On Guru Purnima, IGNCA organised a commemorative concert, “The Singing Strings of Shahjahanpur” by five disciples of Padma Bhushan Pt Buddhadev Dasgupta – Pt Drebashish Bhattacharya in jugalbandi with sitariya Pt Sugato Nag, and Prattyush Banerji, Smarajit Sen and Debsmita Bhattacharya jointly presented a “gat maala” or stringing together rare compositions of different ustads, in the seven generations of the lineage of the Senia Shahjahanpur gharana.
Shahjahanpur is a small town near Lucknow; amazingly it is linked with Afghan horsemen nurturing a musical tradition evolved in India; today represented by well-born Bengali amateur musicians. This playing style known as the Senia Shahjahanpur gharana has three main branches.
Ustad Murad Ali Khan’s music today is represented by the many disciples of late Pt Radhika Mohan Maitra, who learnt from the grandson of the Ustad. For Radhu babu, as he was known in the music world, the provenance of the compositions he learnt was important, had a treasure trove of rare compositions of various Ustads, which show the evolution of the changing styles of sarod “baaj”. He was also a master of rare ragas. Radhu babu taught several students, the best known was Padma Bhushan Pt Buddhadev Dasgupta who passed away in February this year.
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The entire evening was put together by Prattyush Banerji. They started with a cleverly crafted “gat mala”, an unusual concept, as it requires the knowledge of several unusual bandishes which can be strung together coherently. The trio started with the early morning Bhairavi, and presented three separate gats, by Ustad Murad Ali Khan, his son Ustad Abdullah Khan and Pt Radhika Mohan Maitra, artists who spanned over more than 100 years, showing clearly how simple construction and “bol” work gave way to more complex patterns, and later with more lyricism. As Prattyush explained, some of the “gats” were in the “Firozkhani” baaj (composed by Senia Ustad Firoze Khan (also known as “Adarang” from Mian Tansen’s daughter’s branch). These signature compositions are long, spreading over 2 or 3 “avartans” (time cycle) in 2, 2-and-a-half and even three octaves, and therefore had no need for the “antara” portion.
Prattyush then presented a gat in Komal Rishabh Asavari, Smarajit going on to Yamini Bilawal (composed by Dr Kalyan Mukherji) and Prattyush, the rarer Nat Bilawal. Unexpectedly, Debsmita went on to present a very rare afternoon raga, Shudha Ranjini. This raga which a few musicians in the audience admitted they had never heard before, had the notes of raga Durga in the descent, and shades of Abhogi in the ascent. Another rare raga presented in brief by Prattyush was raga Barati, (also known as Barali or Barari, according to Prattyush) which seemed to have shades of Puriya Kalyan, Jait, Bhatiyar amongst others. Raga Kamod, a favourite of Pt Buddhadev Dasgupta was presented by Debsmita; followed by Chaya Bihag by Smarajit.
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The subsequent two gats in Jaijaiwanti, and Surdasi Malhar composed by Radhu babu and Buddhadev ji clearly showed the totally individualistic creativity of both the masters; yet had the underlying “chhaap” (stamp) of the gharana. It is indeed like a miracle seeing how creativity and individual expression gets channelled along the same lines when the learning process is so close and intense.
Remarkable generosity
Pt Budhadev Dasgupta’s generosity as a guru was vouched for by Pt Biswajit Roy Chowdhury who said he had learnt about 70 % of the gats presented during the evening from “Buddho kaka” (Pt Buddhadev Dasgupta), despite not being his formal disciple!
The “dupali” gat in Bahar (each phrase is repeated twice) was played jointly by all three artists, as was a gat in Nayaki Kanhra; truly a delight. The concluding gat in Kafi, again presented jointly by all three artists was a fitting finale. On the tabla was Susasmoy Mishra, disciple of Pt Samar Saha and Pt Kishan Maharaj.
Next was a brief, but highly erudite talk on the gharana by Prattyush, followed by the screening of an audio visual film on Pt Buddhadev Dasgupta, put together by Prattyush. This highlighted the multidimensional versatility of the master – including his lucidity as an orator, his writing ability, his professional achievements as an engineer, his interest in Western classical music, and experimentations with Rabindrasangeet.
The concluding recital was the jugalbandi; the duo of Pt Debashish Bhattacharya and Pt Sugato Nag played Raga Ramdasi Malhar, using both the Gandhars. (Another version of the raga is only with the Shudha Ga). Both Debashish and Sugato respected a tradition that lays great emphasis on the proportion of presentation – there were no repetitions or prolonged variations of a set of notes. Both clearly know each other’s music inside out; Sugato’s restraint, visible in his deference to his elder brother musician was admirable. After aalap and jor, they moved straight to a Teen taal gat composed by Debashish. The concluding item was a beautiful Tilak Kamod; the gat composed by Pt Buddhadev Dasgupta. Tilak Kamod is a raga said to be created by an unknown Senia Ustad; indeed there could have been no one better than Debashish and Sugato to etch out all its hues, so correctly. On the tabla was Jyotirmoy Roy Choudhury, currently disciple of Pt Suresh Talwalkar.
It was truly an evening of rare music; a virile and stroke driven baaj combined with extremely delicate brush strokes of the raga being enunciated by disciples of a great “taalim”. The presence of Bhavani Shankar Dasgupta, elder son of the maestro, and a very fine sarodiya, added the personal touch to the concert.