Night Prayer/ Gundecha Brothers - dhrupad



By Narendra Kusnur

 Album: Night Prayer
Artiste: Gundecha Brothers
Genre: Hindustani classical dhrupad
Label: Felmay
Rating: ****

The death of vocalist Ramakant Gundecha on the evening of Friday, November 8, has come as a huge shock to Hindustani classical followers. The tragedy happened too suddenly at the Habibganj railway station, Bhopal, as the maestro had a heart attack while travelling with his brother Umakant to Pune for a concert, before heading to Mumbai for the day-long 8 Prahar festival.

The Gundecha Brothers have been at the forefront of the dhrupad vocal style since the late 1980s, following the Dagar Vani tradition created by the renowned Dagar Brothers. The oldest form of Hindustani vocal music, this gayaki preceded the popular khayal format, and has also influenced certain styles of instrumental music. Besides the Gundecha Brothers, Uday Bahawalkar of Pune has earned recognition for carrying the Dagar Vani vocal style forward.

Apart from being prolific and brilliant performers, the Gundecha Brothers are known for their role in spreading education about the art form at the Dhrupad Sansthan gurukul in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. In Mumbai, they or their students have regularly conducted masterclasses at the National Centre for the Performing Arts complex.

As a tribute to Ramakant Gundecha, it would be appropriate to listen to some of their recordings. Here, we chose the 2012 album Night Prayer, which is a quintessential example of their style.

The Gundecha Brothers render the pentatonic night raag Malkauns, which uses Sa, komal Ga, shuddha Ma, komal Dha and komal Ni in its ascent. The opening part is the alaap, which has no rhythm accompaniment but is backed by the drone of two tanpuras. Both brothers show exquisite vocal coordination as they gradually increase the tempo using syllables and not words. The piece requires total concentration from the listener to absorb the mood completely.

Two pieces of a devotional nature follow with accompaniment from the rhythm instrument pakhawaj in the 12-beat chautaal. The basic melody is reminiscent of Naushad’s famous raag Malkauns song ‘Man Tadapat’, sung by Mohammed Rafi and written by Shakeel Badayuni in the 1952 film Baiju Baiju Bawra.

The concluding composition ‘Shankara Girijapati’ is set to the 10-beat sooltaal, and the pakhawaj adds vibrancy. Though the percussionist’s name isn't mentioned, the brothers are often accompanied by Akhilesh Gundecha in their concerts and recordings. Once again, the brothers take turns singing the main melody, and their interaction is marvellous.

This album by Felmay provides a wonderful example of the art of dhrupad singing, and is specially recommended for those new to this style. One can also try out Ancestral Voices by Navras Records, featuring raags Yaman and Charukeshi, Bhaktamar Strotra by Sense World Music, or check out YouTube clips of live renditions of short devotional pieces in raags Adana, Charukeshi and Jaijaiwanti, released by Art And Artistes.

The Gundecha Brothers have played a special role in the propagation of dhrupad. Ramakant Ji’s demise comes as a huge loss and he will be sorely missed.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Gig review/ Deep Purple in Bengaluru

Image
BY NARENDRA KUSNUR  Deep Purple at Bandland  Genre : Rock Details : Bandland rock festival, Embassy International Riding School, Bengaluru, December 17 Organisers : BookMyShow Live  Rating : **** 1/2 We all came out to Bandland, on a Bengaluru riding ground, to shoot videos on a mobile, yeah, capture the classic rock sound. Ian Gillan and the Purples, were at the best place around, space-truckin' on a black night, we danced on dusty ground.. singing, Smoke On The Water, drones in the sky, Smoke On The Water... taan taan taan, taan taan tadaan, taan taan tadaan, taan taan... Three days after British rockers Deep Purple enchanted the crowd at the Bandland rock festival in Bengaluru, the gooseflesh lingers like the whiff of cologne. For many, they have been college heroes, cocktail companions, the kings of melodic power, the epitome of hard rock. Older-generation fans or youngsters, they knew many of these songs by heart. Every word, every instrumental passage, every back-up vocal lin
Read more

Gig review/ Sting @ Lollapalooza

Image
BY NARENDRA KUSNUR   Sting @   Lollapalooza   Genre : Rock/ pop-rock Details : Mahalakshmi Race Course, Mumbai, January 28 Rating : **** You'll forget the sun in its jealous sky, as we walk on fields of gold... The sun had set a long ago, and the walk had been tiring and endless. But everything changed around 8.20 pm when Gordon Sumner aka Sting marched on to the Budweiser stage with a message in a bottle. For the next 85 minutes, every little thing the Englishman in Mumbai did was magic. The green carpet in front of the stage had been converted into fields of gold. The hardcore Sting fans should get those puns, and there were plenty of them who watched his concluding act at the two-day Lollapalooza music festival at the Mahalakshmi Race Course, Mumbai, on Sunday. Some had attended his shows abroad, some were seeing him for the first time, and others had been present at Mumbai's Rang Bhavan in 1980, when he played with his band The Police, or at the Amnesty International festiv
Read more

Gig review/ L. Shankar

Image
BY NARENDRA KUSNUR Artiste : L Shankar & Group Concert : Aditya Birla Group Masters of Music  Genre : Fusion/ Carnatic  Details : June 16, Jamshed Bhabha Theatre, Mumbai  Rating : ***** The sudden excitement was palpable when violinist L. Shankar announced that he and his group would play many Shakti tunes at Sunday's concert in Mumbai. He had already opened the evening with a dazzling rendition of Carnatic composer Muthuswamy Dikshitar's 'Vathapi Ganapathim', and if one thought he would focus on classical fare, that was not to be. Five of the remaining six pieces belonged to the repertoire of the original Shakti line-up, comprising him, guitarist John McLaughlin, tabla genius Zakir Hussain and ghatam maestro Vikku Vinayakram. Together, they had pioneered the Indo-jazz fusion sound in the 1970s, before going different paths over a decade later. Playing those old Shakti classics had a major issue though, at least for fans. They had originally been written for two mel
Read more