It's fairly a long time since I expressed myself. As you all may have
noticed, of late several groups of people belonging to a particular
ideology, have claimed themselves to be the custodians of true
secularism and democratic values. The latest episode
and addition to this is the cancellation of Ustad Ghulam Ali's Ghazal concert
as it was boycotted by few people. Even
more deplorable is another group and a series of Chief Ministers giving a
red carpet welcome to the same Ustad, just to score a political point
by pretending to be champions of secularism.
We should also note that they are extending this lavish invitation at
the cost of tax payers money,
while the states are facing serious problems such as drought, inflation and so on.
As a practicing musician myself, I have been a great admirer of Ghulam Ali sahab. He is one of the all time great Ghazal singers. He is a wonderful Tablist too ( I wish people who are in a rush to invite him knew about this also ). Two years ago, Ustad ji performed in Bangalore and all the tickets were sold out. As I had not heard him in a live concert, I somehow managed to get 2 passes, attended the concert and had a sense of gratification from seeing Ustad ji perform in a live concert at least once in my life time. Also, as a musician, I should concede that Ustad ji was past his best because of old age. This is bound to happen to any performer in any discipline such as music, sports, dance, and so on.
But let us step back and take a look at the true communal harmony and secularism that has always existed in the field of music. Baba Allauddin Khan accepted Ravishankar as his student. Ustad Abdul Karim Khan taught Sawai Gandharva, who in turn produced great musicians like Gangu Bai Hanagal, Firoz Dastur and Pt. Bhimsen Joshi to name a few. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan found a worthy successor in Rajiv Taranath. Ustad Allah Rakha Khan, unravelled all his professional secrets to Yogesh Samsi. Pt. Rama Rao Naik, who was a staunch Madhwa Brahmin learnt from Swami Vallabhdas and Ustad Atahussain Khan of Agra Gharana in the true Gurukula system. Smt Lalit J. Rao was trained by Ustad Khadim Hussain Khan. Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan imparted the secrets and nuances of Kirana Gharana to Panachakshari Gawai, who in turn started Veereshwara Punyaashrama, at Gadag in Karnataka, a free residential school for music learning. This institution has produced hundreds of classical musicians from different religious and social backgrounds. The institution has not recived any grants from the government.
Chambai Vaidyanatha Bhagawatar, faced a lot of opposition when he accepted young K.J. Yesudas as his disciple. Today Yesudas is one of the finest musicians that our country has ever produced. We should also recall with a sense of regret and guilt that our society and system did not allow Yesudas to perform in many temples.
There are so many musicians with great repute and talent belonging to different communities. Let us open our ears and eyes to them. A popular cricketer singing a film song immediately catches the attention of the media. On the contrary the serious efforts, experiments, documentation made by true musicians go unnoticed.
It is high time that, we shed the intellectual slavery of comparing our popular composers to the composers of the West. Those composers worked and produced great musical gems in a different era and with hardly any technology assisting their creativity.
Society and the political class as a whole should encourage local talent first because “Charity begins at home”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9IEQGld7Gc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHyUAl9Yaos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr7LqH_dXyM
As a practicing musician myself, I have been a great admirer of Ghulam Ali sahab. He is one of the all time great Ghazal singers. He is a wonderful Tablist too ( I wish people who are in a rush to invite him knew about this also ). Two years ago, Ustad ji performed in Bangalore and all the tickets were sold out. As I had not heard him in a live concert, I somehow managed to get 2 passes, attended the concert and had a sense of gratification from seeing Ustad ji perform in a live concert at least once in my life time. Also, as a musician, I should concede that Ustad ji was past his best because of old age. This is bound to happen to any performer in any discipline such as music, sports, dance, and so on.
But let us step back and take a look at the true communal harmony and secularism that has always existed in the field of music. Baba Allauddin Khan accepted Ravishankar as his student. Ustad Abdul Karim Khan taught Sawai Gandharva, who in turn produced great musicians like Gangu Bai Hanagal, Firoz Dastur and Pt. Bhimsen Joshi to name a few. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan found a worthy successor in Rajiv Taranath. Ustad Allah Rakha Khan, unravelled all his professional secrets to Yogesh Samsi. Pt. Rama Rao Naik, who was a staunch Madhwa Brahmin learnt from Swami Vallabhdas and Ustad Atahussain Khan of Agra Gharana in the true Gurukula system. Smt Lalit J. Rao was trained by Ustad Khadim Hussain Khan. Ustad Abdul Wahid Khan imparted the secrets and nuances of Kirana Gharana to Panachakshari Gawai, who in turn started Veereshwara Punyaashrama, at Gadag in Karnataka, a free residential school for music learning. This institution has produced hundreds of classical musicians from different religious and social backgrounds. The institution has not recived any grants from the government.
Chambai Vaidyanatha Bhagawatar, faced a lot of opposition when he accepted young K.J. Yesudas as his disciple. Today Yesudas is one of the finest musicians that our country has ever produced. We should also recall with a sense of regret and guilt that our society and system did not allow Yesudas to perform in many temples.
There are so many musicians with great repute and talent belonging to different communities. Let us open our ears and eyes to them. A popular cricketer singing a film song immediately catches the attention of the media. On the contrary the serious efforts, experiments, documentation made by true musicians go unnoticed.
It is high time that, we shed the intellectual slavery of comparing our popular composers to the composers of the West. Those composers worked and produced great musical gems in a different era and with hardly any technology assisting their creativity.
Society and the political class as a whole should encourage local talent first because “Charity begins at home”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9IEQGld7Gc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHyUAl9Yaos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr7LqH_dXyM
