Folk music enjoys a special position in the hearts of Indian music aficionados. From learning from it, deriving from it and appreciating music in its most natural form, folk music seams together our cultural heritage in endless ways. And bringing together a number of styles and cultures from the folk music of Uttar Pradesh was the ninth IHC Lok Sangeet Sammelan, curated by renowned singer Shubha Mudgal.
Khazane Lok Sangeet Ke – as it was titled – showcased intrinsic lyrics coupled with mesmerising tunes in lively ragas and talas, wherein the audience got to witness performances from an extensive repertoire, some of which date back to over a century .
Speaking about the hierarchies of music in India, especially the classical versus folk debate, Mudgal says, “I personally do not believe in hierarchies in the arts, but there are some who would insist that the classical arts are the most evolved of high arts. I do not subscribe to this view even though I am myself a student of Hindustani classical music. I believe lok sangeet forms an important, very beautiful and rich segment of the many forms of music in India, and like other forms of music, it is dynamic and changing constantly with the times. People in different parts of India have been persevering for decades to preserve, promote and document folk music.”
The selections this year were precisely ones that have been preserved by the two eminent enthusiasts, scholars and conservators - Pandit Radhavallabh Chaturvedi and Dr Suresh Chandvankar. On day one, Shweta Deshpande sang compositions from Chaturvedi's “Oonchi Atariya Rang Bhari”, a book that contains a variety of folk songs ranging from ones related to life cycle ( sohar ) to seasonal songs such as kajri and sawan . “Chaturvedi, an exponent of the folk music of Uttar Pradesh, compiled and notated dozens of compositions of folk songs for his book, which sadly, is now out of print. The book, therefore, is a valuable archive of compositions. I made a selection of some of the compositions from my personal copy of his book, taught them to a group of young artistes, who then presented these at the festival,” says Mudgal.
Challenging role
Mudgal adds that music events in India often end up repeating artistes due to lack of funds. But, playing a little with the themes and different repertoires enable curators to make concerts refreshing. She says that her role as a curator was both challenging and enriching. “Usually music events in India work around artistes and personalities. If you have the funds, you call the most celebrated names in a particular area of specialisation. If you don’t have the funds, you go with younger, lesser known names. This often leads to a repetition of both artistes and repertoire. However, if you work with a theme and select exclusive repertoire, I believe it may be possible to present music events with a slightly fresh approach.”
“I must hasten to add here that I am by no means suggesting that the regular festivals or events that feature classical music, or Bhakti Sangeet, or other arts like dance for that matter, are in any way, passe. To the contrary, they have proved that focusing on a theme like bhakti, for example, can be extremely successful both in terms of presenting varied expressions and artistes as well as attracting large audiences. Folk music in India is so diverse that it would be impossible for me to curate all kinds of folk music, simply because I do not know enough. I, therefore, restricted myself to the folk music of Uttar Pradesh, with which I have some degree of familiarity.”
Day two of the festival saw the eminent vocalist from Kolkata, Indrani Mukherjee, render seasonal song forms such as hori , chaiti , kajri , jhoola etc., from the thumri-dadra repertoire illustrating the overlaps between folk and classical arts. Mukherjee's archival references came from 78 RPM recordings of the late-19th-early-20th centuries, preserved by Dr Chandvankar of the Society of Indian Record Collectors. These recordings were by people like Gauhar Jan, Janki Bai and Malka Jan. Before Indrani's renditions, an excerpt from each of the selected tracks were played. Mukherjee subtly brought together two eras in her singing. Having learnt taalim from her grandfather Sanjib Banerjee and later from Pandit AT Kanan, Vidushi Purnima Choudhury and presently from Vidushi Manju Sundaram, Mukherjee's on-stage ardour came efforlessly. She says that the experience of working with folk songs from a bygone era added to her own vocabulary. She chose a few from the 14 tracks provided from Dr Chandvankar's collection. She was accompanied on the instruments by Vinay Mishra (harmonium), Vinod Lele (tabla) and Bharat Bhushan Goswami (sarangi).
“The bol is not khari . It has words and lyrics in Bhojpuri, Mirzapuri, Awadhi etc., which are not common. The fragrance of these songs are different and when you stylise and modify them, the lyrics play a very important role. They were often short, sometimes sung with dance pieces, sometimes for their patrons, etc., so the atmosphere itself was different. People who composed them did not think so much about the words as much as they thought about the literature itself. The literature is extremely refined and rare,” says Mukherjee.
Mudgal says that as a theme, she does not know whether this is going to be accepted. “I am unable to predict whether or not audiences will accept a theme or concert idea such as this. But I believe in the power of music, and am glad that both performances were well received.” As an audience, one can definitely say that the theme as well as the music were exhilarating, at the same time, unique.
