Jaipur-Atrauli gharana

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Vocalist Shruti Sadolikar Katkar accompanied by Anant Kunte on sarangi (2007).
Vocalist Shruti Sadolikar Katkar accompanied by Anant Kunte on sarangi (2007).

The Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana (also known as the Atrauli-Jaipur Gharana, Jaipur Gharana, and Alladiyakhani Gharana) is a dissident branch of the Agra gharana, founded by the illustrious Ustad Alladiya Khan (1885–1946). This Gharana is unique, as it was founded on the basis of Khayal Gayaki, whereas other major Gharanas were founded on Dhrupad-Dhamar Gayakis and eventually took to Khayal Gayaki.

This Gharana was founded by Ustad Alladiya Khansaheb as an alternative singing style to adjust to his handicapped and damaged voice from singing for days at a time.

Signature Raags of this Gharana (some revived or created by Alladiya Khan) are Sampoorna Malkauns, Basanti Kedar, Basant Bahar, Kaunshi Kanada, and Nat Kamod,

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[edit] History

Four major Gharanas are recognized in Hindustani classical khayal music; Gwalior, Agra, Kirana and Jaipur-Atrauli. Others are less pervasive, but no less enchanting, such as, Indore, Rampur, Mewati, Patiala, Bhendi-Bazar, etc.

The Jaipur-Atrauli gharana acquired its name and status as a Gharana from the time of Ustad Alladiya Khansaheb in the early half of the 20th century. He raised the level of artistry to such heights that he was acclaimed as the high priest of khayal gayaki. Barrister Jayakar, a connoisseur of classical music, was moved to call him "Gaan Samraat"; "The Mount Everest of music".

The antecedents of the Jaipur-Atrauli gharana are equally illustrious. The ancestral origin was said to be from Nath Vishwambhar. He was so immersed in music that he even set to raags the tunes of the shlokas in his puja! The great composer and musician Swami Haridas was also born in this family and the great Tansen and actor/singer Baiju were his pupils. Somewhere along the next generations, their religious affiliation seems to have changed, and these Gowd Brahmins became Muslims. Natthukhan and Mantolkhan were two stalwarts of this gharana, four to five generations down the line. They imbibed the practices of both religions. Alladiya Khan, for instance, wore the janva (sacred thread) all his life, dressed like a Maharashtrian, complete with the Kolhapuri turban, yet did not skip a day of his namaaz (Muslim prayer). His compositions praise Mahadev and Allah with equal fervor. In fact, many of the raags and compositions sung in the Jaipur gharana come from the tradition of "Haveli Sangeet", like Dev Dev Satsang in Savani-Kalyan, Aadidata Ant in Malkauns, Anahat Aadi Naad in Savani Nat, Devta Aadi Sab in Kukubh Bilawal, Devi Durge in Sukhiya Bilawal, and a host of others in which Hindu devotional themes were used by Alladiya Khan.

Why the hyphenated moniker of this gharana? Some scholars say these musicians originally came from Atrauli near Aligarh and migrated to the court of the Maharaja of Jaipur, their principal patron. Others say they came to the Jaipur Maharaja's court and then dispersed to various other courts in the area, like Jodhpur, Uniyara, Bundi, Atrauli etc. After establishing himself in the north, Alladiya Khan migrated to the court of Shahu Maharaj in Kolhapur and became his court musician. Alladiya Khan was initiated into music by his father, Ustad Khwaja Ahmad Khan and his uncle, Ustad Jahangir Khan in both the dhrupad and khayal styles. He also had the privilege of being guided by two famous composers of the time, Ustad Ramzan Khan "Rangeele" (Ustad Faiyaz Khan's paternal grandfather) and Ustad Mehboob Khan "Darasapiya" (Ustad Vilayat Hussein Khan's maternal uncle). The young Ustad Alladiya Khan was closely associated with Ustad Wazir Khan "binkar" at Indore and Bombay. The meend of his gayaki can be traced to this influence. Today only the khayal tradition remains. He was known to have been greatly influenced by Ustad Mubarak Khan's (Gwalior gharana) style that beautifully blended the swar and taal aspects of khayal singing.

[edit] Major Artists & Exponents of the Gharana

Some of the renowned exponents of this gharana, past and present, are: Alladiya Khan’s brother U. Haider Khan, son U. Nasiruddin a.k.a. Badeji, U. Badruddin a.k.a. Manji Khan, U. Shamsuddin a.k.a. Bhurji Khan, so also Bhaskarbuva Bakhle, Kesarbai Kerkar, Mogubai Kurdikar, Mallikarjun Mansur, Mohanrao Palekar, Laxmibai Jadhav, Nivruttibuva Sarnaik, Wamanrao Sadolikar, and Wamanrao Deshpande (all deceased). The next generation includes Kamal Tambe (deceased), Ratnakar Pai, Madhusudan Kanetkar (deceased), Dhondutai Kulkarni, Kausalya Manjeshwar (deceased), Rajshekhar Mansoor, Sushilarani Patel, Mohammad Sayeed Khan, Mohommad Rashid Khan (deceased), and the most illustrious of all, Kishori Amonkar. They in turn produced disciples like Padma Talwalkar, Shruti Sadolikar, Manik Bhide, and Dr. Arun Dravid. The youngest generation includes Ashwini Bhide, Raghunandan Panshikar, Manjiri Asnare, Pratima Tilak, Alaka Marulkar, Shalmali Joshi, and a few others. There have been many others who were trained in Jaipur gayaki, but did not perform in public concerts to any appreciable extent.

[edit] The Jaipur-Atrauli Gharana Gayaki

Voice delivery is full-throated; no falsetto is used in any aspect of the gayaki. The swar (note) is sung in the aakar form in such a way that it does not sound harsh or forced, but emerges deep from the chest as a natural, sonorous sound. The focus is on filigree-like details, and integration of mind, voice and breath through long passages of stunning complexity and beauty. The notes are woven in the laya (rhythm) so skillfully that it presents a seamless whole, interlinking one note with the other without losing their distinct character. The bandishes or compostions are set to taal with such precision and grace that the swaying tempo invokes a similar swaying response from the listener.

Some gharanas stress mastery over the swara (tonality), whereas others give more importance to laya. Jaipur gayaki is a happy marriage of both aspects without undue stress on one or the other. This balance is difficult to achieve. If you try to present the notes aesthetically and don't pay attention to the laya, you may not arrive at the sam (the first beat of the cycle) gracefully and in time. If you concentrate on the laya and do not pay attention to the notes, you might go off-key or sing something which is not pleasing to the ear. Old masters like Mogubai Kurdikar, Kesarbai Kerkar, Mallikarjun Mansoor, Nivruttibuva Sarnaik enchanted audiences with somewhat puritanical presentations of the Jaipur gayaki. Kishori Amonkar gave the Jaipur gayaki a somewhat new direction, emphasizing the emotional content (Bhava or Rasa), and consequently de-emphasizing the structural content of the Jaipur gayaki.

Most gharanas apply notes in simple succession in aalap and taan, whereas in the Jaipur gayaki, notes are applied in an oblique manner with filigree involving immediately neighboring notes. Instead of the flat taan, gamak (taan sung with double notes with a delicate force behind each of the component double-notes of the taan) makes the taan spiral into seemingly never-ending cycles. Meend in aalap and gamak in taan are the hallmark of this gayaki. To his immense credit, the great exponent of Kirana gharana, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi is one of the very few singers outside the Jaipur gharana, who has adopted the gamak taan to an extent, complete with long, uninterrupted patterns clearly showing an amazing breath capacity much like the old masters of Jaipur gharana, but he has not quite achieved the intricacy and grace of gamak that is the signature of Jaipur. Sharp edged harkats and murkis (crisp, quick phrases to ornament the alaap) are relatively uncommon. Not only are the notes sung in rhythm with the taal but progress between the matras (beats) is in fractions of quarters and one-eighths. While being mindful of so many factors, musicians of this gharana still have a graceful way of arriving at the sam without having matras to spare! This is particularly evident in the way bol-alaap or bol-taan is sung, where meticulous attention is given to the short and long vowels in the words of the bandish that are being pronounced, and the strict discipline of avoiding unnatural breaks in the words and in the meaning of the lyrics. No other gharana has paid so much attention to the esthetics and laykaari in singing bol-alaaps and bol-taans.

A highlight of Jaipur gayaki is the mastery over jod raag (mixed raag). Singers from some gharanas tend to sing one raag in aroha (ascent) and the other in avaroha (descent). Some others sing one raag in the lower half of the octave and then switch to the other raag in the upper half. Alternatively, they may sing alternate phrases of the two component raags. In Jaipur gayaki, there is such perfect fusion of the two raags that it sounds like a homogeneous raag in its own right, giving the feel of both component raags, not as a heterogeneous mixture cobbled together. The listener hears an amalgam of both raags without losing their distinctive identity. Alladiya Khan has introduced many lesser-known or obscure raags in his repertoire like Jayat Kalyan, Kafi-Kanada, Rayasa Kanada, Basanti Kanada, Savani-Nat, Savani-Kalyan, Bhoop-Nat, Nat-Kamod, Bihari, Khat, Khokar, Sampurna Malkauns, and many others. Trying to imbibe all these characteristics without losing the esthetics is a tall order for any musician. Hence this gayaki is called a thinking listener's or connoisseur's gayaki. However, it gives equal pleasure to the uninitiated listener who may not understand the technical intricacies, but responds to the layakari and the melodic content of the presentation.

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