Underscore Records Podcast Episode 4
Written by Admin on October 21, 2006 – 2:16 am
Episode 4 : Special Divali Repertoire by Nityanand Haldipur, Shubha Mudgal and Aneesh Pradhan
Namaskar and Happy Divali,
Episode 4 of the Underscore Records Podcasts brings you very special repertoire related to Divali, the Indian Festival of Lights that celebrates the victory of Good over Evil. While there is plenty of Indian music related to Varsha or the monsoon, and Vasant, which roughly coincides with Spring in the western world, music associated with Deepavali is relatively more difficult to come by. We have therefore selected some repertoire from our catalogue that is specifically related to Divali.
We present an extract from Raag Deepavali rendered on the flute by Nityanand Haldipur whose albums Lineage Vol 1 and Vol 11, and Maihar Mystique are all available on the Underscore Records audio catalogue. Deepavali is a raag created by flute maestro Pannalal Ghosh whose playing style Nityanand follows closely. The introductory alaap in Raag Deepavali makes it evident that it seems to be primarily a blend of Raag Yaman and Raag Lalit, but Nityanand Haldipur explains that Pannalal Ghosh meant it to be a murchhana of Raag Puriya Kalyan. The alaap is followed by a gat in Raag Deepavali composed by Pannalal Ghosh, who is the creator of this beautiful evening raag. Sandeep Bhattacharya provides tabla accompaniment.
The complete version of this track will be available shortly on www.UnderscoreRecords.com as a Burn-On-Demand CD. To find out more about the Burn-On-Demand solution, please write us through our feedback form here.
Next, Shubha Mudgal presents a temple verse composed in Raag Devgandhar. Accompanying her on this track are: Aneesh Pradhan (tabla), Prakash Shejwal (pakhawaj), Ganesh Mohan (sitar), Sudhir Nayak (harmonium), and Pratap Rath (manjira). The text, in Brajbhasha describes Krishna and his brother Balaram preparing to celebrate Divali with a ritual purificatory bath scented with kesar (saffron) and kasturi (musk). This track and other similar texts on the theme of Divali are part of Shubha Mudgal’s album “Shubh Deepavali” available online at www.UnderscoreRecords.com.
An extract from one of the tracks on Aneesh Pradhan’s new tabla solo album “Tabla Solo: A Continuing Tradition” concludes the Podcast. Accompanying Aneesh Pradhan are Sudhir Nayak on the harmonium and Murad Ali on the sarangi.
We look forward to receiving comments and suggestions from you about this episode of the Underscore Records Podcast. Don’t disappoint us and have a very happy Divali and Eid.
Shubha Mudgal, Aneesh Pradhan and the team at Underscore Records. Pvt. Ltd.
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October 26th, 2006 at 3:10 am
I am a keen student of tablas and heard Nayn Gosh’s solo tabla in the US e few months back. He is the son of Nikil Gosh. I also have a copy of a CD, the solo tradition by Aneesh. His tabla sounds closer to Nayn than his father. I am interested to know whether Aneesh has studied with Nayn, as that is what I have also gathered from several visiting Indian musicians, who have known Aneesh Pradhan, and they insist Aneesh is more influenced by Nayn than his father, and they have seen him as Nayn’s student in many concerts. I also know of Nayn’s specialization in rare Laggies. Is there any connexion between both on this issue? When asked at his lecture session whether he took care to hand down these exquisite compositions to anyone, he said he had given it to an old and favourite disciple of his and did not name him. Could that be Aneesh Pradhan? Your reply would indeed be very helpful.
October 26th, 2006 at 11:27 pm
Greetings.
I am deeply honoured to hear that visiting musicians and students like you even discuss my musical lineage and the influences that have shaped me. I am also happy that you have heard my Guruji several times, probably in performance and on recordings. For, only someone who had this privilege could have discussed the degree of influence that his playing had on me. Few people have had such opportunities, as my Guruji did not have an active performance career in the latter part of his life, except for the performances he gave on his tours abroad.
I have indeed learnt from Nayan Ghosh (not Nayn) when I was a student at Sangit Mahabharati, a music institution founded by his father. In fact, I started learning at this school, which was then called Arun Sangeetalaya, under one of my Guruji, Nikhil (not Nikil) Ghosh’s senior disciples Eknath Pimpale. All through these formative years, my progress was closely monitored by my Guruji, who at a stage asked me to learn from Nayan Ghosh, who was also conducting one of the tabla classes in the institution. During the period that I learnt from him, I also learnt from other teachers like Datta Yande and Bhadraksh Munshi, both of whom are my Guruji’s disciples and therefore my elder gurubhais. During this entire period, I was learning in a classroom situation with at least 4-5 other boys. When I graduated from Sangit Mahabharati with the Sangit Teertha degree (eminent tabla teacher and scholar Arvind Mulgaonkar was the external examiner), there was also one more student learning from Nayan Ghosh.
The curriculum for the five year degree course was carefully thought out by my Guruji, Nikhil Ghosh, keeping in mind the needs of the student at every stage, and all teachers were to teach this material. I was therefore the fortunate recipient of a number of traditional compositions from all the above-mentioned teachers. I would like to mention that there was no preferential treatment given to me in this regard, and all other students also received similar instruction in compositions.
But I was fortunate to be in the musical environment of my Guruji’s house for the better part of my life and practised with his sons and daughter everyday. This helped me gain a window into the realm of accompaniment.
Coming to my training with my Guruji, as soon as I graduated from the institution and had completed my tenth year in school, he asked me to learn directly from him on an individual basis. This started the guru-shishya phase in my learning. After almost three years of such training, he initiated me formally as a disciple in the presence of several leading musicians at the ganda-bandhan ceremony. This was in February 1983. I continued learning from him till his sad demise. It was during my years of learning from him that I became more passionate about tabla and music. This was a passion that he shared with me and with his other disciples. The passion and worldview that he shared with me led me to dedicate my new album to him.
It is almost natural for some people to think that I have not learnt from my Guruji, and to those I don’t owe an explanation. Not only did I accompany Nayan Ghosh to concerts, but I also accompanied his brother Dhruba Ghosh and their sister Tulika Ghosh to concerts and recordings. According to the age-old convention, a disciple of a guru becomes the ‘disciple’ of the family and is therefore expected to do everything that the disciple would do for the guru. Strange though this may sound, this relation structure continues in this day and age, and I have experienced this at close quarters. Interestingly, I accompanied my Guruji for all his concerts (most of these were radio concerts towards the latter part of his life) and on more than one occasion, I was the only one present with him. But of course, most music lovers wouldn’t know this aspect, since there was no invited audience to these concerts.
For your information, I was poised in the most interesting of positions. I was introduced on different occasions in various ways. As a student of Sangit Mahabharati, as a student of Nayan Ghosh, as a disciple of Nikhil Ghosh, and more. All of these were true, but need to be seen in totality. For me, the most lasting musical impression has been that of my Guruji Nikhil Ghosh. Which is not to say that I did not benefit from the learning that I underwent from my other teachers. To give you a simple analogy, I studied History from school until my post-graduation and several teachers taught me the subject along the way. But the lasting impression was and continues to be that of Prof.J.V. Naik, ex-Head, Department of History, University of Mumbai, and currently President, Indian History Congress, under whose guidance I completed my doctoral thesis.
I wouldn’t be able to help with the answer to your question related to ‘old and favourite’ disciple of Nayan Ghosh, as I am not in a position to know whom he was referring to.
On my part, I can’t say that my tabla playing sounds more or less like Nayan Ghosh or Nikhil Ghosh or like anyone else for that matter. This is for listeners like yourself to judge. Whether it is tabla solo or ccompaniment to thumri-dadra, or to instrumental music, or it is interaction during a cross-cultural collaboration, I think it is for listeners to evaluate the influences that act upon the performer. I prefer to keep an open mind and explore every possible influence, even if this doesn’t come from my Guruji or his family. My Guruji always maintained that one has to learn from every experience and that is what I have tried to follow as a student of music.
I hope I have answered your queries in a suitable manner.