Dhrupad maestros offer shuddh ecstasy

AHMEDABAD: The word ‘Khayal’ has Persian roots and implies ‘imagination’. Khayal gayaki has been the dominant form of Hindustani music’s vocal tradition since the 19th century. The ancestry of ‘Dhrupad’ lies in Sanskrit — it is a compound of ‘Dhruva’, signifying ‘fixed’, and ‘pada’, meaning ‘verse’. Between the 15th and 18th century, Dhrupad’s structured beauty was the main framework for a Hindustani vocalist’s artistic explorations.If Khayal instigates extempore wanderings, Dhrupad encourages expression of individual instincts within a designated monument.
The opulent genius fostered by Dhrupad was relished by rasikas on Day 5 of the Saptak Music Festival when maestros Pandits Umakant and Ramakant Gundecha rendered Raga Shuddh Bhairavi. “It is a very beautiful but challenging raga,” Pandit Ramakant Gundecha told TOI. “Extraneous notes keep enticing a singer. But when it is elaborated properly, Bhairavi can communicate any emotion — romance, contemplation, and the ‘veer ras’ that connotes vigour.”
The maestros’ exposition began with ‘Prabhu mori binate ur dharo’ and swelled into the finale with a Kabir verse, ‘Ham sab mahi, sakal ham mahi’. When the performance ended, one rasika whispered to his friend: “What’s the time?” The answer was a quip: “Time’s nearly 2 am but Dhrupad is timeless!”
What makes Dhrupad so entrancing? “This music is based on natural harmonies and meditative musings,” Pandit Ramakant Gundecha explained. “Indeed, Dhrupad is the source of all Indian music. Some say Dhrupad is difficult. But our students and accompanists — Igino Brunori on saxophone and Virginia Nicoli on silver flute — have spent only three years with us, which translates into some eight months of training, and yet managed to grasp the essentials.”
The programme preceding Gundechas’ glimmered with a vintage Saptak moment when sitar icon Ustad Shujaat Khan took the stage. He confided to the audience that in the morning he had not been able to pick a raga for the performance. Then he heard a record of Ustad Amir Khan caressing Jansanmohini to reveal its fragrant delicateness. Amir Khan, an ustad who shaped Hindustani history, has also consecrated Bollywood with songs such as ‘Tori jai jai kartar’ (‘Baiju Bawra’).
Ustad Shujaat Khan promised the ecstatic audience that he would sing some Amir Khusro nazms apart from expounding on Jansanmohini. Khansahab’s crystalline renditions were supported by Prithviraj Mishra on the tabla. Mishra was a beloved shishya of the late Pandit Nandan Mehta, the Saptak founder. Mishra has played with stalwarts like Pandit Vishwamohan Bhatt, and the late sarangi legend Ustad Sultan Khan. The other tabla accompanist, Amit Dave, gave a good account of himself as well.