As you may have noticed I am mostly interested in vocal music. I was initially attracted to instrumental music and studied that for some years. Like many foreigners Pt. Ravi Shankar was a great influence. I heard a lot of great instrumental music mostly in Calcutta in the 1970’s , particularly Ustad Vilayet Khan- I was a complete convert from the very first minutes I saw and heard him on stage, and Bismillah Khan. Ravi Shankar too, though his and Ali Akbar Khan’s appearances those years seemed less frequent, or maybe that is just my memory. Of course I didn’t really know anything about music back then and my judgements were mostly instinctive. Eventually I gravitated toward vocal music when I discovered I could sing. My likes and dislikes in instrumental music are not so different now but with a vastly increased understanding of the subject, and newer artists there are some changes in my top 10. Shaheed Parvez has appeared and conquered. I met him once in 1977 or 78 at his place in Borivili long before he was popular. I remember the person who took me there had felt that he was going to be a great star and that is about all I remember. I saw Ustad’s performance earlier this year at Nehru Centre. It was a prestigious event and Arvind Parikh, Rais Khan and other luminaries were present. I could only describe his playing as mind-blowing. Curiously after him half the audience departed eventhough Ulhas Kashalkar was singing next. I always thought of Mumbai as a vocal-centric city and this surprised me. Is Ustad’s popularity so much nowadays? I might mention that Ulhas ji sang jogkauns. I have heard him sing it before (the gunidas compositions) and frankly it is my least favorite rag of his. Maybe it is because Jitendra Abhisheki’s version is so exquisite and perfectly suited to his type of singing. That is all just my opinion of course!
In Time Out this week Nandu has written about N. Rajam, the violinist. I do not like the sound of her violin nor her performance mannerisms always the same and very “stagey”. When I met her years ago I found her to be cold and self-important and I guess that is how i see her music. I am a huge fan of her niece, the superb Kala Ramnath. The first time I heard her I hadn’t expected my reaction considering the instrument and her family lineage. I was however a complete convert. I met her at Pt. Jasraj’s residence once some years ago and was embarrassed to be served lunch by her. She really is a nice person from what I saw. She has been his student for many years now.
Funny how the chatterati in n. indian classical music seem to have now put Nikhil Bannerjee on this great pedestal amongst sitar players- ” oh so much better than Ravi Shankar. Is it championing of the underdog overshadowed by the flash and glamour of RS? The finding of the “true” music? I don’t know, but I do not believe it is based on any intelligent comparison of the music. I love Nikhil Bannerjee’s music and attended many of his performances. He was not a charismatic performer like Ravi Shankar and the idea that his music is somehow deeper or more profound is ridiculous. Judgements on music change too when the medium is just the audio recording. It is true that Nikhil Bannerjee’s music sounds wonderful on records, especially the swift sparkling sapaat taans (in jaunpuri for example). Also the idea that Ravi Shankar’s popularity in India was based on his huge success in the West is most definitely not the case. His career really began here in Mumbai and from the account of Batuk Deewanji his rise in the music world in the 1950s was meteroric. It was no coincidence that the highly respected harmonium player for Faiyaz Khan, Ghulam Rasool Khan sent his son Shammim Ahmed to learn sitar with Ravi Shankar.
Pt. Ravi Shankar has to be given credit for having been the guru for many top-class instrumentalists (Shammim, Kartik Kumar, Jaya Biswas, Partha Sarthy etc.). I think he must have a gift for teaching. Are there any students of Annapoorna devi, Ali Akbar Khan, or Nikhil Bannerjee among top-class instrumentalists? Maybe a few, but not many considering the numbers (and Annapoorna has a long list of students). Ravi Shankar actively promoted his students throughout his career by the interactive accompaniment they provided. For some years in the 1980s Partha Sarathy’s sarod accompaniment with Panditji was almost at the level of jugalbandi. On his own now Partha Sarathy is one of the top sarod players in the country. Pundit ji’s encouragement of interactive accompaniment was of course also a big factor in the rise in stature of the tabla players. Giving a tabla solo to Chatur Lal on one of his first L.P.s was an extraordinary thing to do. On 78 rpm records produced not that many years before the tabla player’s name wasn’t even mentioned on the label! Always taking who he considered the best tabla player as his accompanist was important Alla Rakha Khan, Chatur Lal, Kishen Maharaj, Kanai Dutta, and Zakir Hussein to name a few. Previously this wasn’t so important to soloists and flamboyance or anything distracting from the soloist strictly forbidden. For example with Vilayet Khan the tabla accompanist would be seated slightly behind Khansaheb and play a straightforward theka as he would with a vocalist, even if that accompanist was Kishen Maharaj.
Besides some of the above mentioned I am a big fan of Niladri Kumar. I don’t know what he is doing these days- experimental fusion possibly. i hope it is not too wacky! I haven’t heard him for a few years but he has talent. I also like Purbayan Chatterjee, sitar, Tejendra Mazumdar, sarod, Tarun Bhattacharya, santoor, Hari ji (sometimes, but not too often), and Shiv ji. These are just some of my favorite instrumentalists. There are many more i enjoy listening to and many i haven’t heard but this probably fills my top ten. Let’s see: (this is only current instrumentalists by the way!) 1. shaheed parvez 2. tejendra mazumdar 3. niladri kumar 4. partha sarathy 5. shiv kumar sharma 6. Zakir Hussein 7. tarun bhattacharya 8. purbayan chatterjee, 9. hari prasad chaurasia 10. kala ramnath
Try listening to the sarodist Pt. Rajeev Taranath whose music has both great both depth of feeling and substantive classicism. I can’t fathom the reason he isn’t heard in Mumbai unless it is a lack of enthusiasm for presenting those from other parts of India or just a lack of musical curiosity and relish. He is tremendously knowledgeable and plays with a fantastic combination of vocal and instrumental techniques and conceptualization, unlike any we have heard. Perhaps this is because of his early training as a vocalist before becoming Ustad Ali Akbar Khansahib’s disciple. He is tucked away in Mysore but is a rare gem and should be brought out to light for performances in Mumbai without a doubt. We need this substance and deep classicism in our music today more than ever.
Thanks for the post. I will definitely listen to him when I get a chance.