Professional Documents
Culture Documents
In last three years Mukul Shivputra gave as many as many as twenty one
concerts in Delhi. All of those performances were remarkable for various reasons
other than the fact that anybody hardly gets an opportunity to listen to such a
disturbingly gifted singer as he is. Not only the performances gave us a glimpse
of the his thought process and the continuous development in his Gayaki ,but
also can be taken as a pointer as to the development and future course of
Hindustani Classical Vocal in 21st Century.
However before I start with the concerts, which he rendered, it will be interesting
to dwell upon his approach towards Bandish and presentation of the Raga.
Mukul understands that the Bandish has always been in a certain sense given
the impression as though it had merely happened. And it is because of this
quality that the Bandish gives the feeling of becoming rather than a fully
structured composition, a musical artefact. It was Kumarji who perhaps for the
first time could actually perceive the tough, literary and musical core hidden like a
filament; within a musical DNA that holds the Bandish as real as any objective.
Mukul has enriched it beyond.
In Mukul”s gayaki two different landscapes are seen; one is of the Raga, and the
other is the lyrics of the Bandish. Both these landscapes are vital to his art. He
never uses all the techniques of expression and the vocal resources that he
possesses to exhibit the command of the art but often restricts himself to the
needs of the Khayal he is singing. At no time or occasion when he sang does the
listener get the feeling that he has sung himself out of the Raga. He stops singing
when he has said what he wants to say in that khayal, for that time. Kumarji had
always adopted the technique of telling you of the words of the lyrics of the
Bandish while he is introducing Raga----- one word here, another there---- and let
the composition begin to form like ice crystals on a freezing lake, in tiny stages…
tasting the feeling of the Raga against each single word of lyric till a stage is
reached when the entry of Tabla and beginning of singing of the Bandish seemed
revelatory, like a prophesy, slowly but surely, coming true. Mukul uses a different
technique altogether which I will enumerate later.
In short,, Mukul sings out of the Bandish and not out of the Raga. He
subordinates the Raga to the Bandish, never letting the Raga take priority over
the Bandish.. Mukul”s Raga Vistara earlier used to take on the lineaments of the
Bandish on account of which the Raga had come to exist. He used to show the
possibilities the Raga has in that particular embodiment of the Bandish he had
chosen to sing. However nowadays, his aalapi distinctly shows “Ragalapti” or the
Aroopa of the raga. Coupled with the “Rupakalapti” i.e. Bandish it is a unique
realm which he invokes.
A comparison with Kumarji and his contrast in Gayaki are must in order to
appreciate Mukul’s art as he also follows Kumarji’s uncompromising stance
towards the Tanpura and Laya. Like Kumarji Mukul also makes Tanpura perform
a function that enables it to enhance tension, add piquancy and offer resolution.
In other words, in his world of Khayals, Tanpura has a pivotal role in the pith and
grain of his art. It is no longer rendered as a mere background accompaniment.
In one of the concerts he sang Nayaki Kanada. The Raga has been extensively
sung by the performers and been heard by us. Mukul’s portrayal was markedly
different. The Bandish which he chose to sing Bada Khayal was an old one from
Gwalior. A paramparik one. Naina Nahi Mane . Mukul showed as to how this
Raga must have been originated. In other words, The Mula Strota (Mula
Pravaha ) and the thinking process . How this raga has arisen out of the
SARANG ang though it belongs to Kafi Thaat. He started his Aalapi and showed
MEGH in avaroha. He showed MADHMAD SARANG in aaroha. He showed as to
how these two combined in order to become a variant of SARANG known as
BADHANS SARANG .(even by showing a fleeting Dhaivata otherwise completely
alien to Nayaki) and taking this aalapi further he actually vocally showed the
transformation of Khula Madhyam of SARANG into the Madhyama of Nayaki
Kanada. As to how Ga MA Re Sa (Kanada Ang ) was incorporated in SARANG
pravaha as to arrive at Nayaki Kanada. He even showed its Komal Gandhara in
aaroha and its samvad with Madhyam and Komal Nishad in different manner
than that of which we are accustomed to. The Jod he sang for Nayaki was Suha.
Tu Hai Mohhmad Sa Darbar in Drut Ekatala. However he kept it distinctly away
from Sughrai by showing Mukta Madhayam . His nyasa on the same and use of
both the nishadas was an unusal Suha. He also sang Khambavati, Tilak Kamod
and Kausi (popularly known as Jog-Kauns) which I will not explain in detail. But
suffice to say that his thought process continued during the same.
He showed too many gems, rare ones by way of some unusual Bandishes in last
three years in Delhi. I will now stop by describing his rendering of Khat, which he
rendered in Delhi on 29/1/2005.
To sum up. I have been following Mukul’s Gayki from 1988 and have heard his
more than 50 concerts. Good ones and not so good ones. His continuous
development, may it be of the thought process or may it be of Swara conditioned
with Laya and its manifestation through unusual Bandishes has always been a
pointer of Indian Vocal Classical in 21st Century. After the death of Kumarji It is
Mukul who can perhaps show amongst all his contemporaries the path of
Classical Vocal in years to come.
Chinmoy Khaladkar.