Some may be very particular about the different gharanas as far as Indian classical music is concerned, but Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, a maestro with several firsts to his credit, thinks otherwise. By Team Viva
“If we are confined in a room and asked to do all the things inside those four walls forever, we would one day definitely want to break those walls and come out of it. Gharanas for me are those rooms. I don’t believe that we should classify music into water-tight compartments in the form of gharanas. They are unique but at the same time, they are a confinement. One should feel free to perform all kinds of Indian vocal music anywhere,” says Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, the first Indian classical vocalist to receive the President’s Award for the best male playback singer in 1990. “Also, it is because of the Ustads that gharanas exist, not the other way round,” he adds.
The maestro makes his point clearer and says, “Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan saab took the values from the gharana and then included his own elements into it and because of that a musical gharana is known after him. So a musician has to identify the uniqueness of a gharana and remove the confinement.”
He also happens to be the first Indian classical vocalist to be invited by the government of Pakistan for a performance and the first recipient of the Kumar Gandharva Award, to name a few, but his humility is worth appreciating. “One has to keep criticising themselves and put aside all the positive things. Self appreciation comes with pride and pride is not good for an artist. I’m simply an artist who wants to sing and teach children about the music I know,” he says.
Pandit Chakrabarty also believes that technological advances and social media particularly have helped us in many ways but they have also made us lazy. “Social media has opened many doors of opportunities for the artistes but they are not able to take help from it and are instead getting lazy. let me tell you a fact. If an artiste practises for 12-14 hours everyday for 10 years, then there will be no stopping them ever. This is no hypothesis, it is completely true and tested. Sadly, if somebody sits for practising, they get themselves disturbed by the constant buzzing of the phones. Fortunately, I was not born in this ‘mobile generation’,” he says.
However, he doesn’t blame technology solely for this. “Technology has given us so many things that we cannot even imagine. All the maestros are just a click away today. There are so many videos on the internet which can be accessed and people can learn as much as they want to. Rather than which, they are getting more laid back. It is upto us as to how we use it,” he says.
Talking about his music school, Shruti Nandan, which he likes calling the school of music and humanity, he says that it is an institute in which he wants to educate the children with human values. “Music is not the primary motive of the school. I believe in the fact that a good human being can become a great artiste. Therefore, in the school we impart real education of values and ethics,” he shares.
Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty has performed in innumerable concerts and is perhaps the busiest classical vocalist of his generation today. He regularly, annually participates in all the major prestigious music conferences and festivals — all over India and abroad. “Once I remember I was performing in the US, and there were master jazz musicians along whom I had to perform. After the end of the performance, the other artistes came to me asking how to improvise as I was doing while performingIJ I told them that for learning how to improvise, they have to first learn Indian classical music. Only after that will they be able to improvise effectively,” says Pandit Chakraborty. “My sole purpose while performing internationally is to make people realise the potential of Indian classical music,” he adds.
Also a composer, lyricist and a guru, Pandit Chakrabarty runs online classes where he teaches more than 200 students from 16 countries through live streaming videos. “I chose to take advantage of internet and through online classes I’m able to connect with the Indian music lovers around the world. And instead of simply uploading videos, we have live videos because that is the way through which I can personally connect with the students. Indian music can only be learnt through Guru-Shishya parampara,” says the Hindutani classical vocalist.
Recalling his early days, the maestro gets nostalgic, “My grandfather, a doctor, was strictly against his son taking up a career in music. So, my father ran away from home and struggled a lot but he was very keen that I pursue music as a career. Even I had to struggle initially, as our financial condition wasn’t great. That phase of life taught me a lot, as there is no better teacher in life than poverty.”
Pandit Chakrabarty feels that there is no such thing as bad music and he doesn’t want to criticise any genre of music. “I cannot judge the Bollywood music or say the electronic music or any music for that matter is puerile. The music is good if it is connecting with your mind and soul. It can be any style of music.” He has faith in the younger generation and says that they can be the torchbearers of the classical music tradition provided they respect this genre of music and practise it with utmost dedication. “Uninterrupted practice is the only key for learning and absorbing music. And the younger generation is completely capable of carrying this music on their shoulders for the times to come,” he signs off.
The music maestro performed at the 70th edition of Shriram Shankarlal Music Festival 2017 at the Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra.