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By Dr. Hassan Azad Music to the casual listener is simply a means of entertainment. However, for the practitioner, it is a branch of knowledge in as much as it is a collection of ideas which are handed down from one generation to the next; it is the prerogative of the creative ones amongst them to take it to greater heights. The music of the subcontinent is an oral tradition and insights acquired over generations are divulged only to the children of the practitioners or to exceptionally talented students who can endure being treated as apprentices as in the Middle Ages. Even full compositions are kept secret and only part of the composition is performed publicly. In contrast to the West, nothing has been written or recorded about voice culture, principles of melodic development, exercises for the advanced learner or history of compositions. The interviews of our leading musicians are singularly devoid of any substance. Any substantial inquiry is ignored or declined politely. However, an enlightened younger generation of musicians has risen above this level, especially in For me, the history of compositions is very intriguing. We have heard so much about Tan Sen, yet there is no public documentation – written or oral – of his compositions. I, nor any of my musician friends know explicitly any composition of Tan Sen. Common sense says that Kheyal must have evolved from Dhrupad, just as Thumri evolved from Kheyal – and one hears this clearly in the current repertoire-and it would be good to document this transformation of Dhrupad into Kheyal. Common sense says that instrumental compositions which are not directly inspired by vocal compositions, and their development, must be based on the subdivisions of the various taals and their qaidas. It would be good to ask professionals about such matters and to document their views or insights obtained by systematic research. How is one to achieve this, given the guild like nature of music instruction in the subcontinent? I believe that the Internet resources are not utilized as much as they could be. There are treasures freely available on the internet- e snips being the most recent addition- which are just waiting to be studied and analyzed and put to good use. I had been discussing with several friends that my enquiries to professionals into the historical aspects of composition were not bearing much fruit. Today I found, by absolute pure chance, a link which I want to share and document. The semester was over and as a distraction I explored Khurshid Anwar’s Raag Mala available at sarangi.info. The first Raag which he discusses is Aiman [http://sarangi.info/kalyan]. He gives the Aaroh - Avroh as Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni Sa- Sa Ni Dha Pa Ma Ga Re Sa. The Khaas Taan is given as Ma Re Ga Re Sa. Let us test this against the evidence which Khawaja Sahib himself makes available. It is an Asthai sung by Ustad Salamat Ali: Naiyya karo paar gareeb nawaaz- hazrat saanchi sarkaar. Asthai: ( Bols: Naiyya Karo paar gareeb nawaaz / naiyya karo paar (3:04) (asthai-continued) 13th NRGR /1 st -GMMG-5th ( M)NP-9 thMP-MR^S- 13th refrain: GRNRG---R (hazarata /sanchi/ sara /sara-kaara The Antra is: Ham sab key sartaar tum hi ho- haan tum ho khewaan haar. Here is its transcription: 9th GMDM-DNN-SS- N^GR NMPMG/ GMDM/DNNSS/ SSNDNSNDPMG (as a soot/meendh) (bols: hum sab key sartaar tum hi ho/ ( 13th GRNRG—R RGMG MPRS (9th han –tum ho /kehwaan haar ------/13th naiyya karo paar gareeb) So clearly, the Aaroh –Avroh is not what it is asserted in the Raag Mala. If one does the whole transcription, one will find that not once is the Khaas taan Ma Re Ga Re Sa used. Rather, the Aaroh- Avroh is what we all normally associate with Aiman, namely, Ni Re Ga Ma Dha Ni Re Sa- Sa Ni Dha Pa Ma Ga Re Sa. I will try to explain this discrepancy in a moment. I asked Shafqat, son of Ustad Salamat, whether he knew the composer of this composition. He said that he did not, but it came to Now to the serendipity I referred to a minute ago. I received a message from a friend to listen to a Rageshri of Shiv Kumar Sharma available at e snips. When I accessed the link, I noticed a recording of Gundecha brothers. It was a Dhrupad in Aiman.[http://www.esnips.com/doc/f38f408a-eb5a-4be2-bdc4-e12dedb38737/02-Pratham-Shareer-Gyan] To listen to this, first download it; you can then listen to it uninterrupted. Here are the words: Pratham Shareer Gayaan- Naad Bheedh Teen Sthan The sargam is: N N D P M – M G P- M M G- And from So clearly here the Aaroh- Avroh is what Khawaja Sahib had asserted. I had the feeling that I had heard this melody before and indeed if one continues with the transcription one finds almost exactly the same melody as the Aiman asthai: Aale Nabi aulad e Nabi! So this is a clear example of a Dhurpad transforming into Kheyal. Now all that remains is to check with Gundecha brothers the origins and composer of this Dhurpad and to trace how and when Aiman acquired the form in which Ustad Salamat Ali has sung in the Raag Mala. Is this a parallel form of Aiman which has come from One of my colleagues is an outstanding Qari. When I listen to him, I can recognize so many of our Raags in his Qirat. Indeed a reading of the Wikipedia article on Maqaam Music shows striking parallels with our Raag Music. So this concept of parallel Aimans is not far fetched. I can see now that an objective history of our music is within reach. As Music is a practical art, the evidence coming from performed music and from the collective memory of practitioners should be the guide and arbiter. If the majority of them say something, one should accept it because it is the empirical data whose basis is the knowledge handed down orally from one generation to the next. The miracle of the Internet also makes instant communication with leading professionals possible, most of whom now have their own websites. One can ask these professionals, cross check, analyze and document. This can only be done collectively. I hope fervently that students and listeners will play an active role in this and help in documenting objectively our heritage, taking advantage of all the resources available so widely over the Internet. Acknowledgement: I thank Shri Ramakanth Gundecha for correcting the words of the Dhurpad ‘Pratham Shareer Gayan’ and for his interest in this article. Dr. Hassan Azad is a mathematician by profession and a senior student of sitar-nawaz Ustad Mohammad Shareef Khan. He is also a founding director of the Rauf Ansari Foundation.
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Music as a Branch of Knowledge
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