Some life-stories are stranger than fiction. Albeit coming to a halt on 12th April, Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra’s musical journey is one such example. When in 1929 Tau Moe travelled down to India from Hawaii and stayed in Calcutta, the then cultural capital of India, for seven years and played his captivating Hawaiian guitar for dignitaries like Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore apart from initiating a mini-craze for this string instrument among the youth of Bengal, no one could imagine that Kabra, a young businessman from Western coast of India would come to visit Calcutta, experience a guitarist’s music by chance, fall for its malleable tonality and adopt the guitar as his chosen instrument and later introduce it to Indian classical music with great success!
Ironically, Kabra, who is hailed now as the ‘Father of Indian classical slide guitar’ was not interested in becoming a professional musician to start with. He was born in 1937 around the time period when Tau Moe left India. His father Shah Govardhanlal Kabra was the chief advisor of Jodhpur royalty, an eminent businessman and a rich landlord who sent his younger son Brij Bhushan to study in Gwalior’s imperial Scindia School, to do B.Sc. in Geology from Udaipur and to get his Business Administration Training from Calcutta. A sports enthusiast, he represented his University in hockey, football and cricket tournaments. His keen interest in literature and education inspired him to pen poems and a book on music and rhythm as integral parts of child education.
Literature and music happened naturally in their prosperous and enlightened family. His parents were deeply interested in classical music. Moreover, the Jodhpur kings were great music patrons. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, once a court musician of Jodhpur royalty, would often feature in their imperial concerts. Very fond of the Kabra family, he taught sarod to Damodarlal Kabra, Brij Bhushan’s elder brother. Albeit not interested in classical music, young Brij Bhushan was exposed to the precious nuances of raga sangeet and became a keen ‘kansen’ inadvertently.
Innovative approach
While in Calcutta, his chance introduction to guitar left a pleasant impression. On an impulse he bought a guitar but did not know what to do with it. This led him to innovate and try out unique tuning by playing all the six guitar strings with the bar slide and, within two weeks, managed to play his favourite folk and film songs. When his father suggested to attempt classical music on this Western instrument that could accommodate Indian musical nuances like meend and gamak without much problem, he took this novel idea seriously. He sought the guidance of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, began practising for 18 hours a day, and transcribed the sarod-baaj on his guitar.
He wished to evoke the characteristics of Rudra veena, the traditional Indian hollow-necked fretted instrument with two gourd resonating chambers at either end. To acquire the desired results, he tinkered with the construction of the slide guitar (Gibson C-400). Instead of having six guitar strings, he put on three main strings and added chikari (sympathetic) strings in the back which he played with the thumb. He continued to incorporate changes over the years that saw him emerge as an innovative musician who handled both popular and raga music with equal ease. A prolific composer, he set tune Rajasthani folk songs. For fourteen such albums, his sister Leela Somani penned the lyrics.
At the same time, his solo performances at various classical concerts earned him huge accolades and slide guitar was beginning to get accepted in Indian classical firmament. He started playing duets with santoor maestro Shiv Kumar Sharma, who too, at that time, was struggling to establish this folk instrument of Kashmir in the classical arena. With renowned flautist Hari Prasad Chaurasia, they recorded “Call of the Valley” in 1967. It was a great hit. So were his several other solo records and stage recitals in India and abroad. Several prestigious awards, including the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, were bestowed on him for his dedicated service to music.
Steeped in divinity
Suddenly guitar earned immense popularity, especially in Bengal. Every household began sending guitar-totting children to local music schools. Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra’s innovative music, steeped in divinity, captivated stalwarts of Indian classical music on one hand and inspired numerous youngsters to take up classical guitar on the other. One of his well-known disciples is Debashish Bhattacharya of Kolkata. Despite his self-earned status as a classical guitarist in the Kolkata music circles, he was advised by Pandits Vijay Kichlu and Ajoy Chakrabarty, his mentors, to shift base to Ahmedabad and live and learn under Kabra’s guidance. Bhattacharya left his promising career and cushy family comforts for almost a decade. This shaped him into an internationally known musician that he is today.
According to Bhattacharya, “Guruji interviewed me for hours at the Kolkata residence of his sister before accepting me as his disciple. I addressed him as Papa ever since. He took all my responsibilities in keeping with the olden Guru Shishya parampara. Through Guruji, I entered the world of Maihar Gharana, its unwavered focus on raagdari and unparalleled technique of playing. His teaching method rested on intense listening. I get goose bumps whenever I remember how he introduced me to a complex raga like Chandranandan, invented by Ustad Ali Akbar Khansaheb, during a stage show. In 1987, this was arranged for some select dignitaries inside a houseboat on Dal Lake in Srinagar. While tuning his guitar prior to the concert, Guruji simply told me, ‘Sunta ja, sur follow kar’. And, thus he played. We were in trance and did not realise that we continued playing for two hours. The mesmerised listeners sat in pin drop silence.”
Apart from leaving his indelible stamp on music as a performer and as a Guru, Pandit Brij Bhushan Kabra did remarkable research works on Naad Yoga, meditation and spirituality that lead to self-realisation. He published relevant papers on the subjects.
While working as the head of the famous educational institution Mahesh Shikshan Sansthan, founded by his father, he realised that music plays a vital role in academics and worked on this direction relentlessly to prove how rhythm and melody give a new significant meaning to child education.
Kabra actively taught at Rajasthan and Gujarat Music Academies for years. He was also an active member of Ustad Faiyaz Khan Memorial Trust, Baroda. Soon after his early marriage at 18 with Kamala (a well-known broken-glass painter), he got involved in numerous social activities. As the founder-member and later as the president of Rajasthan Seva Samiti and Rajasthan Hospital, he emerged as messiah to several people. The famous couple provided shelter to many destitute and their philanthropic efforts helped numerous people to achieve their dreams and live a quality life. Kabras are also known for their efforts for the betterment of women in their state, Rajasthan.
The multifarious persona of this great guitarist enabled him to produce such divine music that will keep guiding generations of serious musicians across all genres.
