At New Delhi’s Modern School, Madhup Mudgal loved the Beatles, and played guitar and drums. At home, he was exposed the best of Hindustani classical music. His father, the late Pandit Vinay Chandra Maudgalya, headed Delhi’s prestigious Gandharva Mahavidyaya, where many senior musicians would regularly pay visits. “Artistes like Pandit Omkarnath Thakur, Mallikarjun Mansur, Narayanrao Vyas, Vinayakrao Patwardhan, Kumar Gandharva, K. G. Ginde, Ram Marathe and Pandit Jasraj were regular, and I was lucky to attend many recitals and workshops during my teens,” recalls Mudgal.
The Padma Shri awardee, who will perform this Sunday in the city, is a much-respected personality in Delhi’s music circles. He is principal of the Gandharva Mahavidyalaya and founder and conductor of the Gandharva Choir, where he has composed songs based on the traditional dhrupad, tarana and Carnatic varnam, besides incorporating folk melodies. Mudgal’s concert will focus on morning ragas, followed by some devotional tunes. There will be no amplification. He says, “It is great to hear that organisers are not only having such concerts, but making them a series. It is like singing at home or in a private mehfil. The setting can be so intimate.”
Student of tradition
Though he had learnt the basics from his father, Mudgal started taking serious classical lessons at 15 or 16. He was trained in Gwalior gharana technique by Pandit Vasant Thakar, whose father had learnt from the great Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar. Says the vocalist, “I started spending my pocket money buying LPs of Ustad Amir Khan and Jasraj. After meeting Jasraj-ji, I decided to learn from him.” Mudgal’s next guru was Kumar Gandharva. He says, “All my mentors had different styles. There was something unique about Kumar-ji – both in the way he sang and in the way he taught. He was a master of khayal, of course, but his approach to devotional music was unique. I once heard him sing a Nirguni bhajan and I did not know what it was. But I wanted to learn the art.”
Grooming talent
Mudgal says Kumar Gandharva had a special way of making students practice the study of notes or approach to a raga. “He believed everyone had a unique style, would give you all the building material. But ultimately, you had to construct your own building.”
Today, a lot of Mudgal’s time is divided between performing, teaching and managing the institute. “The focus is to find people who have potential in vocals, instrumental and dance, and to groom them and give them direction. We pay a lot of attention to archiving, so students can get to hear and watch rare recordings.”
Mudgal advises young musicians to spend as much time as possible on riyaz . “I would say a minimum of 12 hours is necessary, though times have changed today. One can learn a lot by listening to old recordings on YouTube, but one has to do that in a systematic manner,” he says. Among the current and younger generation of vocalists, Mudgal admires Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar, Venkatesh Kumar, Manjusha Patil and Shashwati Mandal. “I tend to go back to the older singers. Each one of them is like a textbook,” he shares.
Madhup Mudgal will perform at Udayswar @Prithvi - a concert of Morning Ragas on December 16 at 7.30 a.m.; details at bookmyshow.com
