MAKING MUSIC

The Telegraph,
Thursday, August 5, 2004.

Radio notes on method to classical music

Why is raag Lalit sung in the morning? And why is Darbari said to be a late-night raag? Such questions, inscrutable to the layman and unexplained to the interested, will soon be answered on air. All India Radio has undertaken an initiative to explore the time theory in Indian classical music.

The programme, entitled Sangeet Samay Chakra, focuses on a unique feature of north Indian classical music. Explains musicologist Kumar Prasad Mukhopadhyay, who has written the script for the programme: “A musician plays or sings a raag only at the designated time. This has been a basic concept ruling classical music for ages. In the 1920s, Pandit Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande laid the logical basis of the theory.” Thus the day was divided into eight praharas and each raag was assigned to a specific prahara of the day according to its tonal characteristics.

In keeping with the division, the programme has been divided into eight episodes. Explains Sanjeevani Ulhas Kashalkar, producer of the show. “ This is a conceptdriven programme that we have evolved. Earlier, we used to ask the artistes to sing raags of their choice for recordings. But for this series, we explained the concept to them and took five cuts of a wide variety of raags.”

The first episode, to be aired on August 6, will be based on early morning raags like Lalit, Bhairav, Todi, Bilaskhani Todi and Jogiya. The subsequent episodes will run on the basis of the other praharas – late morning, early afternoon, late afternoon, early evening, late evening, early night and late night. In keeping with the pan-Indian appeal of classical music, the compering of the programme will be in English.

Top-bracket musicians have been roped in for the series, to be aired on Wednesdays at 9 pm on FM Rainbow and on Fridays at 11 pm on Calcutta B. “ We have tried to keep as much variety as possible with a mix of vocal and instrumental, male and female, and the various formats,’ Kashalkar says. Thus while Ustad Rashid Khan will be singing a tarana in Gaud Sarang, Ustad Ali Ahmed Hussain will be playing the shehnai in Vrindavani Sarang and Pandit Buddhadev Dasgupta the sarod in Samant Sarang – all as expositions of early afternoon raags.

The participants in the programme welcome the effort, but with mixed reactions. Vocalist Girija Devi feels the initiative will bring home much-needed lessons for beginners. “Bachchey besamay bemausam gaane ga jatey hain,” she laments. The new generation will also benefit. She has a word of advice for the broadcasters and telecasters. Even if they do not arrange for new recordings, they should at least bring out the old ones and play them regularly, she says.

Pandit Ajoy Chakrabarty, however, does not see much hope in creating awareness through such programmes. “ The environment in one’s home has to be conducive to a taste for Indian culture first”.