She has trained in khayal under the stalwart of the Kirana gharana Pt. Firoz Dastur and further specialised in thumri under the guidance of the thumri legend Shobha Gurtu. She has a Masters degree in music from the Bombay University. Dhanashree Pandit aspires to give thumri its rightful place on the concert stage since it faces the risk of extinction with the dominance of khayal.
She has performed in all the leading music institutions in Mumbai and all over India, and has toured the U.S. several times for concerts and music workshops. She has been conducting lecture demonstrations and workshops on ‘Appreciation of Hindustani music’ and her talk at the TEDx conference in 2010 on “The essence of Indian music’, was widely acclaimed. She is a visiting lecturer on thumri at the SNDT University, Mumbai.
She has also been teaching Indian vocal techniques to renowned jazz musicians from all over the world and has recorded fusion albums with many of them. She has released several thumri albums including Saawan ki thumri, Barsat Rang and Kanha Re, under the banner of Times Music and Dreams Entertainment and her latest release is a world music album ‘Always Here’ released by Amoka Records.
In a free-wheeling conversation with E. Vijayalakshmi Rajan, a very gung-ho Dhanashree Pandit Rai explains why she is optimistic about the younger generation taking forward the legacy of Hindustani classical music, and why it is so important to move with the times.
How safe is the position of Indian classical music in today’s times?
It has become a stereotypical habit hasn’t it, to say that Indian classical music is dying out, and to lament the ‘good old days’ of classical music? But I feel just the opposite. There seem to be more and more youngsters pursuing music today and doing it to a good degree of mastery; and in fact, they seem to be doing it faster than in our times. It is almost as if the “crop” has changed. Children born in today’s age are quicker on the uptake and are reaching good standards of performance in a relatively shorter time. I look at the number of proficient young singers and instrumentalists these days and feel extremely optimistic about the future of classical music. It is in safe and good hands for sure.
Having said this I do have one observation…the youth want instant recognition. They want to know if there is going to be a tangible benefit for the time and money they are putting in to learn this art. This is where the answer becomes difficult. I tell them I can guarantee that they will become proficient musicians if they put in enough time and practise, but how can I promise them fame and recognition?
When we studied music, we instinctively prescribed to the Bhagvad Gita principle of ‘putting in honest and continued efforts, and not concentrating on the goal’. We didn’t get into music with any plan to make it into a career and I can say that with certainty for me and my contemporaries.
A kind of philosophy most music gurus followed in our days was to curb the praise lest the student start getting indolent or egoistic. The idea was to make us realise that classical music is a huge ocean and at no point should you start to feel that you know it all. Having said that, sometimes the “not praising enough” can lead to confidence problems so maybe it’s a good idea for today’s gurus, to give their talented students, along with the discipline of hard practice, that extra pat on the back and tell them they are on the right path and that they can do it !
Why do you think the current generation is interested in learning classical music?
As the wheel of life and time turns, the tendency to return to one’s roots is but natural. For the urban westernised youth, something has clicked in the brain that is telling them…there is a great wealth of art that belongs to your country and that you are missing out on! The stresses in their life is making them look for a music that can help them look inward and provide mental peace and stability. Just look around you and observe how the youngsters have their ipods glued onto them almost the whole day…if only those ipods had some classical music playing too!
I have seen that in some households where the parents have been playing Indian classical music regularly, their children have subconsciously developed a great taste and love for the music without even realising it!
Also, some city colleges and schools are now offering appreciation courses on Indian music from time to time and this is a very positive practice. The youth are coming to realise that it is not just adopting Western values and culture that makes you “cool’! More significantly, young Indian musicians who are singing western rock and jazz are contacting me for some basic training in Indian vocals and ragas. They cannot survive by just interpreting and performing songs already recorded and sung by Western pop and rock groups. In search of some innovation or a distinct style that does not just ape or copy the West…they have to incorporate some elements from their own Indian culture!
Is the guru-shishya parampara the same as it was earlier?
Although the guru-shishya parampara of “one to one” music training still continues, gurus today allow youngsters to record the lessons. In our times this practice was banned so we had to be totally focussed during the lesson. The only way to record was in your brain, with the use of notation (sargam). So we developed the ability to notate really fast. That ability seems to be lost today as also the ability to concentrate (since the student knows that the entire lesson is recorded with him). However, despite this, I am all for change. The younger generation wants things fast only because they are dealing with greater responsibilities and stresses than in our times, so they have to flow with the change and so do their gurus.
How realistic is it to pursue a career in music these days?
A career in music is dependent on many variables, like in all the fine arts, so I always advise my young students to aspire for a full fledged music profession but to also develop a parallel career in the subject of their professional educational degree.
You must have a fall back option if the career in music does not work out as expected. It is not impossible to have an office job and devote 2 to 3 hours to music daily. I think that would be a safe balance to pursue a non music career and side by side keep the music practice going…and when the time is ready and the music assignments pick up, you can revert to it full time!
Some of the options I see available for qualified musicians today would be that of a full time performer, teaching and research scholar, working at music institutes, and then of course, many aspire to get an entry into Bollywood. Easier said than done!
Can you briefly talk about your role in educating the lay listener in Indian music?
Besides classical and thumri performances, my passion is to demystify classical music for the lay listener through interactive workshops and lecture demonstrations.
In my workshops, in order to get the immediate attention of the young listeners, I use current Bollywood songs to help teach them ear training and raag recognition. For instance, who would believe that a song like Munni bandnaam hui is roughly based on raag madmad sarang, and songs like Ram chaahe leela chahe, dhoom macha le and lungi dance, all have clips of raag bhairavi. This immediately draws the attention of the youth and they are able to absorb the more complex concepts very easily. One of the most popular raag used in Bollywood music these days is raag darbari. Songs like badtameez dil, mora piya mose bolat nahi, balam pichkari, sun raha hai na tu are all roughly based on this raag. When I do workshops for senior citizens I use film songs from the 1950s and 1960s.
The idea is to get rid of this mental block that “Indian Music is only for the seasoned listener and that the lay listener will never be able to understand its nuances”.
At present I do have a few advanced students of music learning thumri from me. I do not take on too many since I have to keep my voice well rested for my own riyaaz.
Can you tell us about your training programme and collaboration with jazz musicians?
As a music educator I have also been guiding jazz singers from all around the world in Indian vocal techniques. This collaboration was initiated by the late Mr. Niranjan Jhaveri who invited me to set up formal voice training programme for Jazz vocalists. This program was called JIVI (Jazz India vocal Institute). Being a true Jazz buff himself, he felt that Jazz singers didn’t have a formal voice training programme and since they use the natural speaking voice for singing like the Hindustani classical artistes, they would benefit much by learning Indian music. After he passed away, JIVI does not exist anymore, although I do continue to guide jazz vocalists from all over the world.
Some of the aspects I train them in are riyaaz (practice routines) and vocal warm ups, harkats or Indian music ornamentations like the murki, meend, gamak and of course raag music. Since jazz is a music that is all about improvisation and enriching itself by the use of sounds of the world, there is a great scope for collaborating with Indian music forms. The concept of our raga music – a scale of notes that creates an aesthetic mood, is attracting Western musicians since their music moves in a limited number of scales.
Can you speak a bit about the new emerging fusion music?
These days a new shelf has appeared in the music stores: “World Music / Fusion Music/ Crossover Music”, and I for one am truly glad this is happening. It is a sign of music breaking barriers, defying set labels and all genres freely mixing and merging with each other (of course when done within aesthetic parameters!) There will always be good examples and bad examples of such music, but it represents to me a friendly handshake across the world.
Since pure “Classical Music” be it Indian or Western, will always remain a bit inflexible and will have rules and boundaries (by virtue of being a classical art), the mixing and merging can happen in a freer genre of music…like jazz or pop, and more significantly for us, in Bollywood music.
You will be surprised to know that in our Indian music studios these days, the notations used are all Western…they speak of pitches in terms like A minor and G flat etc…and the recording engineers as well as the seasoned Indian musicians are reading and using Western scores and notation and using chords and harmonies peculiar to Western music!
On the other side, Western music bands are beginning to enjoy incorporating Indian instruments like the tabla, sitar etc., to add an Indian flavour to the music. Some of the Indian artistes who have set this trend are Shubha Mudgal (eminent vocalist) Ravi Chari (sitar), Rahul Sharma (santoor) among others. In my own way, I have collaborated extensively with eminent jazz pianist Richard Bennett from New York (we have an album waiting to be released early next year), and I have recently released an album produced by Storms (bassist Sanjay Swami) called Always Here which uses thumri in a jazz setting.
Most Indian classical vocalists however are still a bit hesitant to venture into Indo-Western crossover experiments and prefer to remain pure to the classical form.
I would like to quote the British Historian Arnold Toynbee: “The vast literature, the magnificent opulence, the majestic sciences, the soul touching music, the awe inspiring gods…It is already becoming clearer that a chapter which has a Western beginning will have to have an Indian ending if it is not to end in the destruction of the human race. At this supremely dangerous moment in history, the only way of salvation for mankind is the Indian way.”