The making of legends

“The house where I grew up always respected all forms of art. It was that same house where I witnessed Kishori Amonkar’s evolution; Bhimsen Joshi would often come to our home. And despite having developed a matured understanding of music,when I listened to Kumar Gandharva,I felt that what he sang was beyond my understanding then. That was the time I decided to make him my guru,” said Deshpande further adding,“The greatness of Kumarji lied in the fact that he was one guru,who was not teaching his disciples to be another one like him. He would teach us one raga and then tell us to listen to four other gharanas before developing a style of our own.”

Continuing on the same note Talwalkar added further,“I learnt from three gurus and listening to different singers can make one feel that you’ve understood the intricacies of his or her style. But for you to be able to develop your own style,a guru is irreplaceable.”

Despite the fact that improvisation and spontaneity form the basis of Hindusthani classical music thus making it a personal creativity,it is difficult to imagine classical music without the guru-shishya parampara. “Acceptance and devotion are the most important qualities of a disciple. While learning from Mogubai Kurdikar,I remember she would send us to watch performances and on returning ask what were the good qualities we observed in the singer. Discussing negative points of a performer is something I feel is unethical from the point of view of learning,” said Talwalkar.

With a number of bandishes to his credit,Deshpande said,“Bandish can represent the raga but that does not mean that the raga is limited to that bandish. Raga is beyond the limits of that bandish.” Stressing on the importance of simplicity in composing a bandish Talwalkar added,“Simpler the bandish,more musically beautiful it can be. Every memorable bandish has the quality of moulding itself according to the styles of gharanas that sing it.”

The programme concluded with a performance by Deshpande.