News & Notes
Aparna Chakravarti Centenary Music Conference

Vidushi Aparna Chakravarti Centenary Music Conference, featuring a plethora of musicians belonging to all categories, would have been incomplete without the luminous presence and recital of Vidyadhar Vyas, one of the most knowledgeable vocalists of his generation. It was good to see a grand event such as this dedicated to a critic. Albeit a vocalist and writer, Aparna Chakravarti (popularly addressed as Aparna-di) was better known as an art critic. Usually art journalists belong to the clan of unsung heroes who live an anonymous life to play with double edged swords and leave the mortal world unceremoniously. Yet the fact is that no true artist feels complete without his art's proper assessment and appreciation by someone who understands the art-form.
Aparna-di's centenary celebration was organised by her NRI son
Nilotpal Chakravarti, daughter Sudeshna Khasnabis, and daughter-in-law Rita
Chakravarti at Satyajit Ray Auditorium (ICCR, Kolkata). The two-day event
was packed with several interesting items like the screening of audio-visual
tributes by several dignitaries and the launch of the book, A Song for All Seasons – A Selection of
Music Reviews & Other Pieces by Vidushi Aparna Chakravarti (1923 – 2007)’. An
aesthetically hard-bound book, published by the siblings in proud memory of
their mother. Lovingly collated and aesthetically stringed - the reviews,
interviews and other articles trace the cultural history of her times with
telling effect.
Bengal, as the political and cultural capital of the British Raj had seen extremely knowledgeable art critics who were great maestros of the art and gave away its lucid description in English and Bengali. Till 1980s most of them contributed in The Statesman. Aparna-di was perhaps the last of that generation who strictly adhered to the traditional Indian cultural values, its expression through classical arts and it's appreciation in an equally classic language. And, like her contemporaries Kumar Prasad Mukherjee, Dipali Nag and Buddhadev Dasgupta, she was a practicing musician who would write as well. Her frank opinion commanded tremendous respect from her readers.
As a performer-educator Vidyadhar Vyas would have won her admiration and it was he who brought the conference to its pinnacle. Since he is a wonderful orator, it was a brilliant idea to request him to enlighten the audience by explaining the genre of khayal replete with its origin, actual import of its different components and segments; the philosophy behind its lyrics and the historical facts behind its different stylistic schools better known as gharanas.
The information-hungry audience found a charming storyteller in
Vyas, who easily educated them by narrating interesting anecdotes laced with
delightful singing. Flanked by Jishnubrata Sircar (tabla) and Hiranmay Mitra
(harmonium), Vyas exhibited varied forms of compositions to support what he had
claimed as a speaker. For an invocation he commenced with Chaitanya sarvabhootaanaam set to Jaijaiwanti. A torchbearer of the
Paluskar Parampara of Gwalior school, his rendition recalled the memories of
numerous such devotional numbers originally sung and immortalised by the
legendary D.V. Paluskar and followed by the music world. But even in the top
echelons of this arena, Vyas stands a head taller than others.
Khayal is the biggest fusion in the history of Indian music.
It's a confluence of Indian and Persian music that developed between the 12th
and 18th century and evolved as the leading genre synonymous to Hindustani
music today. It took slow moving dhrupad-alap and assimilated it in vilambit
khayal bandishes and talas. Dhrupad does not have vilambit pada or tala. The
cyclical movement of both dhrupad and khayal relate to nature but the
devotional element of khayal is in the garb of Sringara rasa and is essentially
based on female characters with innate feelings of women. Khayal is emotional
while dhrupad is ritualistic, explained Vyas before demonstrating his
impeccable style of rendering a khayalnuma in raga Kalyan, set to Teental.
According to him just as the ancient Nirgeet was the compilation
of beej-mantras, the lyrics of tarana were assimilated from different sources
and then transformed into bols such as nom tom or yala yali (by replacing Om Anant Hari Narayana or Ali), dir-dir of been, dhakit-dhumakit
of tabla / pakhawaj. To display this he sang a tarana in drut teental that
incorporated all these bols. From his treasure trove, Vyas also showcased
some rarely rendered trivat, and chaturang. "Tradition has to change but
the core value should remain," he emphasised to guide the younger
generation.
Both the evenings were divided into two parts and reserved the
final ones for celebrated vocalists. The first evening’s final slot glowed with
ragas Jaijaiwanti (khayal) and Vasant (tarana), elaborately rendered by Bharati
Pratap of Agra gharana. The competent hands of Bivash Sanghai and
Hiranmay Mitra on the tabla and harmonium respectively, gave her total freedom
to play with sur, tala and lyrics to her heart’s content. This churned up
several magical moments. Earlier after two opening recitals of Aparna di’s
senior students Arpita Chatterjee (dhrupad) and Kalyani Das (khayal) the
audience experienced raga Yaman based jugalbandi between veteran surshringar exponent
Anindya Banerjee and young Rudraveena player Sayak Mitra. Sayak’s mentor
Ujjwalendu Chakraborty, as the penultimate artist of the final day, displayed
the rich technique of playing surbahar. It could do better with tunefulness.
Singapore based Niranjan Rao, a data scientist by profession and vocalist by
passion, made a brave effort to sing raga Maru Bihag khayal, displaying almost
all its segments. He concluded with a bhajan.
The Chakrvarti siblings also paid tributes to their father Mukul
Chakravarti, a serious music connoisseur and organiser of the famed Jhankar
Music Circle. He enjoyed a successful career in Actuary - a rare profession. In
his honor the Chakravartis instituted the 'Mukul Chakravarti Memorial Award'
for deserving students of Actuarial Science. The active participation of
Nilotpal as the anchor and Rita as the singer of a bhajan tuned by her
mother-in law, gave the occasion its due respect with genuine warmth.