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Journalism of Courage
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This is an archive article published on July 7, 2012
Heritage Reloaded
Indian classical music has a very rare quality it provides a scope for performers to improvise,unlike their western counterparts.
Indian classical music has a very rare quality it provides a scope for performers to improvise,unlike their western counterparts. This unique practice,believes musicologist Dr Suvarnalata Rao,was followed by Indian music practitioners out of choice as well as due to their propensity to pass on the art though the oral and aural traditions. This means hardly any written document of compositions by some of the brilliant artistes of the past is available. However,Bandish,a three-day annual festival hosted by the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA),has become an important platform to showcase the art of several such composers.
Rao,curator of Bandish and head of programming (Indian music) at NCPA,explains the process of bringing these compositions to stage. For the festival,they usually select the composers first and then approach the artistes who are best suited for the performance. This is an attempt to share some timeless treasures of our grand Indian heritage with our audiences. It is every music lovers once-a-year chance to absorb the beauty of these bandishes performed by artistes,who can do equal justice to bring back its true depth, she says. Considering that India has a very rich and vast heritage of classical compositions,Rao believes she doesnt have to repeat a composer even if the festival continues for another decade.
The third edition of Bandish took off in Mumbai on Friday. The festival was inaugurated with an exhibition of photographs of eminent Hindustani and Carnatic musicians from the NCPA Archives and those taken by independent photographers at Piramal Art Gallery. The exhibition showcasing photographs of iconic musicians such as M S Subbulakshmi,Bhimsen Joshi,Bismillah Khan,Vilayat Khan,D K Pattammal,Ali Akbar Khan and others is on till July 15. Later in the evening,vocalist Ajoy Chakrabarty presented some of the celebrated compositions (khayal and tarana) of Bade Ghulam Ali Khan,who penned bandishes under the pseudonym,Sabrang.
On Saturday,Sudha Raghunathan will render the compositions of saint poets Purandaradasa and Thyagaraja. The last day of the festival will feature some of the stalwarts of Hindustani classical music. Rajan and Sajan Mishra will present some works of Ramadas Mishra,comprising mainly khayal and tappa. The finale belongs to Girija Devi,who in her typical Benaras style,will perform some rare thumri,dadra,kajri and hori composed by Shambhunath Mishra and Shyamcharan Mishra.
Since its inception,the festival has featured legendary composers such as Amir Khusrau,Tansen,Sadarang,Surdas,Tulsidas and Alladiya Khan,among others. Before presenting their compositions,the artistes performing have done in-depth research to verify their originality. For instance,last year,Ashwini Bhide Deshpande visited the grandson of the late Alladiya Khan in Kolhapur to get more details on his work.
After getting favourable responses to this annual event,NCPA is planning to make bandishes more accessible to the public. It is a very niche musical property. We are thinking of hosting this festival in other cities of India, says Rao.
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