Notes and Beats

Let us not forget those great singers who chose to stay out of the race of name and fame . Azam Bai of Kolhapur (1906-1986) was also known as Azambai Pisal. Very little is known about her but the recordings she left behind testifies that she was a classical vocalist of truly exceptional quality . It is known that she was trained in the Jaipur-Atrauli style of Ustad Alladiya Khan, by one of his sons -- either Manjhi Khan or Bhurji Khan during the 1930s. She also starred in a film named Naagaanand (1935) for which Vamanrao Sadolikar composed the music. Azambai of Kolhapur cut at least 15 78 RPM records released by the Odeon Company in 1936-37 -- most of which are now only available in the collectors' archives.

A Rag mala is a garland of beautiful flowers . These flowers are verses composed in different Ragas . Though there are many flowers in a garland , that are all held together in a central strand of oneness . Similarly a Rag mala though comprising of several ragas has a central theme and a mood . Padmashree Goswami Gokulotsavji Maharaj is undoubtedly a great living saint and an equally great musician .He belongs to the tradition of Indor gharana of Khan saheb .We don't get to listen to him often . But when we do , he takes us to a different world of devotion and melodic nectar. Sharing with you this beautiful Rag Mala composed by Swamiji .

In this world of loud music ,what a bliss it is to get to listen to musicians who can uncover , the softness , intensity and delicacy hidden in musical compositions .  John Eliot Gardiner is one of the great modern day conductors .I love him for his calm ,mature disposition ,his scholarship and of course his humility Here he conducts a mass by Mozart . It is 59 minutes of absolute glory. The way such a huge band of musicians is synchronized in body ,mind ,heart and spirits and elevate the audience to a higher meditative state is amazing . Masses are essentially spiritual compositions written by composers such as Bach and Mozart . Very soothing and pleasing indeed !! I am sure Mr Gardiner the Lord is extremely pleased every time you conduct  smile emoticon   smile emoticon

We hear a lot of grievance statements in the field of Indian classical music. Some of them are. 1.Most of the Indian music lovers feel classical music is out of their reach .The Raagas , the Gharanas , the Alaaps , the rhythm ,take any of it , they can relate to none and hence classical music falls out of taste of masses . 2.Musicians that belong to the older generations or those who follow older generations feel that musical sensibilities of audience of the present day have degraded. People don’t want to listen to a long drawn elaborate development of Raaga. They want classical music to be wrapped up as soon as possible and light classical/light music to be sung. If possible a fast beat, high pitched song that they can tap their feet on. 3. Artists that belong to the new generation feel that we are dragging our feet too much on the old sands; we must look out for new kind of music, innovative, original and fresh. Nothing should stop creativity even it means creating fusion. Art form...

Any time in our creative life if we get tempted by smaller things, we can turn back and check the path that great artists followed ."Mahajano Yen Gatah Sa Panthah"(Follow the path that great people followed ).Pandit D.V. Paluskar churns our consciousness with his heart wrenching exposition of Raag Bhoopali .His Shuddha Aakar , Purity of tonal constructions in Raaga Bhava, Smooth silky mellifluous voice makes us wonder what kind of emotional intensity this great man had !! If we close our eyes and listen ,we feel as if we are swimming in the vast expanse of sonorous music . This is a rare big recording of Panditji.

Raag Saraswati is a beautiful melody that comes to Hindustani music from Carnatak Music. The “Jati” is Audav –Shadav i.e. Five Swaras in the aroha (ascent) and six Swaras in the avaroh (decent). Gandhar and Nishad are not taken in Aroh and Gandhar is not taken in Avroh .The dialogue between Pancham and Rishab is very pleasing. They are Vadi and Sanvadi swars respectively. It is a sweet coincidence that an artist specially blessed by Saraswasti Maa is singing Raag Saraswati. Deeply emotive artistic communication and profundity are signatures of Sanhita Nandi 's Raga development .As the aesthetic beauty of colourful flowers of notes in the garden of this raga are carefully caressed; a holistic feeling of the Raaga Bhava emerges. One tends to get lost in the ocean of divine musical experience .True to the Kairana legacy; the musical sonority is loved and protected beyond life. Raaga Saraswati becomes a medium to connect with Maa Saraswati.

Pandit K G Ginde used to say that Raag Yaman is the king of all Raagas . In Indian classical music one rarely finds a Raag like Yaman that lets a performer take so much liberty with it. In short, it maintains its identity even when it is being handled by amateur singers . If you are blessed with a good range of voice, and you have acquired sonority and control over rhythm, it’s difficult to go wrong with Yaman. If you know how to take Pa –Re coupling and have a good sense of  movement across Ni and Ga the raga shows itself easily. Begin the Kalyan celebration by garlanding mandra nishad with beautiful colourful flowers of Mandra swaras. Enjoy the nectar of Yamanic Gandhar and Madhyam with a bit of rest on Pancham. Keep Dhaivat at bay and gently enter the antara after a leisurely development on Nishad . And lo! The edifice of Yaman is erected. You may or may not want to cross the orbital of ordinariness, and you can still enjoy Yaman. Staying comfortably within our limitations...

Ustad Amir Khan always stressed upon being a thinking musician. He was of the opinion that a musician must constantly reflect upon, and evaluate the wide world of possibilities through which he has to articulate his musical feelings. However he was not in favour of purely intellectual and mechanical development of Raagas. He shunned layakari of the pronounced nature that we see today. He said “Mere Gane mein Laykari bilkool Na ke barabar hoti hai .” One can do Layakaris, alan karas with amazing mathematical abilities but in what way can it convey the feelings embedded in the raga? Is it not merely a play of medium? Is it not acrobatics for which the best place to be is in a circus and not in a Baithak? In his performances and melody development, Khan Saheb went much beyond merely intellectual calculations. He was a master of “Merukhanda Paddati” but his aalaps never sound like permutations and combinations of 4, 5 or 6 swaras. They arrive loaded with his emotional intensity and ferve...

The world of poetry is fortunate to have a basic expectation set from the readers clearly .Any poem that is written and read should make sense and should provide deeper meanings and insights into life .If this expectation was not set, poets with some mastery over words and grammar would have created a whole lot of tongue twisters and funny sounding phrases with rhymes. The musical world is not so fortunate, since the messages given by musicians through their music cannot always be concretely interpreted; they can take the liberty of revelling in the play of elements and create an illusory structure that is devoid of any real emotive content. For past couple of days, I have been listening to a beautiful series on Western classical music. “The Classical Classroom” In each of the episode a famous piece /composer is taken and a renowned musician explains it. The explanation is so detailed that every musical phrase is explained for its structure, composition and content. The messages ...