Pt. Krishna Ram Chaudhary, the melodious ‘sur’ of shehnai, breathed his last in Lucknow on 16th January. His last rights were performed at the Manikarnika Ghat in Kashi, a city where he lived merged in his sadhana all his life.
Pt. Krishna Ram was among those rare musicians who recognise and believe that true swara is the bedrock of good music. He went further and developed a finely cultivated timbre to show that he cared for the shruti which is the lifeline of Indian ragas. The incisive tunefulness of his shehnai had instantly captured my attention during ‘Sur Benaras’, the centenary celebration of Ustad Bismillah Khan, organised by the Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) in 2016.
His melodious aalap in Bihag and the bewitching bandish, “Lat uljhi suljha ja re balam….” followed by the lilting Dadra “Dagar bich kaise chaloon mag roke Kanhaiya Bepeer…” still lingers in my memory and many of those present that evening at Nagri Pracharini Mandal auditorium, Varanasi. The piercing ‘sur’ of his shehnai and the unassuming demeanour of this self effacing musician made me catch up with him backstage.
Early start
He was born and brought up in a musical family of Benaras. His father Buddha Lal Chaudhary was the disciple of Bade Ramdas ji. He was a well known shehnai exponent of Benaras. He not only played but also made shehnai. Krishna Ram was hardly five-year-old when he made a very small instrument for him, even smaller than the sundari, and started teaching him how to play it. He also taught him how to play the flute.
During the interaction, Pt. Krishna Ram remembered how his father used to make the reed for shehnai, especially for his own instrument. We would travel to a small village in Bihar named Dumraon where this shehnai leaf grew in abundance in and around the water ponds.
He would cut the soft leaves, measure them to suit his requirement, chisel them on steel needles, then dry them in the sun and would work on them until the ‘pattur’ sounded in perfect tunefulness.
He even taught shehnai and this art to his younger brother Ram Lal. Krishna Ram learnt for some times from his uncle too, but Ram Lal was so good at playing shehnai that he joined the Prithvi Theatre as music director and left for Mumbai.
Speaking about the system of his musical training, he said, “My father and guru first taught me vocal music starting with Bhairav in the morning and Yaman in the evening. He would give me ‘sargam’, ‘paltas’, etc in both these ragas and made me practice it to perfection. Then he would ask me to play the same exercises on my instrument. I would practice on my own in the morning from 6 a.m. to 12 noon and then he would teach me in the evenings.”
He was attracted to the shehnai of Ud. Bismillah Khan from childhood. He was eleven when his father noticed his fascination towards Khan Saheb. “He was so perceptive that he especially taught me a Bandish (composition) of Khan Saheb in raga Todi, from his latest LP, released by the HMV company,” reminisced Pt. Krishna Ram during the interview.
He lived in Kabir-Chaura, which is known to be the mohalla of musicians till date. His grandfather was the disciple of Pt. Shiv-Sahay. He was a ‘Ramayani’ who used to sing the Ramayana in classical ragas. He also taught him singing for some time. He was nearly 12 or 13 when his uncle made a name for himself after playing for the film ‘Nagin’, that became the talk of the town. “I practised not only his tunes but also the tunes of Ud. Bismillah Khan played for the films. People would invite me to play on occasion of Puja, weddings and other ceremonies,” said Pt. Krishna Ram.
This was the time when he developed maturity and started seeing new paths in the practised tunes.Then Pt. Mahadev Prasad Mishra took him under his tutelage and his mind and imagination took wings. “I was 16-year-old when I topped the All India Radio (AIR) competition in shehnai and received the gold medal by the then president of India Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. This achievement gave me a special grade to play from AIR stations all over India.” Gradually, he was promoted to A grade and went on to become a ‘Top’ grade artiste of AIR and Doordarshan.
Bestowed with the SNA award and Padma Shri, Pt Krishna Ram always maintained that music was his pooja. “Whatever has come to me, is due to God’s grace and the blessings of my gurus and the elders.”
His passing away is a great loss to the world of shehnai. Let us hope and pray that his disciples carry the tradition forward as a true ode to their departed guru.
