Fragrance from the past

Jawwad Ali Khan, grandson of the legendary Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan saab, says it is not easy to carry on the legacy

July 02, 2010 06:57 pm | Updated 06:57 pm IST

Grand son of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Hindustani singer Ustad Jawwad Ali Khan.  Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.

Grand son of Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Hindustani singer Ustad Jawwad Ali Khan. Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.

“Till we understood music, he was just a grandfather for us. We would pester him to buy us balloons, sweets, play with us… we used to trouble him a lot. But once we began to understand music, we stopped thinking of him as grandfather. His iconic stature gradually began to unfurl for us, and we felt ashamed for the way we behaved with him. Each time I tune the swarmandal I think of my grandfather, climbing on to his lap, listening to his wonderful music. He worked extensively on the beauty of music,” recalls Jawwad Ali Khan, grandson of the legendary Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, the king of thumri. Jawwad Ali Khan, who usually sings with his brother Mazhar Ali Khan, was in Bangalore for a concert and recalled his grandfather – in word and song.

“It was believed that the length of your raga exposition determines your scholarship. Hence, you were a musician with a paucity for ideas if your presentation was brief,” recalls Jawwad Ali. However, it was Ustad who broke that myth, infusing his music with such beauty that he created a tremendous impact on the listening public. This founder of the Purab ang in thumri polished the angularities and dressed it up with graces that gave his style remarkable beauty. Hence, even when many other musicians render timeless thumris like “Kya Karu Sajni”, or “Yaad Piya ki Aaye” they may not measure up to the extraordinary beauty created by the Ustad, but one cannot help flipping for the inherent magic of the compositions.

Jawwad Ali Khan holds that even when you define music as food for soul, it is an incomplete definition. “Can one measure God? Do all our words, songs and prayers give us a complete picture of him? Music is similar, my grandfather used to say. It is impossible to measure it. The experience of music is the truth and words can never capture it,” he explains, as he painstakingly tunes every string on his swarmandal. The Khan brothers were initially trained by their father Karamat Ali Khan saab, the older son of Ustad. He gave them the much needed impetus and was their guiding beacon. Much later, they moved on to learn from Munawar Ali Khan, the second son of the Ustad, who is remembered in music circles as a musician of profound depth and scholarship; he was a teacher par excellence.

“Munawar saab was a great musician. He was a very patient teacher. He came down to our level. He used to say, ‘If I behave like a Ustad, then you won't learn. I have to unlearn many things if I need to shape you into good musicians'.”

A style unique to the Kasur-Patiala gharana is the Chaumukha style. “It is peculiar to our tradition and takes the best from khyal, dadra, tappa and chaiti forms,” he explains. The Ustad's scintillating style, with a deep meditative quality to it, gave it a dhrupad feel. “Every flower has a distinct fragrance. So thumris of various places – Gaya, Lucknow, and Benaras… each has its own distinct style and gayaki. I don't claim that ours is superior, but the Ustad's craftsmanship is evident in our singing,” says Jawwad Ali Khan.

For these talented grandsons — who have created their own aesthetics, even as they carry forward a great legacy — carrying the mantle of a legend does not come easy. “It is very hard. Every one expects us to sing like the Ustad. He was born a 100 years ago and we into these times. Our contexts are different. One has to work an entire lifetime to be called a musician of some merit, unlike Bollywood singers who become stars overnight,” he avers. Jawwad Ali Khan draws attention to the Sangeet Natak Academy award functions where most musicians come on wheel chairs or are too old to be even present. “What is the use of an award that doesn't come in good time?”

That evening, during the concert, the audience just wanted to hear the grand old thumris of the Ustad. Through Jawwad Ali Khan they had travelled into the past.

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