RMIM Archive Article "293".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
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# RMIM Archives..
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# Subject: Music that went straight to the hearts - Hari Prasad Chaurasia
# Author: Saeed Malik
# Source: The Nation Midweek (Pakistan)
# Contact: Khawaja Naveed Aslam (knaslam@paknet1.ptc.pk)
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Good music, soulfully rendered by an accomplished melodist, as
has appropriately been observed, casts its spell on cultivated
listeners, astute connoisseurs and lay music buffs, not excluding
the profane and puritan members of a society, mesmerising them to
various degrees, with its sonic depth and effervescent appeal. If
a proof was needed, the September 4th presentation by flutist
Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia provided it. Music, it is also
claimed, transcends political, geographical, religious, ethnic
and all man-made barriers, as melodies produced and enlivened by
the intensity, warmth and feeling of the musicians create an
enduring impact on the listeners. So did the music of the
visiting Indian musician, whose haunting melodies, brimming with
emotional outpourings, created an aura of ethereal ambience,
which kept the audience spellbound for about three hours.
Fifty-nine years old flutist Hari Prasad Chaurasia, is one of
India's most gifted, seasoned and internationally-renowned
classicists who, like late Pakistani maestro, Ustad Nusrat Fateh
Ali Khan, has contributed, albeit to a lesser extent, to the
globalisation of Sub-continental music. He was recently in
Lahore, as he put it, "to make pilgrimage to a city which is
known as the fountainhead of melodic wisdom".
Pandit Chaurasia came to our city in a vini, vidi, vici manner on
an invitation extended to him by the Sanjan Nagar Institute of
Philosophy and Arts, Lahore, and gave a concert of his serene,
mesmerising and spine-tingling music, arranged in the spacious
hall of a local five-star hotel (courtesy Indian Council for
Cultural Relations) and predictably drew a large number of astute
connoisseurs, professional gharana musicians and votaries of
classical music, not to forget the mentioning of the usual motley
crowd of socialites who wish to be seen at such functions. It was
the first-ever performance of the Indian flute maestro in Lahore,
the city of music lovers.
Among frontline Pakistani gharana melodists who attended the
concert in a fraternal gesture of goodwill for the visiting
Indian maestro were vocalists Ustad Ghulam Hassan Shaggan and his
son Qadir (Gowaliar); Ustad Sharafat Ali Khan, representing his
ailing father Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, and the duo of Imtiaz Ali
Khan-Riaz Ali Khan (Shaam Chaurasi); Hamid Ali Khan (Patiala);
Mirza Nasiruddin (Delhi) and Ustad Mohammad Hafeez Khan
(Talwandi); and composers Wazir Afzal and Altaf Hussain Tafo,
(who is also Pakistan's Number One Tabla-player), in addition to
scores of practitioners of the melodic arts currently working for
film, radio and television orchestras. It was one of the rare
melodic moots held in the city which attracted the attention of
so many top Pakistani professional musicians. The articulated
presentation of ragas by Pandit Chaurasia came up to the
expectations of Pakistani melodists and musically vivacious
people of Lahore, who appreciated every minute of the hauntingly
sweet, emotionally-charging, intellectually-stirring masterly
expositions of ragas Hemawati (an uncommon raga) and Chander
Kaus.
This scribe was sitting at the far end of the hall and could not
properly hear and understand the introductory remarks made by
Pandit Chaurasia due to poor amplifying arrangement. It is his
educated guess that what was uttered by Chaurasia sounded like
Hemawati, a misharmail (mixed) raga made up of at least two
classical formulations. What the visiting Indian artist rendered
on his flute sounded like a composition in which the shudh
(natural) nikhad (seventh note) had been changed to its komal
(flattened) variation. Other characteristics of the raga sounded
like those of madhvanti. If, a komal gandhar (third note) is
added to raga Sarswati, it will sound like the one played by the
learned Pandit Chaurasia.
During the course of presentation, a lady sitting next to my seat
seemed to have gone into a trance. When asked whether she
understood the esoteric music of Pandit Chaurasia, she replied in
the negative, adding, "I don't know as to exactly what he was
doing (on his flute), but I was completely overwhelmed by the
sound waves which floated through the air in the hall and touched
my ear-drums. Academically, I am not in a position to explain the
why and how of this phenomenon, but his music created a hypnotic
spell on me. It went straight to my heart as, I am sure, it must
have reached the deep recesses of the hearts of other listeners".
Such was the magic of Pandit Chaurasia's music.
Strange are the vicissitudes of life! The wrestler father of Hari
Prasad wanted his son also to learn the art of self-defence.
However, little did he know that this son of his (out of the
three) would opt for a career which was not even remotely
connected with the martial arts, which were almost anti-thetical
to his son's latent yearnings for finer things in life.
The Allahabad born, bred and raised Hari Prasad secretly
practised the art of flute-playing in a self-teaching process by
re-creating popular film songs of those days. But whenever he
chanced to listen to the sophisticated music of the ustaads of
that period, he would make attempts to reproduce their melodies
through his flute which indeed was an uphill task, often leaving
him in a state of dejection and utter frustration. However, his
failure in re-creating the music of the great masters did not
dampen his enthusiasm. In fact, it strengthened his resolve as,
without the knowledge and permission of his father, he accepted a
lowly job of a musician at All-India Radio, Cattuck, Orissa,
which did not fetch him enough money to easily keep his body and
soul together.
When, against his wishes, young Chaurasia was transferred to
Bombay (where he played flute in the orchestras of such renowned
composers as Madan Mohan, Jaidev and Roshan), things appeared a
little brighter for him. His association with film music, and the
influences of sensitive composers changed the course of his
profession. He played their melodies feelingly and learnt much
from those experiences which are now reflected in the emotion-
charged, meditative alap of the ragas which he plays on his
flute. The improvisations and bole-making in his alaps are
reflective of the cries of a tarnished soul, the pangs of
separation suffered by the lovers, and their longings for a
reunion, which are the by-products of an intelligent emotive use
of music in films. Here I am reminded of two sitar-players who
have had similar experiences and background of working with film
orchestras under the batons of highly creative composers like
Master Ghulam Haider, Naushad Ali and others. They are the late
Rubabia Ustad Fateh Ali Khan and the living Ustad Raees Khan.
Chaurasia's contacts with Bombay-based composers (now his home
town) seem to have contributed significantly in the chiselling of
his melodic personality. But the one person who radically altered
Hari Prasad's life was Mrs Annapurna Shankar, the estranged wife
of Pandit Ravi Shankar (and the sister of sarod-maestro Ustad Ali
Akbar Khan) who, after persistent pleading, cajoling and
beseeching by Hari Prasad, agreed to accept him as her student of
classical music. He spent several years under her tutelage and
practised daily for 18 hours under the watchful eyes of his
sitar-playing, highly disciplinarian Gurumata (lady teacher). It
was only after he had practised for several years, and acquired
enough knowledge and performing skill that she allowed him to
appear in public concerts of classical music.
Now, Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia is one of the best, if not the
best, flute players of India, whose recitals command as much
respect and attention as did the presentations of Pannah Lal
Ghosh, the late flute wizard from Bengal. The warmth, tenderness
and incantatory nuances of his music create such a lasting impact
on his audiences that they don't get tired of listening to his
expositions of ragas.
A true follower of the gaiyki-ang baaj (singing style) of sarod
maestro Alauddin Khan (which Chaurasia learnt through the
daughter of the late master), his visit to Lahore offered local
music buffs a chance to listen to someone who, although not young
in age, possesses the expertise and confidence in playing flute
which have the exuberance, freshness and verve of a young artist.
At the age of 59, Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia demonstrates a
penchant for bold innovations and shuns total reliances on
traditions and rigidity, a weakness which sometimes reduces the
impact of the music of even seasoned classicists.
It was evident in abundance from the way he got himself immersed
in an ocean of music during the slow, meditative and progressive
delineation of raga Hemawati's theme. Gradually but surely, he
raced up to a breath-shattering pace during a sitar-like jor and
jhala (the second and third parts of the solo elaboration of a
raga on a string instrument) phase, creating a flurry of music
which did not in anyway jarred the ears of the listeners. During
that particular phase of his presentation, his flute sounded like
a sarod, especially in its breezy flourishes, producing the most
intricate graces and glissandos.
While playing the gut, he used a nine-matra (beats) taal (time
measure) which does not commonly accompany main compositions
(asthai-antras) of the ragas. And he acquitted himself admirably
by improvising and composing melodic phrases within the trappings
of this difficult taal. Not an easy task, indeed. It pointed to
his versatility in impromptu improvisation as also his skill in
remaining within the confines of the uncommon time measure. Again
I failed to catch the name of the taal which Chaurasia mentioned
in his introductory remarks. Perhaps, he called it Chander taal
although there are a couple of other 9-matra thekas which are
known by the names of Nusrik taal and Chandkraira taal.
For Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia (as it is with other committed
musicians) music is like worship; a medium of divine communion,
pursued with noble intentions, and with complete faith in its
spiritual aspects. Dedicated to the refinement of classical music
and also for demonstrating the potential and vitality of Sub-
continental music, Chaurasia has now earned worldwide fame and
following, through a series of recordings that brim with his
melodic erudition. He is one of those musicians who are competent
to skillfully communicate to his audiences the graces and
subtleties of our classical music along with its strength and
validity. His improvisations "free-ranging", laden with meends
and soots (glides and slides) are reflective of deep pathos and
emotion-packed melodic phrases which create heart-melting effects
on the listeners. He is more than capable of producing soul-
stirring melodies through his simple bamboo flute which is
perhaps the first man-made musical instrument.
From the first note that he produces from his flute for alap, to
the end of his concert, he holds his audiences emotionally linked
with him. Of his many admirable qualities of head and heart - his
sense of creating enticing musical designs, the inexorable logic
of his melodic wisdom; the ability to employ even the subtlest
shade of a note; his free and faultless use of sweeping taans
(flourishes); and the masterly ability to melismatically weave
numerous melodic patterns, and the almost mind-boggling,
sophisticated rhythmic designs - the most significant, perhaps,
is his highly refined lyricism. He has the knack and natural gift
of rendering sustained melodies which flow endlessly and
incessantly from his flute with a high degree of expressiveness.
Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasi's versatility is reflected in his
penchant for inventing original compositions for film songs (he
is reported to have scored music for several films, including
Silsila, Chandni and Lamhe) and his proclivity for
experimentation with new forms at international melodic moots. He
possesses an extraordinarily keen and subtle perception of sur
(note), a smattering of which was evidenced from the knowing look
on his face (during the first item of his concert) when one of
the taanpuras was not correctly producing the pancham note
(fifth). It was only after he had fine-tuned the instrument that
he resumed his presentation.
Technically, his alap of raga Hemawati was as innovative as it
was brilliant. Later, he demonstrated the richness and variety of
the classical composition in a manner that was incredibly artful,
authoritative and truly representative of the melody-type system
of Sub-continental music as against the harmony-type in vogue in
Western countries. Even for the musically fastidious Lahore
audiences, his exposition of an uncommon raga created a profound
effect. They listened to his music in an environment of
respectful informality, imbued with a feeling of serene
exaltation. However, his selection of raga Hemawati for this
concert raised many eyebrows. It is generally believed that a
raga which contains komal gandhar (third), tivar (sharp) madham
(fourth) and komal nikhad (seventh) creates dissonance. But the
classical composition which Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia played
on his flute had this "forbidden' combination of notes (or
scale), and yet he manipulated these notes with such dexterity
and improvisational excellence that it did not create unpleasant
sounds. Thakur Nawab Ali, in his book Maaraful Naghmaat, it may
be recalled, his claimed that a raga using these three notes
would produce jarring effects on the listeners and would amount
to introducing artificial harmonic balance in an inherently
unbalanced scale.
It would be unfair on my part, as also the essay will remain
incomplete, if a mention is not made of the excellence, expertise
and agility of tabla-player Bannerjee who provided rhythmic
accompaniment to maestro Chaurasia. The young percussionist
pleasantly surprised the knowledgeable attendees at the concert
by the incredible ease and speed with which he played his
instrument. Like the flute maestro, Bannerjee, too, was lustily
cheered by members of the audience.
In addition to the "coming to the sum" note with pre-set tihaees
(three equally-paced phrases), he also made impromptu
improvisation on his tabla. In a gesture of patronage, flutist
Hari Prasad Chaurasia, during the course of his presentation,
provided ample opportunities to Bannerjee to demonstrate his
rhythmic agility, performing skill and a fine sense of timing.
The young tabla player created rich and complex rhythmic
variations on his instrument.
The flute-playing shagird of Pandit Chaurasia provided scalic
continuity to the master by producing the sound of the keynote
and occasionally creating chord-like contrapuntal lines from his
instrument, which enhanced the effectiveness of Chaurasia's
recitals.
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian