Now, this is a surprise gift for Pankaj Udhas on his 67th birthday. Am sure he wasn’t expecting it and I will also wish him in person. But the idea to dedicate this piece to him also coincided with my learning of his latest dream project. Udhas is starting a Ghazal Talent Hunt, in association with Artist Aloud. The idea is to discover and develop fresh voices in the genre, and assisting him in the jury will be singers Rekha Bhardwaj and Sudeep Banerjee. The winners will get an opportunity to perform at this year’s Khazana festival, to be held at The Trident on July 27 and 28.
Auditions have begun and will last till May 31.There have been various talent-spotting contests in other genres, be they Indian or international music. Some ghazal aspirants have participated too. But to have an entire exercise solely for this style is unprecedented.
Past and present
Although I interviewed Udhas in Jaipur a decade before, I got to know him better from 1996 onwards. I had followed the entire 1980s ghazal scene, from him, Jagjit and Chitra Singh, Rajendra and Nina Mehta, Talat Aziz, Anup Jalota, Penaz Masani, Bhupinder and Mitali, Chandan Dass et al besides earlier greats like Talat Mehmood and Begum Akhtar, and various Pakistani greats including Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali, Iqbal Bano and Farida Khanum.
When I met Udhas at his Carmichael Road residence in 1996, a few things impressed me. The first was he had dressed casually in jeans and navy blue T-shirt when I expected a full kurta-pyjama look. The second was that his sitting room had a line of books across various shelves, and he talked at length on poets Rumi, Hafez, Mir, Ghalib, Omar Khayyam and Faiz. It was also his attempt to involve newer poets and the criticism he faced for singing bar favourites. Finally, he was very clear in his goals, and talked about how to carry ghazals forward. As a performing artiste, Udhas draws packed houses even today, across India and abroad.
While that may his primary claim to fame, it’s noteworthy how he has worked to promote the genre. Khazana, now in its 17th year, is one such example of his musical evangelism, but he has helmed various theme shows too. His wife Farida and manager Daraius Gotla have been the singer’s pillars while his daughters Nayaab and Reva are his continuous inspiration.
Everlasting ghazals
Udhas, with tremendous support from senior ghazal singers, has managed to keep the genre not only alive, but also to give a platform to younger artistes. Ghazal isn’t the only genre with abundant talent. One finds that in film music, independent music, pop, Sufi, rock, jazz, blues, Hindustani, Carnatic and Western classical, on television reality shows, everywhere. But what youngsters need is a platform which will first give them confidence and later help them grow. The evolving artiste needs to be careful too. If we take ghazals, some get a break, pose for photographs, get media coverage which plays out on social media. Then they attempt other projects where the money and glamour are bigger, focus less on practice and poetry, look for new mentors, get influenced by over-ambitious parents or even talk of lobbies if things don’t work out. All these shouldn’t arise if dedication and focus are involved. But then, that’s the music industry. It’s efforts by people like Udhas and colleagues that have kept the ghazal scenario alive, when many had dismissed it as dead and gone in the 1990s.
Happy Birthday, Pankaj Bhai. Keep the hard work and passion going.
