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Journalism of Courage
Melody is one note at a time,while harmony can be three notes spaced out comfortably. The definition comes from musicologist,archivist and exponent of Hindustani classical music Satyasheel Deshpande,who flew in from Mumbai to perform on invitation of Raja Bimlendra Mohan Pratap Mishra,Raja Saheb of Ayodhya at the Vimla Devi Foundations annual concert in the Ayodhya-Faizabad twin city.
If classical music has taken a beating as far as its promotion and popularity are concerned,it is because of the rigid stance taken by its exponents, says Deshpande,Commerce graduate from Sydenham College,Mumbai,who followed in the footsteps of his father Vaman Rao Deshpande,a chartered accountant,who authored the book Gharandar Gayaki,later translated to English as Indian Musical Traditions (Popular Publishing) and continues to research as well as educate youngsters on the nuances of the fine art. Instead of bringing out the charm of music and expression of lyrics through simple rendition,the doyens tend to complicate and elongate the format to a painful effect and obviously,the audience loses interest, opines Deshpande,who had the Ayodhya audience attuned to him in rapt attention,chorusing the words of the Kabir bhajans he rendered besides,a bandish in Raag Darbari,khayal,thumri,etc.
Deshpande has even sung duets with Asha Bhosale,Man anand,anand chhayo in Vijeta and Jhoothe naina bole saachi batiyan in Lekin.
I personally feel,the gharanas as they are named in North India came to be known thus after their individual representatives set base in Mumbai. They attained glory with a base in Mumbai and their sense of belonging led their parent institutions to become famous as Jaipur,Banaras,Agra and other gharanas, says Deshpande,who never was a disciple of any one guru.
Everyone,from Bhimsen Joshi to Kumar Gandharv and Ravi Shankar to Pandit Jasraj would be meeting at our Malabir Hills (Mumbai) residence and as a kid I would bask in their high-octane musical contests they actually argued in sur and taal, he says.
Deshpande performs in different places and runs Samvad,an organization that has been commissioned by the Ford Foundation to preserve rare and dying oral traditions of Indian Music.
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