NEWS & NOTES
Guru-sishya parampara—the traditional way of transmission of our
classical arts—has played a significant role in preserving and perpetuating the
rich heritage of classical music through centuries. As prescribed in our
scriptures, there is no better way to redeem the ‘guru rina’ (debt of the guru)
than to produce your own disciples, carry forward the tradition and offer their
swaranjali (musical offering) to your departed guru.
One of the principal inheritors of the
Vilayatkhani baaj, veteran Arvind
Parikh is perhaps the true extant guru of this tradition who has
painstakingly carried forward the legacy of this gharana, both in terms of
expression and content. His relentless zeal as a dedicated guru and his
meticulous teaching has passed on the essence of this gharana to numerous
disciples at home and abroad. Arvind Parikh is a staunch believer in
the guru-sishya parampara and believes that this old style of teaching has
meaning and purpose. ‘Palta’ for example, he explained, is practised not just
to master the technique; after long hours of regular riyaz or practice, there
comes a time when your mind can wander and the subconscious starts working.
This bifurcation of mind enables the conscious mind to create music and the
subconscious to execute it,” he said.
The two-day Guru Purnima utsav, he organised at the Rangaswar Sabhagar,
Y.B. Chavan Pratishthan in Mumbai, featured nearly 30 of his disciples in
vocal, surbahar, rudra veena, shehnai and sitar and was dedicated to his guru Ustad Vilayat Khan.
In her introduction, Suvarnalata Rao, a
senior disciple of Arvind Parikh and the music programme executive at the
National Centre of Performing Arts (NCPA) Mumbai, acknowledged her 91-year old
esteemed guru as a ‘maharishi’, teaching for the past 65 years without charging
a penny from any of his students. He has prepared an enormous amount of material
for his disciples including 400 gat compositions in more than 100 ragas and
many video recordings.
A special feature of the utsav was also
the open-minded approach of Arvind Parikh going beyond the confines of
gharanas. He had invited vidushi Manju Mehta, a senior disciple of sitar
maestro Ravi Shankar last year and Purbayan Chatterjee, the young sitarist of
Senia Maihar gharana as the guest artist this year.
The doyenne of the Patiala gharana, Begum Parveen Sultana,
chief guest of the day, expressed her appreciation for Arvind Parikh as a guru
and also admired his warmth towards artists of other gharanas. Remembering her own
gurus, Parveen mentioned that she had personally witnessed the ultimate guru
bhakti in two sishyas. One of them was Dilshad Khan (her guru and husband)
who would carry his ailing guru Faiyaz Ahmed Khan, and climb three floors
to reach the hospital; and the other is Arvind
Parikh who served his guru Vilayat Khan with utmost respect and affection.
In 2017, Arvind Parikh instituted the 'Unsung Heroes of Indian Music' award
to felicitate quiet contributors like instrument makers, sound engineers, and
writers. This year,
four journalists dedicated to music—Amarendra Dhaneshwar (Mumbai), Deepa
Ganesh (Bengaluru), Meena Banerjee (Kolkata) and this writer, were
felicitated by Parveen Sultana.
Several senior disciples of Arvind
Parikh offered their musical tributes on Guru Purnima. Sharada Mushti played a serene alap of raga
Malkauns on the rudra veena, and Ashwin Dalvi etched out the contours of Suddha
Sarang on the deep and resonant surbahar. Rajiv Janardan underlined the vakra chalan
(gait) of Gaud Sarang supported by the vocal rendition of raga Bairagi by Purvi
Parikh. Sitar player Ramprapanna Bhattacharya rendered electrifying taans in Jonpuri,
Amrita More presented a melodious Jhinjhoti, and Amrita Kulkarni portrayed Jaijaivanti.
A mesmerising Yaman by Gopal Shah and the gripping Gorakh Kalyan on shehnai by Hassan Haidar
were some of the noteworthy performances. No wonder the concluding guest artist
Purbayan Chatterjee was inspired to give his best!
Purbayan played a melodious alap and a couple of compositions in raga Nand, set
to the seven beats cycle and in drut Ektal. He remembered his guru and father Partho
Chatterjee, Ali Akbar Khan and Ajoy Chakrabarty, who had groomed him and
thanked Arvind Parikh for keeping up this healthy interchange between gharanas
that challenges and encourages artists to come out of their comfort zone and
try something new.
MANJARI
SINHA
(music scholar and critic)
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