The other day, Sangeet Natak Akademi Yuva Puruskar winner Sahana Bannerji from Pune performed at the India Habitat Centre. Sahana represents the Senia Rampur baaj (style) – her father Pandit Santosh Bannerji was a senior student of the grandson of the great Ustad Wazir Khan of Rampur, Ustad Dabir Khan. Ustad Wazir Khan was a prominent Ustad of the Senia beenkar gharana descended from Tansen’s daughter’s line, and was the Guru of the two greatest sarodiyas, Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan of Gwalior and Ustad Allaudin Khan of Maihar.
Sahana played Bihag – correctly, elegantly and satisfyingly. She plays old fashioned music, with emphasis on lyricism rather than virtuosity. The “dir dir” work she did is, nowadays, heard less on sitar; her meend work on the kharaj wires was admirable. Perhaps, her tambura was too loud, especially in the initial aalap stage. After a succinct aalap jor jhala, she played two gats – a traditional masitkhani gat, and then the drut bandish which was a composition of Ustad Dabir Khan and had the undoubted Senia “chaap” (stamp) with its refined unfolding. Durjay Bhaumick provided able accompaniment on the tabla.
After the concert, Sahana spoke to us.
Excerpts:
When did you start playing the sitar?
When I was five years old, my father’s student, a son of the great sitar maker Hiren Roy, presented me with a beautiful baby sitar with my nickname on it. I started playing from then onwards.
Your father Pandit Santosh Bannerji learnt extensively from Ustad Dabir Khan. Are you his only student?
No, he taught my elder Gurubhai Ujjwalendu Chakravorty. He plays surbahar with the traditional talim of surbahar which is different to playing the sitar.
Ustad Dabir Khan was a veena player; your father plays surbahar and sitar…
Ustadji was very keen to teach my father the rudra veena as well, as that was his family instrument, but on two separate occasions when my father started playing the veena, his arm inexplicably swelled up and he had to stop playing. Definitely our belief is that only a direct member of Tansen’s family can play the rudra veena with impunity, otherwise for anyone else to play, you have to live a life of great purity. It’s a sacred instrument. So after that, he didn’t even try, but stuck to surbahar for aalap and sitar for gat. He plays the old way of beenkaars, two fingered strokes on right hand.
Tell us more about Ustad Dabir Khan, your dada Guru
Ustad Wazir Khan of Rampur had two sons – Ustad Dabir Khan and Ustad Sagir Khan. Sagir Khan sahib also had a lot of taalim but he was a more playful person, loved travelling (he went to Paris too) and so did not devote himself exclusively to music. My father learnt from him too. But Ustad Dabir Khan was his main Guru. He learnt from him for 26-27 years and he used to come to our house in Calcutta which is 200 years old.
You also have vocal taalim from your mother?
My nanaji, Sangeetacharya Kashinath Chattopadhyay had learnt from Ustad Mushtaq Hussain Khan of the Rampur Sahaswan gharana. My mother learnt from her father, and has taught me many vocal bandishes. Sitar is, in itself, an instrument adapted to execute khayals, not dhrupad, so an understanding of vocal music is very important. I am, of course, not a trained singer, but do learn compositions vocally to execute them accurately on the sitar. In fact, my father who is today 84 years old also sings to teach me something new – that is the old way of teaching.
What would you say is special about your music?
All I try in my music is to adhere what my father taught me – don’t copy others, play what you have learnt; it’s original. He said Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan were great institutions of music, two stars, the likes of which will never shine again, and you can learn the purity of ragas from their playing, but still play in your own way, don’t blindly copy. I try to do this.
