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A raag for revival

A Hindustani classical vocalist realises her song is partial without its endangered acoustic accompaniments, and she has taken it upon herself to save them.

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Mythology says that when lord Shiva saw Parvati asleep, hand on her chest, he was inspired to create the rudra veena. Her bangles were symbolised by frets and her chest by gourds. He had wanted to surprise her with its music when she’d wake up.

It is believed that the family of Indian stringed instruments originated with that improvisation — veena, sitar, surbaha. Yet, if you went looking for a rudra veena player in India today, as classical singer Soma Ghosh did over two months, you would have to sift through the finest fabric of the music community to find one. Ghosh finally did — all the way in Hubli, Karnataka.

She was in fact looking for a mix of better and lesser known people — young blood in particular — who are committed to accomplishing the ‘endangered’ acoustic Indian instruments. The occasion: to share with them and concur on a draft that hopes to secure the present and future of the community, which Ghosh will soon present to the minister of information and broadcasting, Ambika Soni.  Last week, she flew down 25 musicians from Varanasi, Kolkata, Dharwad and other parts of the country to get them the attention they deserve.

Ghosh has closely seen what it means to fade away and be forgotten, as with Ustad Bismillah Khan, who had adopted her as his manasputri (daughter). “Sangeet means sang geet (with song). If these instruments die out, the vocals will become empty, alone,” says the critically acclaimed Thumri singer and founder of Madhu Morchana, a trust for promotion of Indian classical music. If the state fails the musicians: the instruments will go with them.

“I am asking the government for three things: a fund for classical musicians, to break the monopoly of a few players, and a half-hour slot for classical music on prime-time television everyday,” says Ghosh. “Already the sounds of sarangi, tota shahnai, taar shahnai, dilruba, jaltarang, and tabla tarang have begun to disappear.”

Indru Atama, a veteran in the Indian music industry, has played the mataka tarang, ghatam, bambu tarang, kasha, rubab for Naushad, RD Burman and Madan Mohan’s music for 30 years. He feels strange that after 40 years, he has to introduce himself to the Indian music industry all over again.

Technology has changed more than just the quality of sound of these classical instruments; it has bought their soul. There was a time when 50-100 musicians would practise together in a big hall for the whole day and finally play together at night.

“Often RD Burman would sit with us and say ‘improvise here, try this’. That would lead to real creation. Today, every sound is produced by pushing keys on a keyboard. We are asked to step into a toilet-size recording room. We aren’t even made to hear the song We just hear the mechanical beat and are asked to perform accordingly. Even the singers we play for and the other instrumentalists don’t know who we are,” he says.

Even the television playback scores are a one-time payment affair. “They run for twelve years, using the music they have recorded for the first episode,” says Ghosh.

Kolkata-based Debasish Haldar, a tar shehnai, esraj, dilruba and sarangi player, who was in the city for the meet-up, says any discerning musician can tell the difference between electronic sound and the real thing.

Sadhna (or dedicated practice) has few followers. And instruments like the sarangi and rudra veena are highly demanding on that front. “No one has the time,” says Hubli-based rudra veena player Jyoti Hegde. “There are only one or two people who make the instrument; they have a near-monopoly and charge a price of up to Rs1 lakh for them. The rudra veena takes a lot of stamina to play as all its weight is on you and it has a low sound,” she says.

Suffice to say that rudra veena always accompanies Dhrupad, the foundation of Hindustani classical music.  

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