After Bengaluru, Mysuru to get its own academy for Hindustani music

The city, known to patronise classical music and dance, will have a new academy to train students in the Hindustani genre of music under the Guru-Shishya parampara.

To be launched by Sarangi artiste Ustad Faiyaz Khan under the banner ‘Parveen Begum Smruti Music and Education Trust,’ it will be the trust’s second such music academy in the State. The first one is in Bengaluru.

The music academy is being supported by Sarod artiste Pandit Rajeev Taranath and will commence functioning from the last week of February.

“The music academy — which will function from the alumni association hall of the Mahajana College to start with — will cater to beginners and students who require advanced training in Hindustani, be it vocal or instrumental. Resource persons will include established artistes drawn from the respective fields,” Mr. Faiyaz Khan said.

A unique aspect of the academy is that it will not follow a rigid time schedule as Mr. Faiyaz Khan believes music cannot be taught or learnt in an hour’s period.

“The academy in Bengaluru starts the day as early as 5 a.m. and students practice till late in the night,” he further added.

Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Fayaz Khan said that the Mysuru academy will also have classes in music appreciation where the connoisseurs can sit and listen to the proceedings in a class, can imbibe the finer nuances of music and learn to appreciate music.

“The objective of establishing the music academy is to spot and train new generation of musicians who can carry forward the classical tradition of India for posterity.”

A direct disciple of Sarangi legend Pandit Ramnarayan, Mr. Faiyaz Khan said that there was tremendous scope to learn classical art forms in Mysuru even today and this is evident in the existing schools.

For long considered to be the bastion for Carnatic music, the misci lovers in the city have taken to appreciate Hindustani music as well and this was also made possible by the efforts of people like B. Somashekar, who established Saptaswara Balaga and organised Hindustani concerts to promote it, Mr. Faiyaz Khan added.

Musical evening

The city will witness a musical event on Sunday. The event will feature musician Pandit Rajeev Taranath, Hindustani sarod recital by Faraaz Khan (disciple of Pandit Rajeev Taranath), Hindustani vocal recital by Ustad Arshad Ali Khan, a scholar of ITC Research Academy, Kolkata. The event is being held to mark the launch of Parveen Begum Smruti Music and Educational Trust. The accompanying artistes include Pandit Ravindra Yavgal and Vikas Naregal on tabla and Sarfaraaz Khan on sarangi. The musical evening will also witness ‘Ganda Bandhan’ ceremony, which is a traditional ritual of bonding between the guru and the shishya and in this case — Mr. Taranath, the guru, will accept Mr. Faraaz as his shishya. The event will be held at the Rani Bahadur Auditorium, Manasagangotri, at 5.30 p.m.