are often uncomfortable  because their skeletal phraseologies alone are not sufficient to differentiate one from the other.

The true test of differentiation would be for a musician to perform them one after the other. In living memory, only Ustad Bade Gulam Ali Khan, and Ustad Vilayat Khan are reported to have performed this feat.

How, then, are these ragas differentiated from one another? Of course, each of them has a distinctive emotional content. But, communicating these distinctive moods relies on certain well-established rules of melodic grammar, and prescriptive devices for the treatment of the melody.

The three ragas are distinguished from each other by their phraseology, by the melodic region in which their respective centers of gravity are located, and by the relative importance of ascending and descending melodic thrusts in their rendition.

Notional scale bases

By definition, all ragas are performed to base-Sa, at whatever pitch the musician fixes it. In addition, Marwa, Puriya and Sohini, have notional scale-bases, defining  their primary territory on the melodic canvas. The contemporary Marwa has a notional scale-base at the lower-octave Dh swara, thus making D-N-r-G-M^-D its notional scale. Similarly, Puriya's notional scale-base can be considered to be at the lower-octave Ni. Sohini, a resident of the higher frequencies, has its notional scale-base at the middle-octave Ga.

Haunting signatures

Each of these ragas has its unique haunting signature. Speaking of their respective identities, Vilayat Khan had once said that if you walk out of the auditorium where a Marwa has been performed well, and re-enter after ten minutes, the walls should be resounding with the phrase lower-octave N-D-D. Similarly, the lasting aural image of a well-delivered Puriya should be the phrase M^-M^-G in the middle octave. And, finally, the dominant residual impression of Sohini should be D-N-S'-r-S' on the border between the middle and higher octaves.

Treatment of melody

Broadly, Marwa emphasizes the robust treatment of the swara material,  with a generous dose of geometric/symmetric improvisation. The Puriya treatment is subtle, and largely melodic. Sohini's character, because of its limited improvisational potential, is lyrical, replete with ornamentation and frills.

In Marwa, one expects to find melody dominated by descending melodic phrasing. In Sohini, it will be dominated by ascending melodic phrasing. In Puriya, ascending and descending phrases/ passages will be almost equally present.

Now, you might ask how this is possible, because you cannot play any raga by avoiding either ascending or descending phrases. True, you cannot. But, the proportions can vary, and the desired aural images can engineered by clever devices. Careful analysis of great renditions reveals that, when appropriate to the raga, musicians construct ascending passages out of overlapping descending phrases, and also descending passages out of a combination of overlapping ascending phrases.

Time for performance 

By the time-theory governing music performance, all three ragas belong to the twilight zone. Marwa and Puriya are prescribed for performance around sunset, and while Sohini is considered appropriate around sunrise. (Bhatkhande 1944)

MARWA

The contemporary Marwa has changed substantially since its documentation by musicologist Bhatkhande in the 1940's. Bhatkhande describes Marwa as having its center of gravity in the r-G-M^-D region of the middle octave. Bhatkhande also states that Marwa is not as somber as Puriya but, instead, has a strident, aggressive demeanor.

Since then, the melodic focus of the raga has moved downwards into the lower-octave Dh to middle-octave Re region. As a result, Marwa has acquired a pathos, and lost a little bit of its stridency. The contemporary Marwa retains the (komal) Re and Dh as its dominant swaras, as traditionally accepted; but the middle-octave Dh has been replaced by the lower-octave Dh.

This transformation of Marwa is, substantially, the contribution of vocalist, Ustad Ameer Khan, probably the most influential male vocalist of recent times. Since the publication of his Marwa (EMI/HMV: STC:048:7327), an ascent-dominated interpretation of the raga, concentrated in the mid-octave region, has become a rarity.

Marwa risks confusion with Puriya in the lower tetrachord, and Sohini in the upper. The Marwa ascent towards the upper-Sa is encouraged to omit the Ni swara (G-M^-D-S'), thus permitting a suggestion of raga Hindol.

One of the ways in which Marwa evades the shadow of Puriya and Sohini is by discouraging the use of base-Sa in its phraseology, and prescribing it for use only as an isolated swara. This feature imparts to it a predominantly pentatonic character. In addition, the resultant scale (D-N-r-G-M^-D) creates an interesting tonal geometry, making the raga amenable to geometric/ symmetric, as well as kaleidoscopic types of improvisation.

If we break down the notional raga scale into three pairs of contiguous swaras (D-N/ r-G/ M^-D), the lowest pair (D-N) stands out as a virtually isolated pair, with a frequency ratio of 1:1.125. The other two pairs (r-G/ M^-D) have higher, and identical proportions (1:1.185), and thus constitute similar pairs.

This also explains the special status, and attraction, of the N-D pair as the melodic signature of the raga. It leaps out from the fabric of the music, because it is different, and has a wedge-like sharpness that the other two pairs don't. This wedge becomes poignant when rendered in the lower octave (the contemporary Marwa), and severe one octave higher (the traditional Marwa).

Skeletal phraseology:

S/ N. r N. D. D./ N. D. r/ G r/ M^ G r/ r G M^ D/ D M^ D/ M^ N D/ D M^ D S'/ N D r'/ N r' N D/ D M^ G r/ G r/ N. D. r/ S 

PURIYA

The dominant swaras in Puriya are Ga and Ni (Marwa is re-Dh). According to some musicians, the (komal) re to be used in Puriya is a suppressed micro-swara of the normal flat Re swara. Vilayat Khan utilizes this suppressed micro-swara routinely by pulling the string from base-Sa.

Puriya makes a normal use of base-Sa (Marwa discourages, Sohini virtually ignores). In the ascent towards the upper-Sa, the raga encourages omission of Dh and Ni swaras, so that the Sohini illusion is avoided. In the descent, Dh and Ga are recommended for subliminal treatment, so that the Marwa shadow does not fall on Puriya.

Despite the lower tetrachord (middle octave) center of gravity, Bhatkhande (1944) considers it permissible for Puriya to descend deep into the lower octave down to Ga. Ustad Ameer Khan, whose Puriya (Navras: NRCC: 0092) too is some kind of landmark, used this feature generously. Vilayat Khan does not do so, and retains a strong middle-octave focus.

Skeletal phraseology:


G N. r S/ N. D. N./ N. r G r G/ M^ M^ G/ G M^ D G M^ G (or) M^ N G M^ G/ G M^ D M^ S'/ N r' N M^ M^ G/ M^ r G/ N. r S

SOHINI

Sohini attempts to utilize whatever remains of the melodic potential of this swara material, after Puriya and Marwa have exploited it. In reality, what remains is very little.  The skeletal phraseology of the raga is also virtually its exhaustive melodic potential. Sohini is, thus, not very much more than a song.

The melodic span of the raga is also limited to its notional scale. Its presentation is discouraged from going either below the middle-octave Ga, or above the higher-octave Ga.

This is why Sohini is performed most commonly in the semi-classical or light genres of vocal music, whose esthetics are governed by the varied and subtle ornamentation of each poetic idea enshrined in a melodic phrase. This is also the reason why classical performers either present this raga with dazzling artistry, or feel encouraged to take liberties with its melodic frame.

The dominant swaras in Sohini are the higher-octave Sa and the middle-octave Ga. In the ascent, the (komal) re swara is generally omitted, and in the descent, it is treated subliminally. Unless deftly handled, the descent into the lower tetrachord can, therefore, provide a fleeting glimpse of Puriya.

Skeletal phraseology:

G M^ D G M^ G/ r S/ N. S G/ M^ D N S' r' S/ S' r' N S' D N/ N D G/ M^ G r S

In actual performance, the skeletal phraseologies of the three ragas do, exhibit some common or tangential phrases. This is the heart of the issue. These ragas are differentiated as much in the sculpting of their residual aural images as in what can be laid down as their grammar.

(c) India Archive Music Ltd. New York
The finest recordings of Marwa, Puriya and Sohini have been produced by India Archive Music Ltd. New York