Scholars and teachers of music are rarely good concert performers. There are of course exceptions like Prof Ratanjankar, Prof K G Ginde, Dr Sumati Mutatkar, Pt V G Jog, Dr Shanno Khurana, Ustad Yunus Hussain Khan in the past, and now, amongst others, Vidushi Shruti Sadolikar, Pt Vidyadhar Vyas, Dr Shashank Maktedar and Dr Ojesh Pratap Singh and Pt Prateek Choudhuri at Delhi University. As such it was a pleasant surprise to hear Prof Harvinder Singh, currently teaching at the PG Government College for Girls. Chandigarh.
Prof Singh has an impressive musical lineage – from the Agra gharana, he has learnt from a doyen like Ustad Yunus Hussain Khan and also Prof Yashpal. Ustad Yunus Hussain Khan was the 11th generation in a line of musicians belonging to the Agra gharana, and was the son of the erudite Ustad Vilayat Hussain Khan, nicknamed “encyclopedia” by musicians in his generation. He had also learnt from the greatest vocalist of the Agra gharana, Ustad Faiyaz Khan himself. Not only regarded as a learned musician, with a succinct style of presentation, Ustad Yunus Hussain Khan was also a composer under the pen name “Darpan”, and the creator of several unusual raga combinations like Lalita Sohini, Ahiri Bihag, Husaini Bhairav.
Prof Singh also learnt from the reclusive Ustad Tarlochan Singh of the Kirana gharana, who was a direct disciple of the great Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan, brother of the founder of the Kirana gharana, Ustad Abdul Karim Khan. This relatively unknown singer had left his affluent family and home to dwell alone in the cremation ground area in Ambala by the time Prof Harvinder Singh met and learnt from him in the 1990s, but there was a time when the likes of Pt Ram Narayan, Pt Ravi Shankar and Ustad Amir Khan used to visit him to hear his music. Apparently, the Ustad used to sing alone at night, so no one heard him, with only his tamboora as accompaniment.
Gratitude to Guru
The Professor recalled his Guru Ustad Tarlochan Singh telling him how he used to cook mutton for his Ustad, Abdul Wahid Khan to keep him happy, as being a Sikh and not from any musical tradition, he might otherwise have been sidelined by the Guru. Professor Singh acknowledged his debt to his Guru, as he correctly taught him “sur lagaana”, “shruti gyan” and of course rare compositions. Definitely, the Kirana influence of the slow, vilambit raga unfolding was visible in Professor Singh’s recital.
He said he was lucky in also having learnt from the very knowledgeable Pt Lakshman Krishnarao Shankar Pandit of the Gwalior gharana.
His own father Bhai Santa Singh was also a well known raagi in the Sikh tradition, singing at Darbar Sahib (Harmandir Sahib, Amritsar), as well as at other gurudwaras.
Starting his recital with raga Bageshwari, Prof Singh was ably accompanied on the tabla by Ustad Asghar Hussain Khan and on the harmonium by Dr Vinay Mishra. His rounded sonorous voice was pleasing to the ear, and his detailed traditional vilambit ek taal khayal, “sakhi man laage na”, was reminiscent of a bygone old fashioned way of singing.
The Agra gharana influence in his “bol baant” was not so prominent, as one would have expected. His varied learning presented a recital that was more generic, and not gharana specific. The drut khayal was in teen taal, composed by Ustad Yunus Hussain Khan, “jine daras diye, saras kiye”, referring to the pen names of great composers of the Agra gharana “daras piya” (Ustad Mehboob Khan) and saras piya” (Ustad Kale Khan). He embellished this with well taught “taan” patterns.
The second raga was Jog Kauns, the vilambit ek taal a popular khayal; on request he also sang raga Malkauns, ending with a bhajan.
