Begum Akhtar - The Queen of Ghazal - Page 5

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BIOGRAPHY Memories of Akhtar PARTHA CHATTERJEE

The narrative does not follow a chronology and relies on a free association of recollections.

Begum Akhtar: The Story Of My Ammi, Shanti Hiranand, Viva Books Pvt. Ltd., 2005, p. 168, price not stated.
BEGUM AKHTAR (1914 - 1974), who shot to fame in her late teens as Akhtari Bai Faizabadi, was the last of the tawaifs or singing courtesans who had captured the imagination of the public since Mirza Haadi Ruswa published Umrao Jaan Adaa, said to be the first Urdu novel, in the late 1890s. Umrao Jaan, the eponymous heroine, was a rebel in a calcified society and Begum Akhtar, a reluctant victim in an essentially feudal one, which retained its character despite the two World Wars and the Partition of India in 1947. Full of praise Shanti Hiranand, her senior-most pupil, has written her biography, which is full of panegyrics. It is a matter of no small surprise that she, a staid, Gandhian daughter of a Lucknow businessman, was at all allowed to learn vocal music from the mercurial, sensual Akhtari who had only a few years ago married the barrister Ishtiaq Ahmed Abbasi, a widower and a Nawab from Kakori, Uttar Pradesh. The marriage no doubt gave her the respectability she craved for and access to high society as the wife of an aristocrat and not a paid entertainer. She had made with aplomb the transition from the mujra, patronised exclusively by the moneyed male aristocracy and the business class, to the democratic concert stage. The private soirees she graced post-marriage were attended by listeners from both the sexes. She became the most successful Hindustani light classical singer of her times, leaving behind Badi Moti Bai and Rasoolan Bai who lacked the necessary resources to escape from the sapping feudal milieu of Benares. Siddheswari (Bai) Devi was the one who did but had not the guile to flourish in the hypocritical middle class India that claimed to be at one with the modern world. Magnetic personality Those who had known or even seen and heard Begum Akhtar would vouch for her magnetic personality. She was not conventionally beautiful and in middle age looked ravaged. But her smile and the tantalising, changing light in her eyes made her desirable to every discerning male. She retained this quality of sensuousness till her last breath, as she did in her singing. The author's own temperament veers towards stodgy middle class respectability, which prevents her from being a really perceptive biographer. However, her sincerity is beyond question. The narrative does not follow a chronology and relies on a free association of memories. Dates do not figure with any degree of consistency in it. Shantiji has relied on the skills of her pupil Neeta Gupta to tell her story. But that does not in any way diminish her effort; to be sure, every incident, every idea in print is Shantiji's. There are, however, a few acts of omission in the book. Reading it, one would believe that she was the only pupil of Begum Akhtar's who stuck with her through thick and thin and that the others came and went. She is gracious enough to acknowledge Anjali Banerjee who became Begum Akhtar's pupil in 1954 and was the only other Gandabandh Shagird. There is no mention of Rita Ganguly (Kothari) who had learned for three years and featured on camera with Begum Akhtar as did Anjali Banerjee when Sudesh Issar made a documentary on the great vocalist for the Films Division of India. Also forgotten is Deepti Bose, the most gifted of all the pupils, of whom Begum Akhtar said, "yeh tum sab se aage nikal jayegi" (she will surpass all of you). What a pity she had to give up singing due to purely material reasons! Errors of perception Shantiji's craving for respectability often leads her into error. She thinks that certain incidents which occurred in her teacher's life are detrimental to her posthumous reputation. Taking a long view of events and people, it is quite unimportant really to know whether Shammo was Begum Akhtar's niece or daughter by a Maharashtrian Raja. Similarly, does it really matter if her protg Madan Mohan, brilliant music director of Hindi films in the 1950s and 60s was her lover? Influence his music she did. Listen to his ghazal compositions, particularly those sung by Lata Mangeshkar or Talat Mahmood, and you will hear Begum Akhtar's echo. Just as her renderings have clearly discernable traces of K.L. Saigal, peerless creator of the modern raga-based ghazal. There is regrettably too little about Begum Akhtar's music in the text though there is mention of her singing style and what constituted it. Highly talented younger contemporaries like Shoba Gurtu and Nirmala Aroon could have been mentioned to give some idea of the light classical music scene in India in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, when connoisseurs were still in existence and corporate sponsorship and its attendant vice, philistinism, not swamped the Hindustani music scene.

Copyright 2000 - 2006 The Hindu

Padmshri Prof. Rita Ganguly, was nurtured in a highly educated and cultured family of Lucknow, presided over by the eminent litterateur Dr. K. L.Ganguly. Rita, right from childhood was encouraged, unreservedly towards academic advancement as well as artistic excellence. Trained originally in Dhrupad by Gopeshwar Bandopadhyay of the Vishnupur Gharana, at Shantiniketan Prof. Rita Ganguly, (having won the National Scholarship for Kathakali And Bharatanatyam) won it for a record third time for music, which has turned out to be her enduring love and pre-eminent credential. More than the prestige of the National Scholarship was the honour of being selected by the Queen of Thumri, Sidheshwari Devi, as her first 'gandaband shagird'. At that time Rita was being trained by the Badshah of Bhava Shambhu Maharaj and her voice was moulded to traverse the octaves of Khayal by Pandit Mani Prasad of Kirana Gharana. Later she learnt the nuances of the Patiala Gharana and Ghazal Gayaki from Begum Akhtar for over nine long years. She is among the few musicians in the country who continues to adhere to cultivate and popularize the traditional modes of music. Her most significant contribution has come in the area of preservation of traditional Thumri, Dadra, Tappa, Hori, Chaiti and Ghazal and allied forms of music. As the torch bearer Rita successfully imbibed the aesthetics of tage presentation, with a special ability to transform weighty lyrics into declarations of life's most precious experiences, like her guru Begum Akhtar. Thus her music transcends from mere sensuous experience to caress the heights of Sufism. The poets whom she adorns with her music range from the traditional Meer Taki Meer, Mirza Ghalib to the Jadeed Shayer Firaq Gorakhpuri, Kaifi Azmi, Faiz, Faraz, Amir Kazalbash. Her special gift to the world of Ghazal has been a preference for 'Nazms' sung in her unique style. She has been awarded the prestigious Sangeet Natak Academy Award for Ghazal Gayaki in 2000. It is the first ever award to have given recognition to Ghazal gayaki in the category of Classical Music. She is the recipient of the President's Award - Padmshri in the year 2003 for her outstanding contribution in the field of classical music. Her musical repertoire includes, exquisite well-rounded compositions of Kavitas by Mahadevi Verma, Aggay, and Amrita Pritam - through the confluence of intuitive art and cautious craft, reflecting her proficiency and her serious passion for poetry. True to form, she recently recorded on album of Shakti Chattopadhyay's poem " Jete Paari" including the famous" Oboni Bari Aacho" interpreted through the medium of Ghazal. Represented India in Festivals Of India held in France & UK. She has given successful performances in USSR, USA, UK, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy, Canada, South America, China, Africa, Australia, Israel, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Bangladesh & Afghanistan. Her mellifluous voice, bearing melody and momentum, rides the air waves not only in India but abroad as well, especially in Pakistan, France and Japan from where her recordings on CDs, LPs and Cassettes have been released. Always seeking new frontiers of music, Prof. Rita Ganguly used the opportunity offered by the Ford Foundation Fellowship to " search for her musical roots, which were deep seated among the traditional singing women". Detailed and scholarly interviews, two hundred hours of music on tape, and a revival of interest in the practitioners of this art were among the achievements of her research. She was thus able to re-introduce Allahjillai, Asgari Begum, Gauri Bai to name a few eminent professional women musicians. As director of KALADHARMI, a non-profit organisation she contributed in the promotion of young talent, in the field of performing arts, especially music through it's various programmes over past five decades, and also founded BAAG (Begum Akhtar Academy Of Ghazals) the it's various programmes over past five decades, and also founded BAAG (Begum Akhtar Academy Of Ghazals) the only Ghazal institution of its kind in the country dedicated to the promotion of Ghazal Gayaki. She also did extensive research on the Sufi Saints - Baba Bulleshah, Kabir, and Meera and produced a musical with artists from Bangladesh, USA, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan which was performed all over India. Amongst her felicitations is the prestigious Delhi State Award for Overall Contribution in Performing Arts. Rita also acquired mastery over the form of Kathakali at the feet of renowned Ashaan-Padmabhushan Guru Kunjukurup and Padmashri Guru Chandupanikar, and became the first woman to dance Kathakali in the temples of Kerela. As serious student she also had the opportunity to learn from the legendary Martha Graham. In 1995, she also wrote a book " Bismillah Khan And Benaras - the seat of Shehnai" published by Cosmopolitan Publications. Her classical dance background coupled with music exposure stirred in her mind, the issue of training the body for mime and movement, thus she pioneered for the National School of Drama a course called " Movement and Mime". In tenure that spans over 3 decades, she has been an integral part of the National School of Drama having directed numerous productions, designed costumes & scored music. Workshops conducted by her on Indian Classical Theatre in NIDA (Australia), RADA (England), Colombo (Sri Lanka) and Israel have been greatly appreciated and much sought after. More recently, she performed "BEGUM AKHTAR", an 'ekal' on the life & work of her mentor, the legendary Begum Akhtar. It is a tribute to the first Lady of Ghazal in the Year of the Women. It tells her story - highs and lows, the agony and ecstasy. Her shows at the India Habitat Center Delhi, and the Nehru Center Festival Mumbai, were highly acclaimed. Following from the resounding success of the show, McMillan has chosen Prof. Rita Ganguly to author a book on the Begum.

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History and Evolution of Ghazal

In Arabic, Ghazal means a lover talking to his beloved amorously. Ghazals, as a poetic form, started first in Persia (present day Iran) in the 10^th century. There was an Arabic form of poetry called qasida, which came to Iran in about the 10th century. It dealt with the themes of the greatness of kings. The qasida was at times unmanageably long. It was often 100 couplets or more. Therefore, a portion of the qasida, known as the tashib was detached and this became the ghazal. The ghazal soon became the most popular form of poetry in Iran.

The Muslim rulers brought this poetic form to India in the late 16^th and early 17^th century. At first, most of the ghazals were written in Persian language. Urdu, as the preferred language of Ghazals, first emerged in the courts of southern Muslim rulers of Golconda and Bijapur in the 17th century, by poets like Wali Mohammed Wali (1667 - 1707). By 18th century Urdu poetry was being used in the North as well, by poets like Meer Taqi Meer (1722 - 1810). 19th century was the golden age of Ghazal poetry in Delhi with poets like Mirza Ghalib (1797-1869), Zauq, Ibrahim (1789 - 1854) and Momin Khan Momin (1800 - 1851).

Ghazal, as a musical form, as different from its original poetic form, was probably an offshoot of light Indian classical forms like Thumri and Khayaal. Ghazal, like Thumri, probably became associated with the courtesan culture present in the Indian royal societies. The courtesans, also known as tawaifs, were well educated in many forms of fine arts like music, dance and poetry. Many of them were poets themselves and probably started singing the Ghazals in the same way. Thumri's were sung for the benefit of their Muslim masters, who were connoisseurs of Urdu Poetry. Like Thumri's, Ghazals are based on romantic lyrics and thus the Thumri style of singing was ideally suited to sing Ghazals as well. Ghazals were also set to particular Raags and formed a part of light classical Hindustani music. The beginnings of this evolution of ghazal, from a poetic form into a genre of light classical music, can be traced to the early 20th century. Many of its early exponents were classically trained singers who specialized in Khayaal and Thumri style of singing. Not surprisingly, most well known Ghazal singers of 19th and 20th centuries were Thumri exponents as well like Begum Akhar and Barkat Ali Khan. Even Khayal singers like Ustad Abdul Karim Khan and Ustad Bade Ghulam Ali Khan occassionally sang ghazals. However, unlike classical music, which to this day is perceived as elitist, ghazals have become popular with the common man. The magical combination of beautiful lyrics and dulcet voices has enabled ghazals and ghazal singers to leave an indelible mark on the hearts and souls of ghazal listeners everywhere.

The popularity of the ghazals in the later part of the 20^th century can be attributed to a few stalwart names in the field of ghazals today. Jagjit and Chitra Singh, with the release of their album "The Unforgettables", pulled ghazals back from the very brink of extinction. Like a breath of fresh air, ghazals swept through the Indian music scene, with ample encouragement and support being provided by the great maestros from across the border - Ghulam Ali and Mehdi Hassan. Pankaj Udhas played a big role in making ghazals popular by selecting ghazals with simple words and catchy tunes. Whether this was good or bad, only history can tell. At the cost of adversely diluting the ghazal gaayaki style embodied by Begum Akhtar and other ghazal singers of that era, it did immensely popularize ghazals amongst the common masses.

Ghazal has come a long way and so have ghazal singers. The number of ghazal singers has grown exponentially in the past decade or so. Yet few have been able to leave a lasting impression on the ghazal scene. The old names endure - Begum Akhtar, K.L.Saigal, Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali, Jagjit Singh, Talat Mahmood. Unfortunately, the recent years have seen a steady decline in the standard of ghazal singers and ghazal 'gaayaki'. Often, geets are passed off as ghazals and an uninformed/ignorant audience accepts this without qualms (for the most part). Ghazal singing is an art - In the words of Mallika-e-Ghazal Begum Akhtar - "Gazal sahii Dhang se gaaii jaaye to us kaa nashaa sar chadh ke bolataa hai" ("If a ghazal is sung in the proper way, it can be very intoxicating").

Structure of the Ghazal

The poetic structure of the ghazal is precise. It is based upon a series of couplets which are woven together by a precise rhyming structure. The overall form uses an introductory couplet, the body of couplets, and then an concluding couplet. We will look at these in greater detail.

The first couplet is always the most important, this is known as the matla. The matla is important because it establishes the overall form and mood of the entire ghazal. Occasionally there are two matlas, in which case the second one is referred to as the matla-e-sani.

Each subsequent couplet is linked to the matla in a well defined fashion. The second verse of each couplet must rhyme with this. Therefore, if the rhyming structure of the matla is AA, then the subsequent couplets have the form BA, CA, DA, etc.

There is a convention in the ghazal known as the radif. This is a characteristic way that a portion of the first line (usually just two or three words) is maintained throughout the ghazal. However, it is not always executed consistently. For instance if there is no radif, the form is said to be ghair-muraddaf, this form is very rare. If the exact same words are used in the radif, then it is said to be ham-radif.

The last couplet of the ghazal is very important, this is called the maqta. It usually contains the pen name (takhallus) of the poet. The maqta is usually a personal statement which may be very different in tone from the rest of the ghazal. Today it is becoming more common to leave off the maqta.

There are a few common themes in the ghazal. Typically they revolve around unrequited love, madness, mystical ruminations, and even social commentaries ridiculing religious orthodoxy. Certainly the most common is unrequited love. However, within each ghazal the theme of each couplet need not be consistent. Each couplet may be thought of as a thematic vignette that need not relate to it adjacent couplets.

Although the themes of each couplet in a ghazal are usually distinct, there are some occasions where there is consistency. The Nazm is an example of a style that exhibits remarkable consistency in its thematic approach. A more common type of thematic connection is known as qita. Still, the norm is for each couplet to stand alone thematically.

Musical Form of the Ghazal

The musical form of the ghazal is variable. The older more traditional ghazals were very similar to other Hindustani light classical forms such as the dadra or, thumri. One often finds forms that are similar to qawwali. They are typically in a variety of light classical rags. However today, the ghazal usually has a form which is not too dissimilar to many film songs.

The rhythmic forms (tal) of the modern ghazal are invariably of the lighter forms. One typically finds rupak (7 beats), dadra (6 beats) and kaherava 8 beats being used to the near exclusion of everything else.

Conclusion

The story of the ghazal is an interesting one. It is a story that begins in Arabia and continues over to Persia and on to India. It involves an evolution from a long involved Persian poetic discourse into modern Urdu poetry in a musical form. It shows how a form of poetry may be converted into a form of song. This is an extreme evolution, but one which occupies an important position in Indian music.

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Originally posted by: Dawn05

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Originally posted by: Dawn05

Thanks Qwest ji and Adi for further addition

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Originally posted by: Barnali

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