A stalwart has died. A doyen of Indian classical music has gone forever; taking with him his golden voice, years of sadhana and repertoire of khayals, thumris, et al. He could be termed as one of India’s gems. But, sadly the Indian media barely mentioned him. No special show, no interviews with his shishyas, his admirers, his contemporaries if any left. This Indian media which can write reams on Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, day in and day out; the Indian electronic media which gives hours of air time to voyeurism, media trial of crimes, however tragic, has no time for one of its greatest singers. Today you just tweet in 140 characters your tribute to a maestro. There used to be a time where every publication worth its name had reporters on cultural beats, who had deep understanding of Indian music, dance and other art forms, and they were sent to cover these concerts. Today, a performance in IIFA awards will be covered more breathlessly than any such concert. Corporates also don’t sponsor such shows. They would rather sponsor crass comedy shows or music competitions where parents are pushing little children to go and participate.
So what is wrong with us? It is the age of getting instant gratification, instant fame, and instant money. Who has the time, patience and austerity to go through years of riyaz and master one art form. This is the Tik Tok generation. They have millions of followers doing all kinds of bizarre acts. Some are quite talented but where is the depth. We are going to lose our rich heritage at this rate and I feel nothing but despair.
I am not an authority on classical music but have grown up in a household where music was always on. My father put on All India Radio early in the morning and we had our first cup of tea in the morning hearing beautiful devotional songs sung by Laxmi Shankar, Prabha Atre, Subalakshmi and so many others. At 8 am there used to be a short programme where they explained one raag, then played a classical song based on it and finally a film song on the same raag. That’s how, till date, I remember Kaun Gali Gayo Shyam was based on Raag Khamaj.
We heard gazals and thumris and dadras and kajris, as they were often played and discussed at home. And not just my home, I think it was the flavour of those times to enjoy and respect those forms of music. I remember once going for a recital by Savita Devi with my parents and the mesmerising thumris she sang. My grandfather used to attend personal recitals by Begum Akhtar, Thirakua, Bismillah Khan in his own home and those of other admirers. My mother was taught by Purushottam Das Jalota, father of Anup Jalota, in her youth. She always said no one has ever sung Jheeni Jheeni Bini Chadariya like him.
It was this kind of music we grew up hearing because of which we had a deep appreciation of Hindustani music. A lot of it was lost for years, but now thanks to YouTube some people are uploading long forgotten melodies and singers. Today’s generation has never heard of Master Madan, who was a child prodigy, and murdered at the age of 14 only because he was proving to be such a big threat to other singers. He barely recorded eight songs and they are priceless. His Hairat Se Tak Raha Hai Jahane Wafa Mujhe is absolutely unbelievable; one can listen to it a hundred times.
In those days singers survived on royal patronage. It is said that when Bade Ghulam Ali Khan began his rendition of Bajubund Khul Khul Jaye, a collective sigh went out from the audience. Such was the magic of those doyens. I have now been able to get to hear even singers like Kamala Jharia and Sideshwari Bai thanks to YouTube. It is one place where one can still find the rarest and oldest songs and artistes. Whenever, I want to hear Shobha Gurtu, Girija Devi, Kishori Amonkar or some of the famous Quawwals I go to YouTube. But, the pleasure of live performance is something else all together. Today, finding young singers and concerts are virtually impossible now. One is not saying there aren’t any talented artists any more, but they just do not get the kind of support, audience, sponsors, publicity and patronage they need and deserve to pursue lifelong sadhana which these art forms require.
