Indore was one of the prominent musical centres in the 18th Century with huge patronage by the Holkar Court before being replaced by the Awadh Court in Lucknow until Wajid Ali Shah was dethroned. The musical centre then moved to Rampur.
But Indore retained its prominence even in the 20th Century due to its association with four prominent musicians linked with the city – Ustad Bande Ali Khan beenkar who died in 1895, his vocalist disciple Ustad Rajab Ali Khan whose dazzling taans were spectacular, Ustad Amir Khan, said to be hugely inspired by Ustad Rajab Ali Khan, and lastly sitariya Ustad Rais Khan, descendent of Ustad Bande Ali Khan. Amazingly all of them are linked despite the generation gap (Ustad Amir Khan was Ustad Rais Khan’s maternal aunt’s husband).
Ustad Amir Khan, founder of the so called “Indore gharana” was born in Indore in 1912; his father was a court musician at the Holkar court. In his memory, the Madhya Pradesh State Government’s Bhopal-based Ustad Allaudin Khan Sangeet Evam Kala Academy has been organising an annual festival, cleverly called “Raga Amir” for the past several years. Held in a 900-seat hall in Indore, the beautifully organised three-day festival had impressive stage sets and also featured a discussion on the arts on two days, and an exhibition. The first day featured a brief dhrupad recital by Afzal Hussain of Bhopal, (disciple of Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar) accompanied by Akhilesh Gundecha. Raga Bhinna Sajda was outlined in an aalap, during which the pakhawaj accompaniment was most pleasing. Two compositions followed, the first in chautaal was “Kunj mein racho raas”.
ADVERTISEMENT
This was followed by a sarod recital by Pandit Tejendra Narayan Mazumdar, the Maihar gharana scion. One of the leading exponents of sarod today, Mazumdar’s melodious touch, strict adherence to the traditional shape of the raga learnt by authentic taalim, great riyaaz, and a conventional format of presentation has won him admirers world wide.
Meditative concert
Undoubtedly, the most popular concert of the festival, this concert was meditative in raga Kausi Kannada aalap, with interesting khand meru taans (as a tribute to Ustad Amir Khan’s whose forte this was) in the “jor”, and great layakari in the gat set to dhammar. The next raga Manjh khamach featured several old compositions, played with great flair, and ending in an ultra drut jhala. Shubhankar Bannerjee on tabla was as always superb and innovative – this time the dhammar presentation was reliant on pakhawaj bols and baaj. Indeed, it is appreciative and knowledgeable audiences like this that are keeping up the quality levels of concerts, and encouraging artists to play their best.
ADVERTISEMENT
The next day there was a vocal recital by Suchitra Gupta from Banaras, who is essentially a thumri singer, making her inclusion at the festival a trifle puzzling. She overstretched her time slot by singing a small khayal in Bageshwari, followed by several holis. The next artist Ustad Nishat Khan (by marriage, a nephew of Ustad Amir Khan) has a great connection with Indore as both his grandfather and great grandfather were court musicians at the Holkar court, briefly. He started with Bihag, (alaap, jor, brief jhala) then a gat and then moved onto Khamach, in which he played Ustad Inayat Khan’s “lakshan” (path showing) gat with great delicacy. The opening “dir dir” work in the gat is so beautifully crafted! In the Khamach, he played a subtle and expertly executed ragamala, with snatches of various ragas, but always coming back to Khamach. On the tabla was Ramendra Singh Solanki from Bhopal, from the Ajjrara gharana.
Surprisingly, after the Ustad, who is amongst the foremost exponents in the country, there was a vocal recital by relatively junior Ruchira Panda, disciple of Pandit Manas Chakravorty. She presented raga Jhinjhoti, not such a usual choice with vocalists today. Her soaring throaty voice and careful barhat was elegant; she is indeed well taught. She concluded with a Pahari Khamach thumri.
The concluding day featured a wonderfully nostalgic film on Ustad Amir Khan, presented by his actor son Shahbaz Khan. This included tributes on Ustad Amir Khan by greats like Ustad Vilayat Khan and Pandit Ravi Shankar, and shots of him in concert. This was followed by Anuradha Pal, the best lady tabla player today, in a solo, and concluded with Pandit Kaivalya Kumar Gurav, of the Kirana gharana; indeed an appropriate choice as Ustad Amir Khan too was trained in the Kirana gayeki.