RMIM Archive Article "294".
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian
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# RMIM Archives..
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# Subject: Invaluable treasure of music
# Author: Saeed Malik
# Source: The Nation Midweek (Pakistan)
# Contact: Khawaja Naveed Aslam (knaslam@paknet1.ptc.pk)
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It has often been lamented by connoisseurs and votaries of
classical music that facilities for the grooming of young
aspirants of the esoteric art do not exist anywhere in the
country on an institutional basis. The complaint is not
unjustified.
Having been consigned to a very low position in our national
cultural priorities, the art of singing, especially the classical
genres of music, have suffered immeasurably, as a result of
official indifference and societal neglect during the past 50
years. Consequently, the special breed of practitioners of the
art of classical vocalisation has disappeared from our cultural
ethos, making our melodic culture the poorer with the passage of
time.
Before the division of the Sub-continent, and for a few years
thereafter, a number of colleges and the University of the
Punjab, maintained separate departments of music which offered
courses in melodic arts. However, gradually, these departments
were forced to cease their activities for want of funds, and the
young aspirants were advised to receive training only from
professional musicians. The syllabi of Boards of Intermediate and
Secondary Education, and the University of the Punjab,
academically speaking, are still part of the curricula, and
examinations are held accordingly. But the examinees have to run
from pillar to post to acquire even basic minimum knowledge of
music. Hardly any good book on music is available which can help
them.
Professional musicians, despite their claims to the contrary, do
not willingly train non-professional aspirants (whom they
contemptuously call atayees) because of a variety of reasons.
True to their close-to-the-chest policy, they try their best to
keep melodic knowledge within families of professional musicians.
Such a narrow-minded approach towards the spread of melodic
knowledge has not only caused irreparable damage to this esoteric
art, but has also limited the scope of audiences for appreciation
and enjoyment of classical vocalisation. No wonder we have only a
handful of practitioners of art music left in the country in
comparison with hundreds of top-class melodists which Pakistan
inherited on August 14, 1947. However, a revolution in the
domains of electronics and communication has made it possible for
those who want to learn classical music through audio and visual
cassettes. After having learnt the rudiments of classical art,
and developing tone perception, one can now benefit from the
recordings which contain melodies of the masters of yore in their
original, unadulterated forms. Though more difficult than the
system of one-to-one coaching, the traditional way of learning
music, these pre-recorded cassettes provide an opportunity to
young aspirants to acquire knowledge and performing skill by
emulating old maestros' mannerisms, styles of tonal-verbal
modulations and their methods for delineation of ragas.
Pakistan's ace composer Khawaja Khurshid Anwar, whose 13th death
anniversary will be observed on October 30, 1997, has done much
in the domain of recorded classical music which is of immense
help to those who wish to learn the art of classical singing. An
erudite and articulate musician, and a distinguished
musicologist, whose incisive analysis of the complexities of our
melodic arts were widely appreciated, he was always held in high
esteem both by the professional musicians, and lay music buffs
throughout the length and breadth of the country.
His rich educational background and thorough training in
classical music fully equipped him to make lasting contributions
to the evolution of a distinct Pakistani melodic culture. Known
as Khawaja Sahib among his contemporaries, Khurshid Anwar made a
comparative study of Sub-continental and several other systems of
music, especially the Western. This dimension of his personality,
more or less, remained obscured from public view as he himself
did not write on or about music.
Besides his contributions to film music and the art of
composition, Khurshid Anwar also did substantial work for the
preservation of Sub-continental classical music which was
tremendously enriched by the followers of Muslim gharanas of
musicians. In collaboration with Pakistan National Council of the
Arts, EMI (Pakistan) issued in 1976 a set of long playing records
which were well received by lovers of art music all over South
Asia. Jointly funded by these two organisations, it took Khurshid
Anwar two years to complete the recordings. Now that the audio
cassettes have totally elbowed the old discs out of commercial
circuit, the gramophone recording company was quick in
transferring this valuable treasure of classical music on to 30
cassettes packed into two volumes. Many attempts have been made
in the past by musicians and scholars to evolve indigenous
devices for writing our classical compositions. The inventors of
these abortive devices were motivated by a desire to preserve the
asthai-antaras of master musicians exactly in the same tone and
tenor in which they were originally invented. But none of them
succeeded in evolving a foolproof method.
Why has the highly-developed and scientifically evolved system of
Western Staff Notation failed in preserving our classical
formulations in their original forms? No completely satisfying
explanation has been given so far. Proponents of the system of
Western Staff Notation contend that it can be employed for
writing our classical compositions. They cite the example of film
songs which are being transcribed during their rehearsals and
recordings. However, they overlook the fact that there is a world
of difference between the plain melodies of film songs, including
their interludes, and a classical formulation, the asthai-antara
of the ragas. Those who are on the other side of the fence argue
that despite its wide use, the system of Western Staff Notation
is not yet adequately equipped to fully encompass the
complexities and subtleties of our classical music. Ahang-e-
Khusrvi, comprising Raag Mala (ten cassettes) and Gharaanoon ki
gaiyki (20 cassettes), have almost totally eliminated the need
for using Staff Notation for the preservation of our classical
music. When it is possible to record the asthai-antaras in the
voices of competent melodists with explanatory remarks by such an
erudite musician as the late Khurshid Anwar, why try writing
these?
Covering 96 ragas, rendered in the voices of living (until 1976)
frontline exponents of Agra, Delhi, Gowaliar, Kirana, Patiala,
Sham Chaurasi and the Qawwal Bachey clan of musicians, Ahang-e-
Khusrvi is an invaluable treasure of our classical music which,
in addition to providing abundant listening pleasure, can serve
as a useful guide to those who wish to acquire advance knowledge
in our melodic arts.
Vocalists who have lent their voices in the recording of this
priceless collection included Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, late
Malika-e-Mauseeqi Roshan Ara Begum, Ustad Fateh Ali Khan, Amanat
Ali Khan, the late Ustad Chhotey Ghulam Ali Khan, Akhter Ali
Khan-Zakir Ali Khan, Ustad Ghulam Hassan Shaggan, Ustads Muhammad
Afzal Khan-Hafeez Khan, the late Ustads Umrao Bundoo Khan, Chaand
Khan, Ramzan Khan and several lesser known vocalists. Never
before so many shining stars of the musical firmament had joined
together to produce a collection of classical music which is but
a precious gift for posterity.
From the RMIM Article Archive maintained by Satish Subramanian