The tradition of classical music in India goes back many centuries. A rich and developed art form, it has two main categories: Hindustani and Carnatic. Within they contain a plethora of artistes, instruments and styles of both vocal and instrumental music.
The Great Masters highlights the life and work of some of the leading vocal artistes of Hindustani music. It puts into perspective their valuable contribution to this field and fills a lacuna in the area of musical biographies.
Mohan Nadkarni's narration combines biographical information with interviews and analysis, giving the reader a wider historical and cultural perspective. In his approach to musical analysis, Nadkarni has used more than four decades of experience as a music critic to make the work relevant to our times.
A collectors' volume, with rare photographs of artistes, The Great Masters is a storehouse of information for the musically inclined.
Mohan Nadkarni has been an author, musicologist and critic since 1948. his articles and reviews on Hindustani music and Sanskrit and Marathi musical plays have featured regularly in leading national dailies and periodicals. He has been bonoured by the Karnataka Sangeetha Nritya Academy with its recently instituted Kala Shastra Award for his contribution to traditional music through his writings. He has contribution to traditional music through his writings. He has authored At the Centre: Fifteen Musicians of Madhya Pradesh; Bal Gandharva: The Non-Pareil Thespian; and Bhimsen Joshi: A Biography.
Preface
Hindustani music (as indeed all forms of Indian art) has had an extraordinary record of achievement down the centuries. It has evolved in the perspective of the cultural and political history of the country and bears the impress of every age it has witnessed and has been strangely susceptible to the changing times. While consistently adapting itself to healthy changes, it has also shown a strong aversion to cheap compromises that run counter to its tradition. It can even be said that the chequered history of the evolution of Hindustani music, from the pristine dhrupad and dhamar to the latter-day ornate and romantic khayal to the erotic, sensuous thumri, is one of assimilation, adaptation and creation, with its roots firmly embedded in the past.
Religion was the nucleus of all artistic activity in ancient India. The art of music (as also dance) was thus conceived as a sacred rite and a symbol of religious expression. There was a time when its exponents were of a noble and sacred calling and their art had pride of place not only in solemn temples and princely courts, but also in aristocratic homes. The tradition of the art these patrons developed and sustained by pure devotion eventually established itself in what may be termed as different schools or guilds, also variously known as paramparas or gharanas or khandaans.
Inspite of the exalted position held by Hindustani music, which represents the classical tradition of the whole of India except its southern part, the neglect it suffered under the British rule was quite appalling. During this period, popular patronage languished away as well because of the economic and social backwardness of society.
The process of revival began in the early years of the twentieth century, with the missionary movement of visionaries like Vishnu Digambar Paluskar and Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande. The endeavours of these savants to popularize Hindustani music through the medium of public concerts and scholastic education received a fresh impetus following India's independence in 1947. It has helped, in no small measure, to educate public taste for good concert music and bring forth generations of appreciative and knowledgeable connoisseurs. What is more, it brought social respectability to the profession, so much that many educated and enterprising youngsters were encouraged to take to music as a serious vocation rather than as a mere joyous pursuit. At the same time the disappearance of the princely order and, with it, the last vestiges of private patronage, forced the professional musician to come out of his self-imposed isolation and seek his living through public patronage.
India's entry into UNESCO, soon after independence, opened new avenues for the expression and contribution of our traditional music and dance to the world at large. Thanks to the concert tours, sponsored under cultural exchange programmes between India and other countries, there is now an universal acceptance of the fact the Hindustani music, like other traditional performing arts, is not an attenuated relic, but a living influence; that its sources and material are pure; that its models are original, and that its theory and practice are perfect.
Strangely enough, given the long and chequered history of Hindustani music, it is during the last four decades of this century that the classical concert scene has undergone a radical change, the like of which was never in evidence in the past. To many, the prospect looks very bleak, while other view the change to be convulsive, even cataclysmic. The more optimistic among them regard the change as part of the quickening tempo of like in general.
Be that as it may, at least in terms of sheer numbers, there seems to have been an exponential growth: we now have countless sangeet sammelans or samarohas, most of them commercially organized, more than ever before. Schools of teaching music now form a countrywide network. More people are listening to concert music these days. The handmaidens of mass communication-gramophone, radio, television, cassette players and now compact disc players-have spread classical music in ways undreamt of before.
Thus, in a situation frought with apparent turmoil and confusion, one is apt to overlook, ignore or even reject the great contribution maestros, especially of the older generations, have made to preserve, enrich and promote classical concert music in a variety of ways. And it is against this background that I was driven by a compulsive urge to write a book on the life and contribution of the great masters who flourished on the musical scene in the early years of this century and also of this worthy successors who have ably emulated them till now.
I have been guided by many other relevant considerations in undertaking the work, especially in the selection of musical personalities. First, biographical literature in music, especially in English, has been found to be rather scanty, in comparison to that in Indian languages like Marathi, Gujarati, Hindi and Bengali.
Second, the writings are not designed to be just 'profiles' of the chosen celebrities in the conventional sense. They purport to represent three generations of leading lights who shone on the musical horizon in the earlier decades of this century and also those who are still active. A modest attempt has been made to combine biographical information with interview, analysis and discussion against a wider historical and cultural perspective.
Third, the writings are restricted only to those men and women whom I have heard, met and-in a very large number of cases-also known fairly intimately, in the course of my professional career that spans almost five decades. For me it has been a nostalgic journey down memory lane that has brought to mind a great many reminiscences of my meetings and encounters with several of them, as yet untold or unpublished. They represent my personal experiences with these great men and women
Last, but by no means the least, is the realization of the need for such a book at a time when Western interest in our traditional music has grown from simple curiosity to cautious understanding, then to discerning appreciation and, finally, to active participation. I also learnt that there has been a growing demand for biographical literature in music in English, as in other fields, from the readership in India and abroad.
The present volume seeks to highlight the contribution of vocalists. In planning the format, content and approach, history and chronology of the evolution and development of Hindustani music has been kept uppermost in view-to the extent possible. This criterion in also sought to be applied in the case of various gharanas and their pioneering masters. Later, however, a more flexible approach has been adopted for various reasons. Besides, the book carries a number of fare photographs of the famous and talented artists covered in this volume.
The volume is divided into two parts. The first part attempts to present general information relating to the evolution of Hindustani music through the ages and details of its styles and vogues. In Part Two, profiles and reminiscences of vocalists representing three generations, together with their contribution, have been highlighted.
Before I conclude, I cannot but make a mention about the unstinted and loving cooperation from my wife, Suniti, and my son, Dev, who devoted their valuable time-as they always do-to assist me in my work in various ways, even thought it may sound too formal for me to thank them for their gesture. I am equally greateful to 'Winnie' Shembavanekar, my personal friend and a keen connoisseur of classical music and literature, for his inestimable cooperation in preparing the press copy of the manuscript.
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