Meeting Bhimsen Joshi - III

[Continued from Part II]

The next morning Mr. Mishra and I set off for the Maurya Sheraton, where Panditji was dossed up. The receptionist first refused to give us his room number (citing security reasons) and then, when we explained we had an appointment, refused to let us enter because there was a do-not-disturb sign on his door. We were about to leave in dejection, when I spotted Pt. Ulhas Kashalkar entering the hotel, accompanied by Sh. Madhup Mudgal. I naturally rushed to touch his feet. He recognised Mr. Mishra and asked him if he could help. Made abreast of the situation, he promptly invited us to his room. So the four of us, Mr. Mishra and MM on the two armchairs, me on the chair by the desk, and UK on the bed, chatted on for the better part of an hour.

[Note: For the sake of convenience, and especially as the post features several musicians worthy of the accolade 'Panditji', I shall at times make use of the South-Indian practice of referring to musicians by their initials. There is naturally no question of any disrespect meant by this; I sincerely hope none is taken either.]

By this time I had host hope of getting it autographed by BSJ, so I requested UK to sign it instead. He initially demurred, saying he couldn't sign it before Bhimsenji. I mollified him by saying if I got to meet him in the evening (there was a chance left) I'd get another copy for him to sign. He then cheerfully scrawled his name on the flyleaf, and so did MM.

At this point both MM and UK decided to meet BSJ, so we all pushed off to his room. Luckily the sign had been removed, so we went in. A few more people were present. Panditji chatted for fifteen minutes, then excused himself, saying he was tired. I went to his son and reminded him of his promised. He first asked me to come at four o'clock and then, when I said I wouldn't be able to, sugested I leave it be. My face dropped, so he took pity on me and asked me to request the big man himself. Panditji's response was, "My hands are very weak, so I can only promise to try. Let's have a go!" And he did sign!

I then turned to UK and then said I'd brought a camera but didn't have the nerve to take pics as Panditji was tired. He said no no, no problem at all, come along. So I made him stand next to Panditji and took a snap of them together. Promptly, Mr. Mishra, MM and some of the other people present there came up and requested snaps. Someone took pity on me and snapped one of mine with BSJ. We left after that. What a day!

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Meeting Bhimsen Joshi - II

[Continued from Part I]

The recital, when it began, bore all the signs of a full-scale disaster. Panditji took his time to find his sur. When he began, his voice was so hoarse and shaky one couldn't discern any notes at all. I'm an avid fan of Panditji's, but have never really warmed to his interpretation of certain Ragas like Shuddha Kalyan. And I was dreading he'd present just that. Certainly, the singing gave us no clue. For the first three minutes I couldn't make out anything of the raga, except that the rishabha seemed a bit flat for Kalyan. After a while, the contours of Pooriya began to emerge. Then without warning, he paused abruptly on the pancham, and began "aaj so bana" in Pooriya Kalyan. All was revealed!

It took him about ten minutes to fully warm up. But once he did he was roaring like a lion just the way he used to twenty years ago. Vintage Bhimsen every inch. His heavy gamak taans were right there in place, as were all his old tricks, pukars, surprisingly accurate laykari (except for a few miscueings), voice modulations etc. But what really moved all of us in the audience was that he took just as much pleasure in his singing as he did in his prime.

His age showed only rarely, such as when he mistimed the 'sam' a couple of times. Anand Gopal Bandyopadhyaya on the tabla was very understanding, and skillfully covered up such rare lapses.

The Khayal was followed by a Dadra in Mishra Gara, and then "Jo Bhaje Hari Ko Sada" in Bhairavi. I say 'Followed', because it was almost the literal truth. He would finish one item, take exactly one long breath, a pause of about fifteen seconds, and proceed to the next one. In a man one-third his age, such a commanding display would have been commendable. At his age and health it was nothing short of a tour de force.

[Continued in Part III]

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Meeting Bhimsen Joshi - I

This post has a long, varied history. It began life as an e-mail to a friend. Then, at his suggestion, I posted it to RMIC. Then years later, I was involved with setting up two separate blogs on music. One was of course this one, envisaged as a collective effort. The other was a solo deal called "Aavartan". I had originally posted it in the latter. But that venture turned out to be a bit of a non-starter. So I suppose reposting the article here is only a natural thing to do.

First, some mild self-aggrandisement. My biography of Pt. Bhimsen Joshi, published by Rupa & Co, came out round the beginning of 2004. The reason I mention it is that it has everything to do with the events narrated below. In the course of writing it, I had interviewed Mr. Amar Mishra (who incidentally passed away a couple of months ago). He was instrumental in setting up the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, and was also a close personal friend of Panditji. When I heard that Bhimsen was scheduled to sing at the ITC Sammelan in New Delhi this year, I contacted Mr. Mishra to find out if I could get to meet him.

Anyway, on the day of the recital, he and I made our way to the green room. Panditji arrived a few minutes later, a frail, shrivelled man with a woollen cap on his head and an air of extreme dejection and bewilderment about him. He was shunted onto a wheelchair and pushed into the green room. Mr. Mishra was busy talking to his other acquaintances, so I went inside, introduced myself to Sh. Srinivas Joshi, Panditji's son, and showed him a copy of the book. His interest grew when he saw the Rupa label, then he passed it on to his father. I asked him if Panditji could autograph my copy, but he declined, saying his father suffered from weakness in the limbs.

That is when Mr. Mishra came in, and introduced me to Panditji. The conversation turned back to the book for a little while. As we were taking our leave, I once again asked Srinivasji if an autograph was absloutely out of the question. He told me to accompany Mr. Mishra the next day (he'd been given an appointment earlier), because if Panditji signed one autograph, others would immediately pile on.

[Continued in Part II]

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Review: Mashkoor Ali Khan, New Jersey Concert (1999)

Concert: Mashkoor Ali Khan - Princeton Junction, New Jersey - 29 October 1999

Review by Chetan Vinchhi

Mashkoor Ali Khan has enviable Kirana pedigree. But his 1999 concert in New Jersey belied his roots. The air was agog with excitement at the prospect of hearing a direct descendent of Kirana gharana pioneers Abdul Karim Khan and Abdul Wahid Khan. But what does air know, huh? This is a partial review of his performance.

Well past the due time, Mashkoor Ali Khan tuned the tanpura and the surmandal, flanked on his left by Anand Gopal Bandopadhyay on the tabla and on his right by Jyoti Goho on the harmonium. As he casually plucked the surmandal, the Kalyan scale emerged. He started a brief alaap in Marubihag, a good choice for the opening item! This was the first time I was hearing him. His voice has a pleasant texture. Everything kosher so far.

The brief alaap morphed into the the canonical 'rasiya maane naa'. For the first few minutes, the raag structure was held together by the mukhada itself. After that, the mutilation began. There was no palpable design to the raaga presentation. The customary Kirana treatment of sur was conspicuous by its absence. There was a lot of sargam gayaki. In fact almost all his melodic gestures comprised of sargam! The lack of structure was reinforced by the way the taar shadaj was hurled rather gracelessly at us.

The antara was not even sung and there was no development of the antara ang and the laya increased. The faster laya gave MAK the opportunity to diplay some fearsome 'fast-fast' sargam taans. The whole aural spectacle was akin to a WWF wrestling match. And MAK was all over the poor swaras. Thus ended the baDa khayal without any aakaar taans whatsoever!

The chhoTa khayal was just a teentaal version of the latter part of the vilambit. The only faint saving grace was MAK's better facility with the drut laya. Finally, thankfully, the raag ended, the drut also without the antara being sung. Quite easily the worst Marubihag I have had the misfortune of hearing.

The second piece started with drut ektaal tarana in what was intended to be Desh. This is such an evocative melody, but the singer could not summon the romance. Chhayaas of various raags flitted in and out of the presentation, quite possibly accidentally.

We were truly in the presence of greatness that evening. Halfway through the Desh, Vilayat Khansahib walked in. Things came to a standstill as everybody recognized him. After he had settled down, the artists asked for his ijaazat to sing and continued the tarana. Most of the development here too was in the form of sargam. By now, this was par for the course. This was followed by a bandish in ati-drut jhaptaal. This was my first exposure to the taal at that laya in a classical context and I must say it sounds quite nice.

In the brief interval, Vilayat Khan-sahib was seen chatting with the artists. I fantasized about this being a spot tutorial in Desh and allied melodies!

The second half began with Darbari. It was unfortunate that the singer had already spent considerable time in the upper registers and his voice refused to go back to the mandra swaras. I think he attempted the andolit mandra dhaivat once, but could not summon it with any authority. He never revisited the swara. In the subsequent boltaan, there was a brief andolan on the rishabh! There were such excesses galore for the remaining duration of the vilambit.

The general behavioral pattern was along the lines of what had transpired in the Marubihag. Two chhota khayals followed, one in drut teentaal bandish and one in ati-drut jhaptaal bandish (another one!). That was the end of the evening as far as I was concerned. Strains of a Khamaj thumri echoed through the house as we were leaving.

Anand Gopal Bandopadhyay was excellent on the tabla. Even his thekas sounded ever so sweet. His accompaniment was exemplary. Jyoti Goho on the harmonium was quite mediocre. His fingerwork was a little sticky. And was it just an illusion that he first introduced the chhaya of Tilak Kamod in the Desh presentation?

Mashkoor Ali Khan has a cultured voice. His range (especially on the higher side) is very good - he could go to the ati-taar shadaj. But that day's performance betrayed a serious lack of tayyari or at least riyaz.

He attempted a few aakaar taans, but his voice simply wouldn't move, although his head did the requisite oscillations. I think he completed the evening without a single respectable taan! His sense of laya is a little shaky in the vilambit (e.g. he invented the 'chauthaa_ii' in the Darbari baDa khayal). He is a lot more comfortable in the faster laya.

If raagdari is defined as the ability to paint a convincing picture of raaga, he was severly lacking in that department. Perhaps he was just having a bad day, but everything was going wrong and he seemed to be blissfully unaware. If I were to pass judgment based on this performance, he has squandered the heritage of an illustrious lineage.

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