Facing The Music

Grandads of their tradition — people like Ustad Bismillah Khan and Pandit Kishan Maharaj — always make it a point to explain to their audience at concerts the speciality of the Benaras gharana in shehnai and tabla-playing. Kishori Amonkar, the flag bearer of the Jaipur Atrauli style, recently shared her liking for the folksy element in the Gwalior gharana and the romantic colours in the music from Benaras. Likewise, Meeta Pandit — the Delhi-based maestro from the Gwalior gharana — cares to attend performances of the experts from the Patiala gharana.

But the artistes’ interest in other gharanas doesn’t go beyond appreciation. They like to stick to the rule book when it comes to following their own style. And that’s precisely what academicians are beginning to question. They maintain that gharanas make it difficult for a person to adopt techniques, or even a guru, from another tradition. This would mean, for instance, that a student learning the sitar under the Maihar tradition, to which Pandit Ravi Shankar belongs, can never hold the sitar in the way that Ustad Vilayat Khan’s Etawah Gharana had popularised. In any case, people who shift styles are looked upon as escapists.

But why encourage students to switch styles when all that is needed is to become professionals after the prescribed bout of rigorous training? People are free to choose the style that suits them. Also, remember, it is the age of world music — where French jazz musicians match Indian ragas on the bass guitar and the saxophone with surprising ease. Globe trotting maestros and academicians should ensure that Hindustani music’s GenNext get the best of both worlds.