It is the annual Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki competition that celebrates the legendary artiste’s musical legacy
It is the annual Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki competition that celebrates the legendary artiste’s musical legacy
Come September, and it’s time once more for Shounak Abhisheki to return to his native Goa to have a good time his father and guru Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki’s beginning anniversary (September 21 is his 93rd anniversary) with a music competition. One of essentially the most prolific and common composer-musicians of our time, Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki has not solely left behind worthy disciples, who’ve stored his cherished model alive, but additionally a treasure trove of wealthy compositions.
From the veteran Pt. Prabhakar Karekar to Devaki Pandit, he skilled many college students within the guru-sishya parampara, and totally free. “He put us through a tough regimen. We woke up at 3.45 a.m. to the sound of my father’s riyaaz in kharaj (lower octave),” remembers Shounak, whose mom made him realise the significance of his musical inheritance.
The household’s hyperlink with Goa stays sturdy; their ancestral house is Mangeshi. Traditionally clergymen, they had been entitled to do abhishek on the Shiva temple there, and thus got the honorific ‘abhisheki’.
Shounak Abhisheki
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Initially, Shounak skilled underneath his father’s college students, Pt. Raja Kale, and Pt. Sudhakar Devale. “They made me learn several bandishes by heart. By the age of 10, I didn’t know what the ragas were, but I knew the compositions. After that I trained under Kamal Tambe, a senior student of Mogubai Kurdikar, who strengthened my foundation. At that time, my father used to travel for more than 20 days a month. When I was around 15, I started learning from my father, and also travelled with him.”
One admires the sense of proportion in Shounak’s singing. At a live performance in Delhi, he regaled the viewers with a number of uncommon raags. “After I had learnt a raag, my father would tell me who I should listen to singing it. I remember after learning Abhogi, he told me to listen to Pt. Bhimsen Joshi and Ustad Amir Khan’s versions. He taught me to be honest with my music. His advice comes through beautifully in this song: ‘Kahat man rang, aap range bina, kaise range koi’ (if you do not drench youself in the hues of music, how can you make the audience experience it?).”
Remembering his coaching, Shounak says his father was a person of versatile pursuits. “He loved literature, painting and several other art forms. He encouraged me to see the beauty in them and incorporate that into my music. He used to say don’t just admire a good painting, absorb its aesthetics. It is a misconception that there is no relevance of ‘sahitya’ in Hindustani music. Yeh amurtya sangeet hai; an abstract art, but it does need the prop of lyrics to enhance it.”
An erudite singer himself, Shounak talks about how his father knew tons of of compositions, not solely from the Gwalior Agra Jaipur custom, but additionally from the Khurja gharana. “He learnt from Ustad Azmat Hussain Khan for 10 years, and Pt. Jagannath bua Purohit, who I think were the main influences in his music. Of course, he also learnt from Jaipur doyen Pt. Gullubhai Jassdanwalla, and from Baba Sahib (Azizuddin Khan, grandson of Ustad Alladiya Khan). The Khurja gharana raags are different, their Nat Kamod is different to what is commonly rendered. Baba also sang a lot of Pt. Ram Ashrey Jha’s compositions and those of his gurubhai, Pt. C.R. Vyas.”
Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki composed for 17 musicals, the primary being ‘Matsyagandha’; he was additionally a preferred abhang singer and composer, he sang Rabindra sangeet too. “As far as new raags are concerned, my father was not really drawn to creating them. He did incorporate two Carnatic ragas in his repertoire — Amritavarshini, in which he composed two bandishes, and Manoranjini. He also liked singing ‘jor’ raags like Hindol Bahar, Triveni,” says Shounak, who needs to offer again to the music world by way of the numerous festivals that he organises in reminiscence of his father.
The annual Pt. Jitendra Abhisheki competition will probably be held in Goa on September 24 and 25.
The Delhi-based critic specialises in classical music.
Source: www.thehindu.com