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Pakhawaj - Ravishankar Upadhyay |
Artist:
Ravishankar Upadhyay - Pakhawaj
Ikram Khan - Sarangi
Shishirchandra Bhatt - Harmonium
Tracks
Pakhawaj Solo in Chautaal (12 beats)
01. Lord Ganesh/ Lord Shiva Stuti Paran
02. Lehara
03. Uthaan/Mohara
04. Parans/ Rela
05. Moti Lari Paran
06. Ravabi Paran
07. Pakhawaj Samraat Pt. Vasudev Upadhyay's Paran
08 Chakardar paran
09. Jhalla
10. Upaj (Dhumkit ka baaj)
11. Aad lay ka baaj
12. Several Layakariyan (Rela, Upaj)
13. Kamali Chakardar paran
14. Kamali Chakardar paran 2
15. Farmaishi Chakardar paran
16. Upaj Rela/ Tihaiyan
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Pakhawaj is the most majestic sounding of Indian percussion instruments, generating a resonance which brings to mind evocative images of Ancient India and the music of the Moghul courts. Ravishankar Upadhyay comes from a distinguished musical ancestry and represents the eleventh generation of artists nurturing the traditional art of Pakhawaj. Born in 1969 in Iswarpur village of district Gaya in Bihar, he is the son and student of the late Maestro Pandit Ramji Upadhyay. He started intense and comprehensive Pakhawaj training from the age of eight years. This 'Upadhyay' parampara, or lineage, is 350 years old, hailing from the time his ancestors from Rajasthan were given this title of 'Upadhyay' in the royal courts as a mark of recognition of their mastery. Later, they were requested by the Rajah of Bihata State (Bihar) to move to their province where they were given special place in the royal court. Over successive generations, this tradition blossomed and many famous artists have been given to the musical world by the family, not only in Pakhawaj playing but in the Dhrupad style of singing as well. The grandfather of Ravishankar, the great Mridang Maestro Pandit Basudeo Upadhyay was both an unprecedented Pakhawaj player and an accomplished Dhrupad singer. His Gharana, or style of Pakhawaj playing, has been named Pandit Basudeo Upadhyay Pakhawaj Parampara, Gaya Bihar.
The style of Pakhawaj wadan of Upadhyay is characterized by clarity in Padhant, the clear pronunciation of syllables, innovative mathematical calculation in music, complex Tihaiyan, Laykari, Stuti, Chanda, difficult Parans and preparation of marvelous Relas. Apart from being an accomplished solo player of Pakhawaj, he also accompanies with
Dance, Instrumental, Vocal Dhrupad, Taal Vadya Kecheri (percussion ensembles) and Duets. Besides Pakhawaj, he has a good command over tabla as a solo and accompaniment artist, and he is also a talented Vocal Dhrupad artist. At present, he is teaching Pakhawaj at Prayag Sangeet Samit, Allahbad. Along with being an expert artist, he is an accomplished Guru as well. He has trained many students in this art form and has ably shown them the path of success.
The Pakhawaj is an ancient barrel shaped percussion instrument from the Northern part of India. Its most famously known as the main accompanying instrument for dhrupad vocal music as well as dhrupad style performances on Rudra Veena and Surbahar. There is also a huge repertoire for solo performance. As with the tabla, the Pakhawaj repertoire is made up of mnemonic syllables known as bols put together into a rich variety of composition types which are passed on through word of mouth from generation to generation. Pakhawaj was certainly the most widely used percussion instrument in North India from the time of Akbar in the 16th century, and despite its popularity being superseded by tabla over the last two hundred years, it is still regarded with the highest respect within Indian music culture. There is great uncertainty about the exact origins and development of Pakhawaj. The meaning of the word Pakhawaj can be broken down into two parts; Pakh, indicating the armpit and the hand (Pakhuwa) and baaj, meaning to play, or perform; the whole meaning suggesting 'the instrument played by using the limbs from the arm joints'!
Set horizontally on a cushion the larger bass-skin is played with the left hand, the treble skin by the right hand. The goatskin membranes are looped with leather thongs around the hollowed barrel. Eight pieces of two inch wooden roundstock are pried between thongs and barrel and are hammered tight. The treble skin is fitted with three concentric rings of dense black hardened paste which helps create a sound resonant with harmonics. Both sides are carefully tuned, the bass skin is tuned by applying a ball of dough from aarta, whole-fibre wheat. It is tuned to the lower tonic.
This a live recital recorded at the Saptak Music Festival in Ahmedabad, Gujarat on the 5th January 2006. The solo is set to Chautaal, a rhythm cycle of twelve beats, a popular taal in the tradition of Pakhawaj playing. Ravishankar Upadhyay is accompanied by both the Sarangi and Harmonium, which play the lehara, a melodic motif outlining the framework of the twelve beat rhythm cycle. It sounds straightforward, but it takes great concentration and awareness of taal to accurately maintain lehera throughout a solo which can sometimes last up to three hours. Lehera playing is not simply the repetition of a fixed melody; it is also serves to maintain the soloist's mood and temperament by inspiring the main performer.
The performance begins with a recited Stuti Ganesh Paran. Parans incorporate prayer through bols with Sanskrit names and attributes of Hindu deities. These shlokas (prayers) function as invocations to the Gods. Ganesh Paran, dedicated to Ganesh, is traditionally executed at the beginning of a solo pakhawaj performance. Ganesh is the god of knowledge and of good fortune, and therefore, to recite and play a Ganesh bol paran at the start of a concert is considered auspicious. Ravishankar demonstrates how the spoken phrases are adapted onto the Pakhawaj, performing Stuti ('prayer') parans in praise of both Lord Ganesh and Lord Shiva, the latter composition thought to be around 300 years old. This reciting of the Pakhawaj syllables is known as Padhant, an integral part of the Indian rhythm system. The initial compositions played in the solo are known as Uthan followed by Mohara, a short composition ending with a tehai, similar to Tukra in the tabla repertoire. The main attraction for any Pakhawaj solo is probably the repertoire of Paran (5-7). These are fixed compositions many of which are hundreds of years old and display the whole dynamic range of the instrument within them. By contrast, Rela (4) is a theme and variation type of composition that uses only a few syllables played in a fast, fluent style creating an exciting free flowing effect. The specialty of the chakardar paran (8) is that it is played three times. In this particular composition the first phrase ends half beat before the sam (first best of the cycle), the second phrase ends a quarter beat before the sam, and finally the third phrase skillfully coincides with the sam. Jhalla (9) is a high energy improvised sequence played only on the higher pitched drum with one hand. The rhythmic divisions are like those played in the faster Jhalla sections of instrumental music on plucked instruments such as the Veena and Sitar. Upaj (10) describes the player's ability to improvise and spontaneously expand on initial themes, in this case, elaborating on the bol 'dhumkit'. This is followed by a section performed in 'Aad lay' (11), that is, three syllables (or multiples of) to a beat. Layakari, literally 'rhythmic play', demonstrates the player's ability to improvise on changing subdivisions of the beat in relation to the basic tempo. A kamali paran (13,14) is one which is considered 'wonderous' where each phrase played three times, ends with the bol 'dha' played nine times. Farmaishi (lit. encore) chakardars (15) are also prized compositions, often born out of challenging requests from other musicians. After some mesmerizing improvisation on Rela themes (16), the recital concludes with a grand Tihai, a bol sequence played three times concluding majestically on the sam.
Notes: John Ball
John Ball is musician and musicologist specializing in Indian music based at the University of Sheffield.
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