Globalisation is no longer the concern of only economists and social theorists. Musicians too have begun to feel its impact and are bracing themselves to face the emerging challenge.
Keeping this in mind, Delhi University’s Faculty of Music and Fine Arts, in collaboration with the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), organised a two-day international seminar on “The Global Impact of Modern Trends on Traditional Music” this past week. Professors Meki Nzewi from South Africa and Premilla Hungsraz from Mauritius read out their papers and made presentations along with many other scholars. While such attempts should be lauded and encouraged, one cannot help observing that the theme of the seminar could have been better formulated and the sessions could have been devoted to clearly enunciated sub-themes.
Despite these obvious deficiencies, the seminar did throw some light on the issues faced by practicing musicians as well as teachers and trainers of music. Nzewi, through a video presentation accompanied by his lecture, showed how the tribal culture in South Africa was receiving cultural influences from outside. Hungsraz explained in great detail how she and her colleagues in Mauritius were trying to make use of the modern information technology in their pedagogic practices. However, one was at a loss to understand why Vedic music was included in the seminar. Incidentally, Vedic scholar Pankaj Mala Sharma spoke in great detail about sprawling Vedic literature but hardly anything on how it was relevant musically today and how the “Vedic music”— if there is some such entity — was experiencing the “global impact of modern trends”. Perhaps, there were certain non-musical and non-academic reasons behind the decision to include this topic.
Vocal recital tooThis apart, the first day’s proceedings reached their dénouement in a riveting vocal recital by one of Gwalior gharana’s top vocalists, Pandit Vidyadhar Vyas, who had served as vice-chancellor of the Bhatkhande Music University, Lucknow, and executive director of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata. It was in the fitness of things to invite him to perform on this occasion, as he happened to be both a front-ranking musician as well as an educationist. In view of the distinguished audience that included sitar maestro Pandit Debu Chaudhary, Delhi gharana exponent Ustad Iqbal Ahmed, Professor Krishna Bisht and teachers and students of music, he presented a very intelligently conceived recital that was brilliant in terms of its musical logic.
Pandit Vyas began with a slow Tilwada khayal in Multani as it was a most appropriate raga for the time. Saying that he wanted to sing those compositions that were special to his Gwalior gharana, he chose a traditional composition “Ladi Thari Baat Nachakar Re” that is not heard very often these days. Multani is considered a big raga and omits rishabh and dhaivat in the ascending (aroh) order but employs all the seven notes in the descending (avroh) one. Accomplished singers dwell on nishad to lend beauty to their presentation besides according prominence to pancham and shadaj. Endowed with a deep, sonorous and well-trained voice, Vidyadhar Vyas established the raga in the opening phrases itself without beating about the bush. His open-throated gayaki carried all the hallmarks of the Paluskar school and he developed the raga in the typical style of the Gwalior gharana, making use of the devices of alap, bol-alap, bol-taans, etc. His taans were forceful yet exquisitely structured, weaving complex note-patterns. His virtuosity is not devoid of emotional intensity and he regaled the discerning listeners with his playful use of layakari. He sang the familiar fast Ek tal composition “Nainan Mein Aanbaan” in the same raga.
As he had said in his brief introductory remarks, a raga was like a courtyard in a traditional Indian mansion that often opened into another courtyard. Using this as a metaphor, Pandit Vyas chose Multani’s immediate neighbour Madhuvanti and sang a self-composed bhajan “Binati Suno Hamari”. Madhuvanti turns komal rishabh and komal dhaivat of Multani into shuddh while pancham and suddh nishad remain the nyas swaras. Vidyadhar Vyas made sparingly made quite delectable use of komal nishad too, thus lending it a special flavour. He followed it up with a composition in Bhimpalasi, a natyageet in Dhani that began with a forceful taan and a composition in Patdeep. In tune with the Indian fondness for a cyclical view of everything, he completed the cycle with a tarana in Multani, thus providing a befitting finale to a memorable performance.
