Articles by Shubha

ख़रीद फ़रोख़्त का ज़माना है, यारों और इस दौर में सब कुछ बिकाऊ है । बस ख़रीदने वाला एक अच्छा सा ग्राहक चाहिये । ज़रा से हाथ-पाँव मारो, एक दो इश्तिहार छपवा दो बड़े से किसी अख़बार में – बस, ग्राहक अपने आप खिंचा चला आयेगा । और जब सब कुछ बिकाऊ है ही, तो संगीत भी क्यों न बिके और ख़रीदा जाये ? ये अलग बात है कि इस नये दौर में संगीत का हाट-बाजार पहले लग जाता है, ग्राहकों को आकर्षित करने के लिये इश्तिहार छप जाते हैं, बेचने वाले और ख़रीदने वाले अलग अलग अन्दाज़ में अपने बेचने खरीदने के सिलसिले का गुणगान करने लगते हैं । मौन रहता है तो बस बेचारा कलाकार जिसके बनाये या रिकार्ड किये गये संगीत की बोली जल्द ही लगने वाली है । ये अन्याय नहीं तो और क्या है?

दुख तो इस बात का है कि अब कला के अनैतिक ख़रीद फ़रोख़्त में शामिल होने वालों में एक ऐसा नाम पिछले कुछ दिनों में सामने आया है, जिसे अब तक कलाकारों ने अपना मित्र, अपना हितैषी समझा था । जी हाँ, मुम्बई स्थित एन. सी. पी. ए. अर्थात नेशनल सेंटर फ़ार परफ़ार्मिंग आर्टस् ने अपने संग्रहालय का खजाना बेचने की दृष्टि से बोली लगाने के लिये ग्राहक जुटाने का कार्य जोर शोर से आरम्भ कर दिया है । Read the rest of this entry »

Ask a Hindustani classical musician what he or she will perform at a concert and most likely, you’ll get a lot of humming and hawing or a non-commital dekhenge, kyaa mood bantaa hai…. or something equally ambivalent. Which is what leads me to wonder how and what is leading classical musicians featured in the Live Preview section of Time Out Mumbai to disclose, possibly weeks in advance, what exactly they will render in a forthcoming concert. At times, the column mentions that the featured artiste is “likely to present” ragas such as this, that and the other. But most vocalists seem to have no problems mentioning names of ragas they are likely to present or have already decided to present. And so I am led to wonder whether we are witnessing a new trend in which performers are actually planning what to sing in advance? Read the rest of this entry »

I meant to write about something else this fortnight but then you see, I got all busy and worked up trying to figure out these new immigration laws that us Indian, but non-Maharashtrian, musicians have to deal with sooner or later. I mean, now that the new immigration department of Mumbai has told even the legendary Amitabh Bachchan that he isn’t welcome in Mumbai any longer, I guess we lesser mortals had better pack up and leave for places with friendlier climes, or we had better go stand in long queues and apply for Maharashtrian visas. Read the rest of this entry »

I dubbed a film song composed by Adnan Sami some months ago, and heard in the passing that it was for a Vikram Bhatt film called “1920″. I presumed then that I was asked to dub possibly because I had started sounding like I was from the 1920s! But then a few days ago, people started asking me about the song I had sung for Rakhi Sawant! I must confess that I had no idea the song would be turned into an item number featuring Bomb Sawant. Its ironical that I should find the following post on a blog called Life is Funny Baby! Read the rest of this entry »

Please be warned that the contents of this column may prove to be distasteful for persons with strong olfactory responses and delicate constitutions. Any offence or distress caused is totally unintentional because my purpose in writing this piece is solely to draw attention to at least one of the many challenges faced by exponents of Indian performing arts. Believe me, I have for long resisted the desire to share this complaint with readers but my recent experience at a concert in the art and music loving city of Kolkata now leaves me with no option but to go public. Read the rest of this entry »

You’ll never ever realize the advantages of living close to a temple if you haven’t had first-hand experience. For years, I have lived (between commuting from city to city for concerts) in a small flat close to the Jhandewalan temple in Paharganj, New Delhi. For years, therefore, I have been one of the favoured few to get the first whiff of all the latest mata ki bhainten or musical gifts to the mother/goddess. The traffic roundabout nearby is always cluttered with garish hoardings announcing forthcoming vishaal jagarans or great night-long musical extravaganzas during which devotees offer 21st century-style prayers to their beloved sheraa-wali mata (or the lion/tiger-riding Mother), complete with song, dance and entertainment.

I call them 21st century-style prayers because with each successive year, the jagaran (originally meant to be a night where devotees gathered to stay awake and chant the name of the goddess in song, prayer and thanksgiving) is fast turning into an event, often even a mega-event, with celebrity guests including politicians, criminals-turned-politicians, television and film stars and the like being brought in to attract larger crowds and bigger sponsors.

This Navaratri, the show got bigger and better than ever before. From one of the many stalls filled with all manner of religious/devotional merchandise that line the streets outside the temple, I made one of my prized Navaratri purchases-a brand new VCD titled Jhalak Dikhla Ja, Maiyaa Tu Aaja. Read the rest of this entry »

We are in the midst of celebrating 60 years of independent India and since we always celebrate with fanfare, there have been the usual concerts, aka Azadi Express, with a turbaned actor-cum-truant-MP Govinda doing his characteristic dance moves, TV clips on almost every channel with a stylized version of the tricolour tacked on to one or the other part of the screen and, of course, cross-border debates and discussions leading nowhere, or more often than not ending in the perhaps-never-to-be-resolved issue of Kashmir. But there have been few, if any, discussions on colonial hangovers that we haven’t been able to rid ourselves of. Read the rest of this entry »

Published earlier in my fortnightly column for Mint.

Jahaji Music 

Tunes for Breaking News

http://www.livemint.com/2007/10/13024000/Tunes-for-breaking-news.html

 

 Protest: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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Last month, out of the blue, the media came up with a pleasant surprise for classical musicians. Outlook (Issue dated September 25, 2006) featured “Heir Gloom”, a cover story on Indian classical music, a subject shunned by most Indian publications on the grounds that readers no longer find it of any interest. We are informed that the escapades of a Rakhi Sawant, Mallika Sherawat or Mikka find favor with readers who no longer wish to receive information about Indian Classical Music. Consequently, it comes as a pleasant surprise when a national weekly carries a story on classical music, and instead of the pinup girls or blood-and-gore images that find pride of place between its covers, the issue carries photographs of the great pandits and ustads of classical music. The downer though, is that the story, authored by one Arindam Mukherjee, declares in no uncertain terms that the future of Indian classical music is in jeopardy as there are no worthy successors to inherit the mantle of the great goliaths of Indian Classical Music, many of whom are now in their seventies and eighties. We (and I include myself in this milieu) are therefore a pack of unworthy mediocres who can never hope to reach the pinnacles of mastery and wisdom that our elders have attained. I am not aware of Mr. Mukherjee’s interest in or knowledge of Indian music as it is the first time I have found him writing on Indian music, (his other pieces for Outlook are on subjects as diverse as BSNL tenders, Microsoft’s crusade against software piracy, hip schools aiming at holistic education, rain in Surat etc) so he can be forgiven for his buffoonery, and his irresponsible, badly researched piece. But I am baffled by the endorsements his views receive from stalwarts such as Girija Devi and other greats. For a brief moment I hoped that at least one of them would issue a denial clarifying that their views had been distorted by yet another irresponsible journalist. No such clarification has been forthcoming, and I am left therefore, with no choice but to respond to some of the statements made in Mukherjee’s article. It is a conscious decision on my part to place this response in the public sphere by blogging it as opposed to sending it to Outlook for favor of publication in a ‘Letters to the Editor’ segment. I hope other music lovers, students and musicians (many of whom were outraged by Mukherjee’s feature and called me to discuss the possibility of sending a joint response) will add their views and comments.

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Do you remember “Ali More Angana”? For those who dont, its an Indipop album I recorded in 1996 and the title track became both popular and controversial, if the media is to be believed. I wont discuss the controversy if indeed any existed, but just thought I’d warn anyone thinking of buying the album to be careful before they make a purchase.

The album was not available for several years and I was left without a single copy so I had made repeated efforts to see if I could buy a left-over copy at a record store somewhere. About a year ago I received a call from one of my favorite music stores in Delhi to say that the album was available once again. I rushed out and bought two copies and this is what I found:

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Dear friends,

Mr. Rajeev Sethi, Vice-Chairperson, Task Force on Cultural and Creative Industries had written to me asking me for comments on the Performing Arts. I had sent a few comments to Mr. Sethi, who called back and suggested we take our discussion forward and also invite comments from other artistes. He has very kindly agreed that my reply to him be made known to all of you, who, I am certain will have many suggestions and comments and questions to offer, all of which will make this discussion vibrant and meaningful. Please do write in and use this space to discuss and argue. To post comments on the blog, you will need to register once and after that you can add your comments at your convenience. Please forward this message to others who may find this discussion interesting.

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Dear friends,

Aneesh and I are delighted to hear that we will have the opportunity to meet with you again at the workshop in June this year. Please find below a short description of this year’s workshop and please start using this blog to ask us questions, send us requests, and to help us fine tune the menu for this year’s workshop.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Shubha and Aneesh

The four-day workshop held for two groups (children and adults) will focus on the main forms of Hindustani vocal music such as dhrupad, khayal, tarana, and thumri. The characteristics of each of these forms will be discussed and some examples will be taught to the groups. Aspects such as raag, taal and instrumentation will also be discussed with demonstrations of recorded and live samples. The participants will be expected to carry stationary to take notes at all times. The fifth day will feature a practical and theoretical presentation by the participants. Please note, that no audio or video recordings of the workshop will be allowed at any time.

This article was first published in Tehelka.

Chak de phatte!!! It’s a virtual “let’s have a blast” slogan that you’ll hear ever so often in the ‘bhangra-with-the beat’ music that steadfastly refuses to be defeated by the gloomy depths of despair from which the Indian music industry is currently hoping to emerge. Following the phenomenal success of Daler Mehndi’s “Bolo Ta Ra Ra” in 1995, the Indian music industry saw a steady undying stream of Punjabi pop albums symbolizing the often loud and flashy, but nevertheless indomitable Punjabi spirit. Till just a few years ago, music companies were chasing the bhangra stars and pouring lakhs, even crores into promoting Punjabi albums with glitzy music videos featuring kudis galore. The dhol-bhangra-kudi formula was considered so unbeatable by many that even the most severely challenged of nymphet-singers found their short lived moments of glory in the annals of Indipop by warbling and wiggling their way through hip-hop versions of Punjabi folk songs. Occasionally, even singers of considerable acclaim who proclaimed allegiance to the sufi tradition of the Punjab dropped their black robes, donned sequined shirts and tossed their locks to join the bhangra pop brigade. But not for long! Those who had decided to forsake the Sufis are now back in their fold, and the nymphets really don’t need to warble any longer because the music companies don’t put their money into albums any longer. Now that the remix formula is in, they’d much rather pay for the wiggle than the warble.

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This article was first published in the Times of India, Mumbai in 2003.

This has been a difficult and violent year for India, with communal violence and terrorist strikes taking centre stage. Perhaps that is why not many have noticed that despite a lot of tall talk about preserving and promoting our glorious and ancient traditions, current government policies regarding art and culture have dealt a severe blow to Indian classical music and arts. For over half a century now, All India Radio was one of the only agencies to steadfastly broadcast Indian classical music, thereby providing regular performance opportunities to virtually thousands of musicians across the vast length and breadth of the country, and giving the nation’s music lovers a chance to listen to Indian classical and folk music every single day of their lives. With the advent of television, the state run Doordarshan also became the only television channel to lend support to Indian classical music and the traditional performing arts. However, this commitment to Indian classical music and arts will soon become a part of All India Radio and Doordarshan’s past policies, as both seem poised and ready to finally abandon all and any support to Indian classical arts. Why pretend any longer with meaningless talk of “sanskriti” and “parampara” when budget allocations for classical music have seen a steady and cruel whittling and chopping, and are now down to a meagre few thousand rupees a month for both North Indian and Carnatic classical music at most radio stations? Musicians confirm that recordings, broadcasts and telecasts of classical and traditional music are becoming scarce with each passing day. Countrywide, the slogan now is “Down with Indian Classical Music and let’s see the revenue rising with whatever brings in money”. Worse still is AIR’s reported intention of recording classical music only when the musician brings in a sponsor for the programme! So if you now want to be heard performing classical music on AIR, formerly a bastion for classical music, you don’t need to audition as in the good old days when strict screening made it possible for only the most deserving to perform on AIR; and neither do you need to bother with riyaaz any longer. All you need to do is to go out and find a sponsor and AIR will be ready to broadcast your music. It is going to be that easy, and sadly, no one seems to care or bother to protest.

Naturally, this has not stopped Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj from paying the customary lip service to Indian culture.

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You know what I don’t like about those proverbial silver linings in the clouds? Sometimes you have to poke around so bloody hard for them that you almost give up hope. I’m afraid I’m feeling a bit like that at the moment, trying desperately to think of silver linings in the thick dark clouds that hover rather threateningly over the world of Indian music. But for whatever they are worth, here are some of the bright spots that I have been able to notice –

For one, we are sitting on nothing short of a massive and sadly untapped treasure trove of musical talent, and don’t let those guys who insist on glorifying the hoary past and running down the future tell you otherwise. And whatever you do, please please don’t let Ms. Pooja Bhatt tell you stridently that there is far better talent to be found in neighboring Pakistan. Don’t get me wrong because this really isn’t my shot at petty patriotism, but seriously, she and others of her ilk need to get out there and start listening to the many and diversely wonderful kinds of music that are made right here in this, our own country. Every genre of music in India that still hasn’t been throttled to death by the friendly Bollywood monster, and yes, even Bollywood music has young talent that could bring a smile to the faces of the most hardened skeptics and pessimists with the exception of Ms. Bhatt perhaps. Whether it’s the more heard and written about Bollywood singing stars such as Sunidhi Chauhan, Sonu Nigam, Shreya Ghoshal and others to the impossibly young, not-heard-often-enough and hardly ever written about Langa and Manganiyar children with their still-snotty noses who can take the stage by storm at any given moment, it’s amply clear and evident that there is talent in happy abundance in this country. Rock bands writing original songs in Hindi, English, Bangla and many other Indian languages, lounge, electronica, hiphop, rap, classical, semi classical, folk, tribal, qawwali and much more- it’s all out there waiting to be heard. But now here is where the silver lining is in danger of disappearing behind menacing dark clouds made up of the severely myopic vision of most people who control the music industry and this includes record labels, concert promoters, talent hunters out to make a quick buck. Any originality that the young and promising may show is swiftly and surely stifled to make way for the same stale fare that they believe is saleable. And there goes my silver lining number 1!

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न्हात बलकुंवर कुंवर गिरिधारी ।

जसुमति तिलक करत मुख चुंबत आरति नवल उतारी ॥

आनंद राय सहित गोप सब नंदरानी ब्रजनारी ।

जलसों घोर केसर कस्तूरी सुभग सीसतें ढारी ॥

बहोर करत श्रंगार सबे मिल सब मिल रहत निहारी ।

चंद्रावलि ब्रजमंगल रसभर श्रीवृषभान दुलारी ॥

मनभाये पकवान जिमावत जात सबें बलहारी ।

श्रीविट्ठलगिरिधरन सकल ब्रज सुख मानत छोटी दिवारी ॥

आज माई धन धोवत नंदरानी ।

कार्तिक वदि तेरस दिन उत्तम गावत मधुरी बानी ॥

नवसत साज सिंगार अनूपम करत आप मन मानी ।

कुम्भनदास लाल गिरिधर प्रभु देखत हियो सिरानी ॥

Hi friends,

Kiran sent this picture of the group which I am sure all of you will like, and I think you might want copies too. Kiran has very kindly said she would send a high-res version of this picture to those of you who might want to print it.

Take a look.

Hi friends,

Please check these links, and if you want to, please subscribe to our mailing list as well.

http://www.underscorerecords.info/newsletter/2005/06/books/ 

http://www.underscorerecords.info/newsletter/2005/06/downloads/ 

 Have fun.

Hello friends,

We have sent back the text you emailed us for the presentation tomorrow at Anu Rajan’s email ID. We have made some corrections and changes so please go through them to see if you agree

Dear friends,

Many thanks for the lovely dinner you organized for us this evening. Aneesh and I have really enjoyed being with you for these 4 days and we hope you will stay in touch with us even after the presentation on the 18th is over. Please do continue to use the blog and let us start a discussion forum on it.

I would be very interested in looking at song texts in marriage or wedding songs and discussing the social context which is revealed or reflected in them. For example, one of the songs I learnt from my father’s family was:

Ambar bel Udaipur chhayi ji raaj, saat baras ki bhayi meri laado ji raaj

hans vaake Baba ne goad uthayi ji raaj, kaho meri laado tum kaiso var dhoondo ji raaj

अम्बर बेल उदयपुर छाई जी राज

सात बरस की भई मेरी लाडो जी राज

हँस वाके बाबा ने गोद उठाई जी राज

कहो मेरी लाडो तुम कैसो वर ढूँढो जी राज

This song text clearly points to the custom of child marriage, but it also indicates the elders in the family indulging the little 7 year old bride to be by asking her what kind of groom they should get for her.

I’m sure there must be many other interesting texts that you people know of. Let’s talk about them if possible, and if the subject is of interest to the group.

Happy blogging!

Here are some links to sites that you might like to visit. We found them extremely useful and informative.

www.beatofindia.com (for folk music)

www.parrikar.org (interesting information on Hindustani classical music)

http://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/ellpatke/Miscellany/music.htm (interesting archival music)

चैती (भोजपुरी)
कौन मास फुलेला गुलबवा हो रामा, के कौना रे मासे ।
बेला फूले चमेली फूले, अवरु फुलेला कचनरवा हो रामा ।
गेंदवा जे फूले रामा माघ रे फगुनवा, चैत मास फुलेला गुलबवा हो रामा ।
अमवा की डाली पे लागल मोजरिया, कुहू कुहू बोले कोयलिया हो रामा ।

Welcome to the Indian Music Discussion Forum. This space can be used by all participants of the workshop to post their questions and share their thoughts with the group.