Pandit Arvind Parikh knows how to handle notes! Somebody, who straddles music and corporate world with equal felicity, Parikh has gained the same reverence and love from the two spheres, which contradict and complement each other at the same time.
The senior most and a devoted disciple of Ustad Vilayat Khan, the distinguished sitar player is a gifted composer, a dedicated guru, an erudite musicologist and an efficient organiser. He has been the vice president of the International Music Council (UNESCO), President of Indian Musicological Society, Chairman of the Western India Chapter of the ITC-Sangeet Research Akademi (SRA). He established the Music Forum where all segments of the music world could meet and discuss issues related to music.
Alongside, he is a pioneer in the freight forwarding industry. He has been the Chairman of the Indian Transportation Organization, one of the owners of TCI, the travel and tourism company and the first ever Asian to head the FIATA, the world body of International representatives of 35,000 freight forwards, apart from his family-owned group company for printing accessories.
He is currently spearheading All India Musicians Group (AIMG), an association of 12 icons of classical music, drawn from both the Carnatic and Hindustani traditions to create greater support for Indian classical music from the government, the industry/corporate sector and the media. After spending the day at office, he spends his evenings teaching his numerous disciples from India and overseas daily from 9 p.m. to midnight. As the Sangeet Natak Akademi bestows him with its prestigious fellowship, we take Parikh down memory lane.
Excerpts from a conversation:
How did you acquire expertise in both the fields and how do you balance them?
I was born into a Gujarati business family at Ahmedabad. My father Natwarlal Parikh was a staunch businessman and my mother Chandrakala Ben was a painter. Both the streams running in my veins, the business acumen of my father and the artistry of my mother became the guiding spirit for my commercial and cultural pursuits.
At what age and how you got interested in music?
The music teacher in my school Shri Makrand Badshah was a vocalist of Agra Gharana trained under Musharraf Ali Khan. At home, Shri Gopal Rao Joshi, then Principal of Gandharva Mahavidyalaya, Ahmedabad used to come and teach me dilruba. I played all sorts of instruments from dilruba to violin, mandolin, jaltarang and flute. I was an avid radio listener too. In a way radio was my first guru. I listened to the great stalwarts of those times like Waliullah Khan from Dhaka, Shiraz Ahmed Qureshi and Mohammad Sharif Poonchwale from Lahore, Haidar Hussain Chughtai from Delhi and Iliyas Khan from Lucknow. I had notated 80 orchestra pieces played on the AIR by the age of 14-15. When I listened to Ustad Vilayat Khan, I knew that this was my instrument and I would learn it from him only. At the age of 17, I moved to Mumbai and got admitted in Elphinstone College. I was a good student and had topped in Economic Honours. I was fortunate to become the ‘Ganda-bandh Shagird’, the disciple with the sacred thread ceremony of Ustad Vilayat Khan. Our long association lasted for more than six decades until his death.
BEST OF BOTH THE WORLDS A young Arvind Parikh with Ustad Vilayat Khan at the ganda-bandh ceremony
How did Ustad Vilayat Khan teach?
Initially, he tested my commitment and sincerity by being erratic in coming to teach but after six months he was sure that I was passionate about it and started teaching me seriously. He would sing and let me follow him. After the lessons, we would go to the beach for a stroll discussing music. My intense training continued nearly for two decades from 1944 to 1964. He would let me sit on the concert stage behind him with sitar, which was another kind of training, for becoming a performing artist. Whatever he did, he did it with meticulous attention.
You are a prolific composer. You have recorded 450 compositions in different ragas for your students. What is the secret of your creativity? Did your Ustad ever objected to it?
My Ustad was a very kind, compassionate and encouraging Guru. He allowed me to develop my own individuality. I once told him that you are ‘Jnan Margi’ (knowledge oriented) and I am ‘Bhakti-Margi’ the one who believes in surrender. He said, ‘Arvind Bhai I respect you for what you are. As far creativity is concerned, ‘gat’ is not deliberately composed, it comes automatically.’ Let me tell you, becoming a musician is not possible in one lifetime. As Pandit Shivakumar Sharma puts it, we carry forward the bank balance of previous lives. So there must have been the cumulative punyas (good-deeds) of previous life, then the Sanskar gathered with the exposure of listening to so many stalwarts during my impressionable age and ultimately the values bestowed upon me by my Guru must be the reason. At times one has to create out of need. For instance when I was recording/documenting the ragas for my students, there would be just a masitkhani gat available, so I had to compose the drut gat or vice-versa. So sometimes compositions come out of compulsion too.
Pandit Arvind Parikh with Pandit Shivkumar Sharma
Please share your experience as a guru with us?
I love teaching and am proud to say that there are more than 60 students at present, many of whom are professionally playing for the AIR and Doordarshan. I love to sponsor them for the concerts they are invited for. On the occasion of Guru Purnima, we all gather together to pay tribute to Ustad Vilayat Khan in different cities like Baroda, Bangalore, Nagpur, Kolhapur and Mumbai to name a few. Teachers hardly listen to their students while they perform on stage. It gives me a rare opportunity to listen to each one of them perform on this occasion. I sit down throughout the two-day festival, taking elaborate notes to guide them individually later.
Every month I organise a baithak presenting one of my students perform in front of invited audience, which is followed by a renowned artiste presenting a lecture demonstration or discussion on music as an interactive session. Ustad Zakir Hussain, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Vidushi Ashwini Bhide and the likes have participated in the past. This time it was Pandit Suresh Talwalkar discussing and showcasing the intricacies of tala. All these baithaks are available on YouTube.
You have received many awards and now the prestigious Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship, the jewel ‘Ratna’ of the SNA. How does it feel?
No doubt these are valuable awards but to be frank I do not pine for them. It feels nice if one gets it but if I did not receive it even then I would be living a comfortable life. God has been very kind to me. The amount of respect and love I get from both my worlds, the affectionate family support by my wife Kishori in sustaining my musical career, by my daughter Purvi helping me with a balanced musical vision which is traditional and contemporary at the same time, Snehal my son having taken over the business responsibility giving me more time for my musical activities; all this ensures that His blessings are always with me.
Pandit Arvind Parikh receiving SNA award from APJ Abdul Kalam
What is the Imdadkhani Baaj?
“If we talk of the stylistic evolution of sitar, initially it was very right-hand oriented style, full of virtuosity but the left hand did not equal or parallel to the right hand. Gradually, it captured the quality of voice in the times of Ustad Enayat Khan. Now the left hand attained the capability or beauty of the voice. Thus the Imdadkhani Baaj was the stylistic evolution of both the hands. Initially right hand was the dominant force and the left hand played minimal role. During Enayat Khan’s time both the hands played parallel role. In the times of Vilayat Khan, left hand became more important than the right hand. Thus the Imdadkhani Baaj was a process of evolution that ultimately became the signature of Gayaki Ang, the vocalised idiom.”
The correct way
The Chairman of Sangeet Natak Akademi Shekhar Sen once asked Pandit Arvind Parikh during an interactive session at the Vrindavan Gurukul of Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia that he has seen the golden era of classical music. Didn’t he feel like going to the other gharana artistes also to get the extra bit that attracted him?
Parikh smiled and said, “I will respond to your question by relating an incident. I was studying in Elphinstone College those days in the late 1940s. Pt. Ravi Shankar also used to come to the same Coffee House where we went in our recess. One day he said, ‘Arvind Bhai these days we are composing music for ‘Discovery of India’. Come over tomorrow. I’m sure you would like it.’ I did go and as he said, liked it too. The next day, I was playing that on my sitar when Ustad Vilayat Khan, who was staying with me, passed by my room and asked, ‘Arvind Bhai, what is going on?’ I told him that I had gone for this, invited by Pt. Ravi Shankar, and playing some phrases picked up from there.’
He was very open minded because his father had died when he was just ten. He himself had learnt from varied sources and used to say, ‘Mere daaman mein bahuton ki bheekh padi hai ( I’m bequeathed with music by very many).’
That day he gave me a precious mantra that I’ll share with you as an answer to your question. He said, ‘There is nothing wrong in admiring beauty and you are free to adopt anything you like, but you should have the ability to use it in your own language and in the correct way.’
Arvind Bhai explained it further. “Suppose you like a poetry from Marathi literature. There is no need to learn Marathi. Express that emotion in your own language. This is what I have learnt from my guru and this is also my answer to your question.” The hall reverberated with applause.
