A recent Dhrupad recital by the Gundecha Bandhu extended the horizons of the gharana to include unorthodox instruments like silver-flute and saxophone. Utpal K Banerjee speaks to the artistes
Among the oldest of Hindustani musical genres, Dhrupad has stood the test of time. Derived from dhruva (perennial) andpad (verse), the term denotes the verse-form of the poetry and the style in which it is melodically rendered. Thematically, it ranges from the religious and spiritual — in praise of Purans’ deities — to royal panegyrics and romance. Though Dhrupad is basically a vocal tradition, its musical aesthetics has been adopted by many instrumentalists: not only by rudra-veena players (beenkars), but also by other instrumentalists — like flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia — who look to Dhrupad for the musical progress of raga. They go as far as to adapt Dhrupad’s age-old format: starting with a slow, un-metred alaap; transiting to tightly-metred jod and a much faster jhala; and concluding with one or more compositions in contrasting talas.
To set the records straight, when Nasir Moinuddin and Nasir Aminuddin Dagar (the senior Dagar Brothers) were invited in the1960s to perform in Europe, their concerts were eminently successful. later, younger brothers, Nasir Zahiruddin and Nasir Fayazuddin, continued to tour widely and recorded. Coinciding with growing foreign interest in Indian music, the Dagarvani revival helped breathe new life into a few other families of Dhrupad singers. Today, Dhrupad enjoys a place as a well-respected genre.
The Gundecha Bandhu — Umakant and Ramakant, coming from the younger generation — have helped to consolidate the earlier gains.
In Baithak, a recent concert of Dhrupad, the Gundecha Bandhu regaled the listeners with crystal-clear rendering of their classical style. It was quite remarkable that — in keeping with the European interest — they extended the horizons of their music to include unorthodox instruments like silver-flute by Virginia Nicoli and saxophone by Giovanni Brunori — both Italian. This, of course, was in addition to the sonorous drum, pakhawaj: inescapable for Dhrupad with its complex count of metrical beats.
The Gundecha Bandhu began with aalaap in raga Puriya Dhanesri. As an important component of Dhrupad’s Dagarvani gharana, the alaap was quite leisurely and elaborate, touching all three saptaks (scales). Both the brothers complimenting each other, was exemplary, as was to be expected. But what was a novelty was the metallic flute and the saxophone joining in — always in a different saptak as chosen by one of the brothers - and improvising with incredible ingenuity. While the flute was vibrant and duly assertive, the saxophone revealed extraordinary breath-control: emitting fluid, soft notes. Neither the silver-flute nor the saxophone seemed super-imposed, but were played with a dexterity: “to the manner born.”
Alaap was followed by jod, jhaala and an innovative ati drut (extra-fast) jhaala: most copetently rendered. Another new feature was pakhawaj — by Akhilesh Gundecha, announced to be a ‘lawyer’ — unobtrusively joining in the last three segments, never done in their Khayal counter-part. There were a few brief compositions to come — a Tulsidasi pad (verse): Deen ke dayal, tujhe chhod sharan kanha paun…; some Bundeli poetry and more. But the pre-eminent characteristic of the entire concert was its neat integration, an organic cohesiveness, where the two vocalists and three instrumentalists superbly supported each other with the best of finesse.
Elaborating the credentials of the Gundecha Bandhu, Vinod Kapur — who spearheadsBaithak said, “They have been in the forefront of the new generation of ‘Dhrupadiyas’ who’ve successfully enhanced the melodiousness of its gayaki (singing style) to herald its renaissance. They don’t belong to any traditional family of Dhrupad singers, but were from the first batch of students of Bhopal’s Dhrupad Kendra. The latter was established at a time when Dhrupad was visibly languishing and the Kendra’s four-year course was meant to fill up the yawning gap. In fact, the Dagars — including Nasir Fahimudddin Dagar — were its initial gurus.”
Added Ramakant Gundecha, “The Kendra’s effort was a success and today, we run our own Dhrupad Academy where currently we’ve 50 students. There’s a strong Western interest in Dhrupad and we’ve had nurtured students of some 30 countries. Dhrupad is certainly quite popular now. Incidentally, a Muslim girl from lahore had also been our disciple and she’s now back in own land with her musical grooming.”
Excerpts from interaction with Virgina Nicoli:
Did you have any earlier training in Indian musicIJ
No, my husband and I were trained in Western classical music. Actually, both of us were flautists. We were exposed to some Indian music earlier, but we fell in love with Dhrupad when the Gundecha Bandhu came to perform in Italy.
How long have you been associated with themIJ
It’s been six years. But there’s no end to learning and it’s a life-long journey. Everyday, everytime, we find new nuances and discover fresh directions.
How popular is Dhrupad in ItalyIJ
There’s a resurgence of interest in Indian culture and its music.We find we’re quite well-accepted among our fraternity of performers.