Gwalior Gharana is the cradle of Hindustani music. It is one of the oldest with all other gharanas in one way or other being its off shoots. The rivalry between the families of Nathan Peer Baksh and Shakkar Khan led to the migration of the two families to Gwalior. Nathan Peer Baksh brought up his grandsons Haddu and Hassu Khan since his son Kadir Baksh was killed by Shakkar Khan.
Mohammed Khan, the son of Shakkar Khan also migrated to Gwalior and became a court musician under the patronage of Raja Daulat Rao Scindia . Little Haddu and Hassu would hide and listen to Mohammed practise his taans.
Passionate rendition
According to Lalita Rama Krishna of Musical Heritage of India, there is a moving story about Mohammed Khan asking Hassu to execute a powerful taan. Hassu rendered it to the satisfaction of Mohammed Khan but in the process dislocated his left rib. Mohammed Khan insisted on his repeating the taan. Hassu came up with a passionate rendition and died on the spot. Mohammed Khan is thus credited with introducing taan into khayal, which is the distinguishing factor between khayal and dhrupad. Haddu and Hassu Khan were responsible for what is referred to as the Gwalior gayaki.
Rehmet Khan, who was trained mainly by his father Haddu Khan, was a towering musician of the 19th century. He learnt tankari from his uncle Hassu. The Gwalior Gharana tree is massive. Its branches have spread far and wide. There are many stalwarts who glorified this style and left an indelible mark for the succeeding generations to emulate. The torch-bearers of the 19th century were Nissar Hussain Khan,Vishnu Shastri Pandit, Vasudeva Bua Joshi and Shankar Rao Pandit.
The 20th century wizards, who made unforgettable contribution, were Vishnu Digambar Paluskar, Yashwant Mirashi Bua, CR Vyas, Krishna Rao Shankar Pandit, Raja Bhaiya Poochwale, his son Bala Saheb Poochwale, Onkarnath Thakur, Gajanan Rao Joshi, Vinayak Rao Patwardhan, Narayan Rao Patwardhan, Dattatreya Vishnu Paluskar, Shankar Rao Bodas, Kashinath Bodas, Veena Sahasrabuddhe,V. R. Athavale, Neela Bhagawat and Malini Rajurkar.
Simple gayaki of Gwalior
The 21st century has had the pure and lucid renditions from Ulhas Kashalkar and his most promising disciple Manjusha Kulkarni Patil. Manjusha, who was trained by Pt. DG Kane Bua, before she went under the tutelage of Ulhas Kashalkar, speaks about the simple gayaki of Gwalior, a point endorsed by Lakshmi Sreeram, also a disciple of Anant Bua Joshi. Lakshmi points out the importance of each syllable in a composition, how it should not be broken and be presented lucidly and clearly.
Manjusha is of the view that the bandish actually provides guidance on how the raga should be presented. The combination of notes become important signatures of the raga; citing an example, she comes up with a simple phrase from Yaman, ‘dha ni, re ga, ni re ga.’ Both Lakshmi and Manjusha speak about the laya, which is closer to madhya and not too slow in the vilambit. Alaaps are beautiful when the laya is increased a bit.
Manjusha speaks about the beautiful behlava in alaap and layakari. This gharana takes pride in presenting simple and elementary ragas effectively. Manjusha explains that the simple taan patterns are offset by satta — superfast taan. Tilwada and jhoomra taals are used with great effect. Midhs and gamaks are a must. Akaar and bol bants are used in badat but sargam is rarely used.
Although in the 21st century, the relevance of gharanas is not being questioned, musicians have learnt to imbibe the beauty of many styles. Gharana gayaki is a byword for discipline and a way to draw from the rich treasure left behind by great masters.
