A welcome gesture

A magazine devoted to classical music and dance, ‘Swar-Mudra’ is well produced and likely to offer a collector’s item every edition.

May 08, 2014 07:57 pm | Updated 07:57 pm IST - new delhi

At a time when newspapers, popular magazines and television channels, with a few honourable exceptions, have by and large stopped paying serious attention to performing arts, Raza Foundation has come out with a Hindi magazine exclusive devoted to classical music and dance. If the first issue of Swar-Mudra (Note-Gesture) is an indication of the things to come, one can expect every issue to be a collector’s item. Beautifully produced, the magazine is a visual delight and is edited by well-known Kathak dancer Prerna Shrimali and Hindi poet and music enthusiast Yatindra Mishra. The Foundation’s Executive Trustee and eminent Hindi poet-critic Ashok Vajpeyi is the magazine’s adviser.

Terminology used in classical music and dance has been imaginatively exploited to name the magazine’s various sections. Swar-Mudra opens with an editorial that has been aptly called “Alap”, the first part of any recital of Hindustani classical vocal or instrumental music during which the chosen raga is explored in an abstract manner without taking the aid of rhythm. The first section of the magazine is devoted to remembering the ‘tradition’ in classical music and dance and has been very suggestively named “Sthayi”. The word has two meanings. It means ‘permanent’ because tradition signifies continuity and permanence. However, the refrain or the first line of a Dhrupad or a Khayal composition is also known as ‘sthayi’. This section contains rare material in terms of articles and photographs. It opens with an article on the iconic Bharatanatyam exponent Balasarawsati by the one and only Satyajit Ray who narrates his experiences during the making of a short documentary on her. This is followed by reminiscences of Allauddin Khan, the legendary founder of the Maihar gharana, by Hindi journalist Umesh Mathur. It ends with an interview of famous danseuse Indrani Rahman by veteran journalist Uma Vasudev.

The second section is called “Upaj”, a key element of our performing arts wherein on-the-spot improvisation and innovation are considered much more important than a pre-conceived and pre-meditated presentation. It is devoted to the great artistes’ lives and their expression through their art. It reproduces an excerpt from sitar maestro Ravi Shankar’s autobiography and also offers an article on Kesarbai Kerkar, the most famous disciple of Jaipur-Atrauli gharana founder Alladiya Khan, by well-known journalist and writer Mrinal Pande.

“Badhat” (Elaboration) is also a key element of any performance of classical music. It has been used as the name for the section that focuses on a great artiste. For this issue, Amir Khan is the chosen artiste and the section opens with an article on him by great sitarist Nikhil Banerjee, followed by reminiscences penned by musicologist S. Kalidas and a long interview on Amir Khan with Hindi poet Mangalesh Dabral done by Yatindra Mishra. “Vistar” (Expansion) is devoted to theoretical discussion and contains a thought-provoking article by philosopher-musicologist Mukund Lath on “Tradition and Modernity” in the specific context of Kumar Gandharva. It also has an article on the concept of Margi (classical) and Desi (folk) in Indian dance. The next section “Kahan” (Utterance) offers valuable material in the form of bandishes of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and Rani Rupmati. “Navachar” (New Attempts) has articles that look at the present music and dance scene, “Nayanabhiram” (Visual Delight) offers a beautiful photo-feature of the legendary exponent of Indian dance Uday Shankar, while “Sabha Mandap” (Auditorium) contains some stray thoughts of Ashok Vajpeyi on music and dance.

Two articles deserve special mention — one by famous vocalist Shubha Mudgal and the other by Ashok Vajpeyi. Shubha Mudgal is known for her bold singing as well as bold views. She has made certain very pertinent and acerbic observations about the current practice of young musicians using the prefix of Pandit or Ustad or Vidhushi with their names and senior musicians devising all kinds of highfalutin epithets for themselves. This when legendary vocalists like Gauhar Jan and Kesarbai never felt the need for any such props. Vajpeyi draws attention towards the trend of promoting one’s own sons and daughters by artistes and recalls that he knew several great musicians such as Mallikarjun Mansur and Kumar Gandharva who never fell prey to such temptations.

In its present get-up, Swar Mudra is certainly a very expensive endeavour for any publisher. One wishes it a long life and hopes that such well-intentioned and much-needed efforts will prove to be Sthayi .

Note for readers

Hindi Belt will henceforth appear in The Hindu Metroplus Melange instead of Friday Review. Hence, the next edition of this fortnightly column will be published on Saturday, May 24.

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