Tusharbhai- 1) acc. to one opinion surbahar was invented around 1825. 2) It is believed that Veena(Rudra) was taught only to family members of the Guru/ Ustad. To overcome this self imposed restriction, Surbahar was invented. 3) There was a time when it was believed that Surbahar was invented after Sitar. But logically and as per majority opinion, it was invented before sitar. 4) Every gharana of sitar/ Surbahar claims that it was invented by their ancestor/s. Imaratbhai maintained that Surbahar was invented by Sahabdad khan- father of Imdad khan. Ravishanker ji however maintained that Sajjad Hussain invented. I have recently learnt that one Umroakhan beenkaar and his son Gulam Mohammed invented the instrument.
After replying to you, I asked myself as to how Surbahar could be invented in 1825 ie. 19 th. Century when it it is maintained that Sitar was invented in 18 th. Century ie. before Surbahar !!! Hence we could be happy with what we are involved with and let historians solve their head aches.
Q20
Could you please tell us 1)when surbahar was created and 2)was it created as an alternative to Veena? 3)Was it created before or after sitar? 4) was it created by Etawa gharana ustads?
I asked these questions as uvk in the interview said that Surbahar was the main Gharana instrument and sitar was also being taught. What may have been the period of Umraokhan and his son and Sajjad Husain?
Guruji thank you. Pranam. Some say Umrao Khan was the nephew of Nirmol shah is this true? If so, then his lived during sepoy mutiny
As I said I prefer to leave such academic issues to historians.
How to assess a concert
It is evident that the response to this query will depend on the level of musical knowledge that the concerned listener has achieved. Usually, the audience of a musical recital consists of connoisseurs, students of music, noted musicians and some who are fond of music just to derive listening pleasure.
1) Connoisseurs
This group consists of persons who attend music concerts regularly and over a period of time acquire enough musical knowledge, not only to achieve listening pleasure but also to have ability to form a considered opinion about the quality of a music recital.
This group is considered to be significantly important as their opinions generally influence the status of a musician.
2) Students of music
This group usually consists of students of music. Though in normal recitals, it is likely that there could be a smaller percentage of students in the audience, it would not be so, when the recital is organized in a music institution consisting of students of music.
This group consists of students who are eager to seriously learn music – some even with a view to follow it as a professional career. However, there could be others who take music as an alternative subject covered in the curriculum of the institution. Hence, the response to a music recital would vary from the nature of the interest that the students have for their future.
3) Musicians
This group consists of vocalists and instrumentalists – well-known musicians and struggling musicians, persons of different age groups, persons who are well versed in a particular branch of music e.g. tabla, sitar etc.
Hence, the response to a recital could differ according to the branch of music that the person concerned is involved in.
Further there are Gharanas of vocal as well as instrumental music. It is conceivable that musicians belonging to a particular Gharana may not be inclined to give a favourable opinion for a recital of a musician of different Gharana with the different approach. . One is inclined to assess the quality of the recital depending upon the talim that she / he has received in the tenets of the Gharana.
4) Persons who are fond of music to achieve listening pleasure This group consists of persons who are fond of music to achieve listening pleasure.
The query is how to assess a recital. As this note is addressed to our students, I would give my analysis as follows.
Every recital has two dimensions i.e. content of music and expression of music – babat / tarika etc. Therefore, it would be for advanced students to follow the content of music i.e. what the musician is singing / playing, and the expression of music i.e. how the musician is singing / playing. As musicians could belong to different Gharanas, their approach to musical expressions could vary. Further, the content and the expression of a Dhrupad singer or been / veena player could have different approach compared to other instrumentalists. Hence our students should not be prejudiced if the concert does not match with the talim they have received. Infact, it would be useful to seek some interesting and perhaps new melodic approach, which would be beneficial to the students’ knowledge. In case of confusion, the student should refer to me during talim session when I could clarify the situation.
As far as the technique of expression is concerned, we would refer to vocal music to start with. Different Gharanas of vocal music can be differentiated on the basis of the following features which could quality in terms of approach to music.
The undercurrent of the musicality of the Gharana doyen i.e. Rasa Bhav. Different Gharanas as we know, have differing focus on Rasa undercurrent. Some have Shant rasa as the base, others could have Veer rasa, whilst some others might have Shringar based approach. Thus every Gharana has a focus on a particular rasa or rasas.
a) Depending upon the Rasa Bhav, a practitioner of each Gharana moulds his voice to suit the Rasa Bhav i.e. some Gharanas have open throated voices, some Gharanas have very subdued voices etc. Therefore voice production is one of the qualifying traits of the Gharana.
b) Depending upon Rasa Bhav, musicians of a specific Gharana would prefer to sing ragas which are suitable in terms of Rasa Bhav of concerned Gharana. Hence raga preference would depend on the undercurrent of Rasa Bhav selected by concerned Gharana.
c) Preference of taal could relate also to the Rasa Bhav. Some Gharanas prefer very slow tempo like Jhumra, others may prefer vilambit ek taal and so on.
d) Badhat – practitioners of some Gharanas unfold the raga at a quicker pace while some Gharanas treats the same on a melodic center to melodic center basis.
e) Taan patterns of different Gharanas have distinct structure patterns in keeping with their basic approach of Gharana tradition.
f) Use of decorative elements – a judicious sprinkling of decorative elements in unfolding of the raga would lend extra beauty. Thus depending upon the undercurrent (rasa bhav) and other attributes, different Gharans have individual preferences to use decorative elements.
Conclusion
1) In view of the above mentioned details, every listener would have his own yardstick to assess the quality of a performance depending upon which out of the four above mentioned categories to which he /she belongs.
2) It is difficult for students of music to have an objective assessment of a concert. They would be guided by their Guru / mentor. On the other hand, there could be advanced students who could have developed their own vision of music and would assess a concert accordingly.
3) The musicians are usually opinionated in favour of their own Gharana. Hence their assessment of a concert would be related to the vision of their own training.