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Tribute To Pandit Kishan Maharaj . |
Artist:
Pandit Kishan Maharaj - Tabla
Shubh Shankar - Tabla
Mannulal Misra - Harmonium
Tracks
CD 1
1 Tabla solo
2 Teentaal (1-14,18)
3 Dhamar (15-17)
CD 2
1 Tabla solo
2 Dhamar (1-19)
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On the 5th May 2008, Indian music lost a true legend with the passing away of
Pandit Kishan Maharaj at the age of 85. This grand master of tabla playing who,
according to Kathak maestro Birju Maharaj, had 'the history of Indian music on his
fingertips' was an heroic figure who will be remembered as a highly charismatic and
creative performer who played an essential role in establishing tabla as a solo
instrument and helped to raise the status of tabla players all over the world. His ability
to play innovative and playful cross rhythms, and to spontaneously produce complex
calculations particularly in 'tihai' patterns, made him one of the most revered and
respected tabla players of his time admired by audiences and peers alike.
After Shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan's death, he was the lone surviving classical
music legend in Varanasi (Benares), the place whose lineage and mantle he so proudly
carried for well over seventy years of an extraordinary musical journey.
Pandit Kishan Maharaj was born into a distinguished family of musicians in the holy city
of Varanasi in India 1923. For the first three years he took lessons from his father
Pandit Hari Maharaj. At the age of six his grandfather performed the traditional rites
and took him off to his Uncle, the legendary Pandit Kanthe Maharaj for a thread tying
ceremony which marked Kishan Maharaj's formal initiation into the world of music. As
a child, though often beset by colds and fevers, he gained notoriety in his family for
being mischievous, with stories of his father mixing mustard oil in the honey pot to
deter him from stealing it from home. However, a sickly disposition hid a steely
determination in the young maestro and by the age of eleven, Kishan Maharaj was
already making his mark as an impressive stage performer. As a successful career
unfolded he was able to share the stage with legends like Ustad Faiyaz Khan, Pandit
Omkarnath Thakur, Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan, Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Pandit Ravi
Shankar, Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan, Ustad Allauddin Khan and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan
besides many others. In 2002 he was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the highest
accolade bestowed from the Indian Government. In addition to being a great performer Kishan Maharaj has made an invaluable contribution to Indian music through
his dedication to teaching. His disciples include some of the top tabla players of today,
including Kumar Bose, senior most Nandan Mehta, his son Pooran Maharaj, grandson
Shubh Shankar, Sandeep Das and Sukhwinder Singh Namdhari.
Benares gharana
Benares is a vibrant and colourful city located on a northern curve of the Ganges,
cutting through the plains in the state of Uttar Pradesh. For centuries it has been a
revered centre of pilgrimage and the home of Hindu orthodoxy. Today it is a city
which prides itself on preserving its traditions.
The Benares tabla gharana was developed over 200 years ago by the legendary Pandit
Ram Sahaiji. At the age of nine, he moved to Lucknow to become the disciple of Ustad
Modu Khan of the Lucknow gharana. It is said that when he just was seventeen years
old, Pt. Ram Sahaiji made his mark by playing for seven consecutive nights for Wajid Ali
Shah, the ruling Nawab. Shortly after this performance, Pt. Ram Sahaiji returned to
Benares. On his return he withdrew into seclusion for six months and worked to
develop what is now known as the Benares baj or style of tabla playing. The philosophy
behind this new style of tabla playing was based on it being versatile enough to
perform solo, and to accompany any form of music or dance. The tabla was able to
play delicately, as required for khayal vocal music, or more vigorously, like pakhawaj,
for the accompaniment of dhrupad or kathak dance. Pt. Ram Sahaiji developed a new
way of fingering the tabla strokes and composed numerous compositions within
existing compositional forms, creating a rich and distinctive repertoire of gat, tukra
and paran. He also created new forms, such as uthan, benaresi theka, and fard which
have become cornerstones of the traditional Benares tabla solo. Kishan Maharaj's guru,
Pt. Kanthe Maharaj was a disciple of Pt. Baldev Sahaiji, the grandson of Pt. Ram Sahaiji,
the founder of the great Benares gharana.
In the Benares baj, the art of solo tabla performance is greatly respected and very
highly developed. There are more than twenty forms of composition in use, many of
them unique to this tradition. Some are theme and variation forms which require spontaneous composition by the performer, while many others involve sophisticated
compositional techniques with finished pieces handed down from generation to
generation. In addition, there is a well defined procedure for joining the various types
of compositions to form a logical and pleasing performance.
Tabla
The Tabla is the most popular and widely used drum used in the Indian sub-continent.
Its colourful range of tonal qualities combined with its capacity to express remarkable
rhythmic permutations make it a unique percussion instrument which in recent times
has inspired and fascinated audiences worldwide.
The pair of drums consist of a high-pitched, precisely tuned dahina (also called dayan,
or tabla), and a low-pitched, less precisely tuned drum called bayan. The dahina is
responsible for many of the resonant ringing sounds (or bols). The bayan provides the
bass and is recognizable for its swooping bass sound, which provides colourful
embellishment. The bayan is often said to be where the soul of the instrument lies.
Most frequently the tabla is used to accompany classical instrumental, vocal and dance
performances, but tabla players will quickly remind you that there also exists a rich
and varied tradition of tabla solo playing. The history of tabla is shrouded in mystery
and mythology; however it is most commonly thought to have developed in the area
of Delhi in the mid eighteenth century. Initially, much of the inspiration for its
repertoire was borrowed and adapted from other Indian drums including pakhawaj
and dholak. However, over the period since then, tabla players have built up a huge
repertoire of material specific to the dynamics of the tabla. This vast range of
compositions has been made richer by the evolution of a number of distinct regional
performance styles, known as gharanas, of which there are six recognised by the tabla
community, namely, Delhi, Ajrara, Farukhabad, Lucknow, Benares and Punjab. The
word gharana literally means "house" or "from the house of" and is an important aspect
of learning to play Indian classical music on both melodic and rhythmic instruments
alike. These styles have played a major role in the development of tabla playing with
regard to technique and repertoire.
The tabla player uses a vocabulary of semi-onomatopoeic syllables to represent the
strokes on the instrument known as 'bols' (from the Hindi verb bolna, 'to speak'), a
system which has been used to orally communicate compositions through generations.
Bols making up popular phrases such as 'dhage tina gina' and 'ketetake terekete', are
recited by the player before playing, in a practice known as Padhant. While in training
a student is taught to speak the bols of the composition before actually playing it on
the drums.
The solo tabla repertoire consists of a great variety of compositional forms, many of
which are featured on this recording. The forms can be divided into two broad
categories. Firstly, compositions of the' theme and variation' type are Peshkar, Qaida
and Rela where a rhythmic theme is expanded and permutated using a variety of
improvisatory techniques. Usually featured in the first half of the solo, these themes
are pre-composed, but designed in a way to allow maximum potential for
improvisation, testing the performer's creativity to the limit. The latter part of the
recital most commonly consists of fixed compositions such as Tukra, Gat and
Chakradaar, many of which have been inherited from great masters from generation
to generation and are therefore highly prized by tabla players.
Performance
This double CD features two live tabla solo performances specially recorded at the
Saptak Festival, a celebration of the best of Indian Classical Music held in Ahmedabad,
Gujarat at the beginning of every year. For over twenty five years, Pandit Kishan
Maharaj has been one of the main attractions at the festival.
CD 1 was recorded in January 2002 and features a tabla solo in Teentaal, the favourite
rhythm cycle of most tabla players, consisting of sixteen beats. There is a brief
departure from teentaal when Pandit Kishan Maharaj plays some rarely heard
compositions in Dhamar (tracks 15-17), an ancient fourteen beat taal. The solo
features several composition types typical of the Benares style of playing and concludes with Ganesh Paran, an auspicious composition which incorporates prayer through bols
with Sanskrit names and attributes of the Hindu deity. Ganesh is the god of knowledge
and of good fortune, and these shlokas (prayers) incorporated into a sophisticated and
poetical rhythmic form, function as invocations to the Gods.
CD 2 features a full solo recital in Dhamar taal recorded in January 2003. The solo is
accompanied throughout by a cyclic melody, known as lehera, played on the harmonium by Mannulal Misra. This majestic performance gives us a rare and privileged insight into a rich and highly aesthetic tabla repertoire, handed down by masters through generations and here eloquently articulated by a true master of percussion.
Notes: c John Ball
John Ball is based at the University of Sheffield in the UK.
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