Khayal singer Madhumita Ray talks about shringar and bhakti ras in thumri
Shringar and bhakti ras are an integral part of thumri, which is known to have originated in the lucknow court of nawab Wajid Ali Shah in the 19th century. During that time the songs were sung by the courtesans, accompanied by dancers. It was known as bandish ki thumri or bol bant ki thumri. In the 20th century, a new style sung in Varanasi became popular. Since Varanasi is to the east of lucknow, the new style got popular as poorab ang thumri.
Some khayal singers took interest in singing thumri and sang it in their own way. The tradition that was established by the greats like Barkat Ali Khan, Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Bhimsen Joshi and Prabha Atre is now being taken forward by some khayal singers. One of them is Madhumita Ray, who presented some khayals and thumris at the India International Centre recently.
“Khayal is based on a repertoire of short songs that are called bandish. Its name comes from an Arabic word meaning ‘imagination’. It is thought to have developed out of the qawwali singing style. like all Indian classical music, khayal is modal, with a single melodic line and no harmonic parts. The modes are called raga.I have conceived and directed Mohe Rang De, a mosaic of Meera bhajans and sufi qawwalis on the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore,” said Ray. She was trained in thumri, dadra and chaiti by Naina Devi. She began her musical journey under the guidance of Pandit Vasant Thakar, Ustad Ghulam Taqi Khan and Ghulam Hussain Khan and was a part of the Gwalior gharana. In Rampur gharana, she was mentored by Ustad Asad Ali Khan.
“Classical music is my life and the center of my existence. Through my music I have also tried to bridge the gap between communities. If you will try to draw a parallel between Sufi philosophy and the message in Meera’s bhajan, you will realise that the message is the same,” she said and added that she has great liking for the tribal music of Madhya Pradesh.
“I also want to do fusion of classical with Jazz and other genres. This is one way we can keep the youth interested in our classical music. I have been conducting workshops in places like Germany and rest of the world. I only want to reach out to large number of people with our music and inspire more youngsters to take it up,” she said.