Keep calm and listen on

Most of my friends know little of Hindustani music. They say they are interested — only to quickly add that they are interested but they feel ‘inadequate’ while listening to a Hindustani piece. As one of them put it, ‘it feels like there is a lot going on and I am only getting a minuscule part of it.’ While it is true that there is a lot going on in a Hindustani piece, it is not necessary that one has to ‘get’ all of it to enjoy it. Hindustani music is often shrouded in a lot of rubbish to market it as an exotic and impregnable entity, or to hold it as the preserve of a few knowing elite. This is off-putting, yes, but it also takes the focus away from the music. At the end of the day, like any music, Hindustani music comprises melodic phrases that can be hummed while watering the plants. So, for my friends who keep asking me how they should initiate themselves into Hindustani music, here are five guidelines:

1 Don’t try to ‘prepare’ before listening to a Hindustani piece. Plunge straight into the music. Ustad Ali Akbar Khan had once said that Westerners often ask him how they should ‘prepare’ to listen to a Hindustani concert. He always told them to come and relax because ‘the music will tell you what to do’. There is a staggering amount of Hindustani music available online; you don’t need to amass a collection before you start listening. (You can choose a forum that is commensurate with your ethical standpoint vis-à-vis pirated music.) And I am not sure if Ustad Ali Akbar Khan was referring to all Hindustani musicians while giving his advice. In your searches, you will find several musicians whose music will tell you what to do, but the message could be one that sends you back to the music you came from. So, don’t stop exploring on the first day.

2 It is best to start with the biggest names — names that you’re probably familiar with even though you have never heard any Hindustani music. They are popular for a reason. Their music is usually anchored around an aesthetic that does not warrant an acquired taste and they have given serious thought to ‘presentation’, ensuring that a recital is colourful for a diverse group of listeners. There’s a large gamut to choose from: Pandit Ravi Shankar, Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Begum Parveen Sultana, Ustad Rashid Khan. This is, of course, a random selection of names, but, over the years, their music has succeeded in getting many of my ‘new listener’ friends hooked.

3 You must tell yourself that there is nothing wrong in sticking to ‘popular’ tastes in Hindustani music. In this regard, you should be wary of two groups of people: the ‘purists’ and what I can best describe as the ‘Anthro Brigade’. The former group is still tolerable (they might lead you to good music, albeit after frying your brain with advice, a bit like this column), but the latter group should be avoided at all costs. The ‘Anthro Brigade’ comprises a wide section of people dabbling in the Social Sciences. Many of them are pursuing PhDs in foreign lands but can be perpetually found in Delhi and Kolkata, doing fieldwork and attending classical music concerts. They believe that all popular artistes should be scoffed at. And given their professional training, their conversations about Hindustani music are littered with gratuitous plurals. I have even heard, at India Habitat Centre, “How can you say there is only one Raga Yaman? There can be many Yamans.”

4 Speaking of jargon, Hindustani music will throw many at you. Consciously stay away from these. There is probably a simpler synonym for every item of jargon. And, honestly, you need not know anything about ‘Gharana’ and ‘Raga Roop’ and ‘Vadi-Samavadi’ to enjoy Hindustani music. And if you’re interested, just Google the terms. The explanations are simple enough that you don’t need an aficionado to explain them.

5 If you like a raga, listen to renditions of that raga by multiple artistes, vocal and instrumental. After listening to about six or seven renditions, you should be able to hum the basic phrases of the raga. Then try to identify scraps of the raga in other genres of music you listen to. This process of finding similar melodic strains in different genres of music is quite addictive. And the ‘No! That can’t be!’ moments are especially fun. The theme music of Charles Chaplin’s Limelight matches note for note with Raga Zila Kafi; you will find Raga Kirwani in the Third Movement of Beethoven’s Pathetique . And then there are thousands of Hindi film songs that are based, in pretty obvious melodic terms, on ragas of the Hindustani system. This pattern recognition exercise, with its mix of fun and rigour, is in my opinion, the most engaging way to wade into Hindustani music.

(arunabha deb is a Kolkata-based lawyer music writer >shubhodeb@hotmail. com)

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