He has not just mastered the aesthetics but also the history of his gharana. When tabla exponent Pt. Yogesh Samsi talks about music, it moves beyond performances. Training in the formative years, he thinks, is crucial to develop a distinct perspective and approach.
His first exposure to classical arts was through the Agra gharana to which his renowned vocalist-father Pt. Dinkar Kaikani belonged to. His mother Shashikala Kaikani was also a musician of repute.
“My father was an open-minded artiste who allowed me develop a musical mind of my own. Since he also played the tabla, he was delighted when, at age three, I began to play the instrument without any formal lessons. Thus began my training under him,” says Samsi, who later learnt from Pt. Taranath Rao, who excelled in the Farukhabad, Delhi, and Ajrada gharanas of tabla.
“Today, references to gharanas may not make much sense as there is a lot of stylistic amalgamation in concerts. Technology has shrunk the music world; geographical distances hardly matter when it comes to learning or performing. Earlier, it wasn’t so. People couldn’t travel and connect the way we do. So, if they were initiated in one gharana, they followed it steadfastely through their life. They rarely got opportunities to engage with artistes of other schools,” says Samsi.
The changing times have impacted the arts, but gharanas will never lose their relevance, he adds. Samsi is making efforts to bring the Punjab Gharana back into focus.
Gharanas are not defined only by the maestros who developed them, gave them a musical identity and popularised through their performances.
“Gharanas facilitate structured learning and formal initiation into a style.” A reason why the Ustads prefered to teach ganda-bandh (when the guru ties a sacred thread around a disciple’s wrist) shagirds. While the guru agrees to take the disciple under his fold after the ritual, for the young learner it means pledging his loyalty to the guru and his style.
Samsi’s journey to the Punjab Gharana began, when as a teeanger, he came under the tuelage of Ustad Alla Rakha.
“I learnt from him for 23 years. He was an amazing blend of old-world values and new-age approach. Though the Ustad upheld the traditional technique, he also taught how to present one’s music for a contemporary audience. His son, Ustad Zakir Hussain has imibibed that outlook, which has made him the musician that he is,” says Samsi.
Punjab gharana was known more as pakhawaj gharana. “All the great tabla players were basically pakhawaj artistes. Over the years, youngsters who took to training in percussion opted for the tabla. They began combining the playing techniques of tabla and pakhawaj.”
The gharana that was located in Lahore, suffered immensely in the wake of the Partition. Many of its practitioners were left behind in Pakistan and lost touch with the vocal and percussion tradition of Hindustani music. “Those who were on the Indian side could not do much to take the hoary legacy of the gharana forward. They took to playing for ghazals,” laments Samsi, who met Susheel Kumar Jain, one of the last ustads of the gharana, a few years ago.
“I was thrilled, since he is a storehouse of centuries-old compositions. I have been training under him for the past few years and can hear the echoes of the rhythm of a bygone era,” says Samsi.
