Problems relating to Hindustani music

In the present scenario, many traditional art-forms are passing through a phase where the artists concerned have to decide whether they should leave the arts to the mercy of the "market forces" or sacrifice their own interests in order to safeguard the traditional values thereof. Most of the artists relating to different arts have to go through the aforesaid dilemma at least for once as they pursue their career. This essay is an attempt to identify the concerns of the artists who are related to specifically, the Hindustani music, and are going through the dilemma of "to do or not to do", and for one reason or the other, are flowing with the strong current of the market forces.

Hindustani music has a very rich and traditional heritage. It has been admired and appreciated the world over. However, in the present era of the Globalization, many of the musical forms are on the verge of collapse. The beautiful and affluent tradition of Dhruvapada and Dhamar is getting weak day by day. The singing form which once had been the measuring scale of the purity of a Raga, is dying and those who should come forward to save this tradition, are busy either making their own "future" or performing "new experiments" so as to mesmerize the masses with the miraculous "unique" style of theirs. Likewise, the traditional musical instruments like different forms of the Veena are facing the danger of extinction and the artists who can do something to protect these musical instruments are busy in the innovation of new instruments. There are very few artists who are capable of playing Rudra Veena. They wish to pass the valuable knowledge to the descendants but nobody is prepared to devote his/her "precious" time to learn it. The question rises as to what is the remedy or solution to the problems which the world of Hindustani music is encountering. The answer is not very easy. It is said that the present makes the future and the past makes the present. Therefore, in order to find the answers to the problems being faced by the world of Hindustani music, we would have to search its past.

Indian music can be traced back as early to the Indus Valley Civilization. However, the written references about the music are available only in the Vedic Literature. Therefore, we can submit without any reasonable doubts that the Indian music was flourishing during the Vedic Period. The history of our music, we can suppose, begins with the history of Vedic Period. At that instance, we find a lot of references regarding the evolution of music. The references regarding the vocal as well as the instrumental music are available in that period. Hence, we can assume that in the Vedic Period, our music had been come to a stage where the vocal as well as the instrumental music was practiced fluently. After the Vedic Period, during the Period of Natyashastra, we find clearly two different streams of music. One, which was concerned with the religious rituals and ceremonies, and was expressed in the forms like Sam Ganas etc, and the other was related to the folk music and was expressed in the form of Deshi Sangeet.

Gradually, these two streams evolved as Margi Sangeet and Deshi sangeet. In the Work of Matanga called "Vrihaddeshi", these two forms of music are available. However, the original Work of Matanga is not available these days. That is why; it is not possible to trace back these terms in detail. But many scholars have referred the Work of Matanga in their books. It is from their Works that we get some knowledge about Margi and Deshi Sangeet.

The trend of Margi and Deshi continued with several changes in the style as well as the content. In his book, Sangeet Parijat, Pt. Ahobal has described the two famous targets of music – one, Janaranjan or the entertainment of people, and BhavaBhanjan, the Liberation of soul from the worldly illusions.

The first objective of music is related to the entertainment aspect of music and other is related to the spiritual evolution.

Let us first talk about the latter. A deep analysis will be provided about the entertainment aspect of music after discussing its spiritual aspects.

The spiritual aspects of music

The spiritual aspects of music are not necessarily related to the religious acts or rituals. Spiritualism does not denote any faith in particular. On the contrary, it deals with the basic human conscience. This is the reason that music is said to have the powers which can cure many physical as well as the mental illnesses. We are aware that presently, music is being used as an alternative medical therapy or the supportive medical treatment in many hospitals. Many clinical psychologists now have ample evidence to believe that listening to the refined kind of music can energize the human mind. It supports the level of concentration of mind and controls the negative attitude. Hence, the listener gradually is transformed into the positive state of mind. It is through the power of the spiritual aspect of music that the Indian musicians are able to contribute to the promotion of world peace and international brotherhood. Spiritual music together with the devotional and the religious music can have enchanting and miraculous effect on the masses. Those who are able to appreciate music would have experienced this effect at some point of time. This is the reason that the Sufi music, Bhajan singing, Gurumukhi style of music etc are very high on the popularity charts. Many a classical musicians too are adapting the religious music these days.

Music as an entertaining medium

In addition to the spiritual aspects of music, it has the entertainment value too. We have already mentioned that the ancient as well as the medieval scholars of music have recognized two objectives of music. The first, the spiritual one, has just been described in the aforesaid paragraphs. Now we will discuss other one, that is, the entertainment feature of our music.

The first and the foremost objective of any fine art are to entertain the masses. Nobody will come close to the arts without it. That is why; all the fine art forms have the aesthetical value around which they evolve. The basic element of all the arts is the beauty. The creation of the artists must be beautiful. It is the very first criterion which is used to ascertain the standards of the art forms. In the art forms other than the fine arts, the utility aspect is also used to standardize them but in case of the fine arts, the beauty facet is prominent. When we listen to a song, we like or dislike it on the basis of the fascinating effect of the melody. The rules of the composition and other such issues which may be related to the "grammar of music" come at a later stage. The first priority of the listener as well as the artist is the "mass appeal" of the melody.

It is on the considerations like these ones that the two streams of music, (as has just been mentioned), incessantly and parelelly keep on growing. The stream which satisfies the entertainment aspect becomes popular amongst the masses. On the other hand, the stream which deals with the spiritual values is practised by some specific classes of the society and hence gets the name "classical music".

This division of classical/popular music has been clearly and distinctly reflected in the society beyond the ages. The names of the categories may be different at different times. But the basic essence of the division has been the popularity/spirituality of the art. In the Vedic Period, these two streams were known as 1. Aranya Geya Gana and 2. Grama Geya Gana. In the later periods, these two streams were known as 1. Margi and 2. Deshi Sangeet. In the present era, these streams are known as 1. Popular music or the pop music and 2. Classical music or Ragdari Sangeet.

Classical music and popular music

Before coming to the central idea of this essay, (Problems relating to Hindustani music), let us have a closer look at these two streams of our music.

All the fine arts can be categorized in two groups: 1. Classical arts and 2. Folk arts or the arts of the masses. However, in the present context, we are more concerned with music. Therefore, we will discuss the art of music in its classical as well as the folk form.

Music is a fine art wherein, the medium of expression is the sound. However, not all sounds are used in music. Only musical sounds are permitted. In the terminology of music, the sounds that are considered musical are called 'tones' or 'naada'. These tones are expressed through musical notes. Names of these notes differ from place to place but in the present era, it is universally accepted that there are seven musical notes in one octave. These musical notes are the alphabet of music. We have just these notes to express ourselves musically. This is the reason, these notes are said to be so important. In the Indian subcontinent, the teachers as well as the scholars of music insist on the practice of these notes. This process of getting control over the musical notes is called 'Swara Saadhana'.

Before going deep into the technical issues, let me tell you that in the folk music, the art comes naturally and instinctively. The folk singers (excluding the professional ones) do not formally learn how to sing or how to take to 'swara saadhana'. In the countryside, people impulsively sing and dance to express their joy and other sentiments. This is the reason that we find folk songs for almost all the occasions. Be it marriage ceremony, occasion of birth of a baby, harvesting season, and what not; there are folk songs for every occasion? Festival songs, seasonal songs, songs associated with different rituals etc are passed on from one generation of folk singers to another one. Thus, the chain keeps on growing.

This is a fact that the origin of all other forms of music is our rich, vibrant and ever new folk tradition. The classical music, popular music, regional music, devotional music, theatrical music, movie songs, light music etc have been originated and evolved from the great ocean of the folk musical tradition. If we go through the first written references about Indian music (the Rigveda), we find that two streams of music have been mentioned there. 1. Aranyagaan and 2. Graamgeya Gaana. It is said that the first one represents the music that was sung by the tribes of the forest. These tribes were far from the urban life and therefore were not cultured enough to devise the rules of singing and dancing.

The second stream of music – 'the gramageya gaana' - was governed by a set of rules and hence it can be considered "nearer to the classical music".

Although the folk music is the basic edifice upon which all other its forms evolved, yet the music which is assumed or reflected as the folk music has not been given its due share. Till the time of Sangeet Ratnakar, we find the references of the folk music under the various types of Prabandhas. We are aware that Prabandhas like "Chachchari", "Kreeda", "vasanti" etc were related to and are compared with many folk melodies by the present day scholars. Dr. Prem Lata Sharma has tried to highlight the similarities of folk music with various Prabandhas in her commentary on Sangeet Ratnakar.

However, after Sangeet Ratnakar, no such effort is reflected in the medieval works on music. The history of Indian music in fact had been limited to the Durbars and the Nawabs and the folk traditions were highly ignored. Durbari Sangeet was established as the "ragdari Sangeet or the classical music at a later stage. Musical forms like "Dhruvapadas", "khayals", "Thumaris" etc looked upon the folk music disdainfully and the classical musicians viewed it as something untouchable.

Nevertheless, amongst the masses, the folk music was not only preserved through the oral traditions from generation to generation, but it also got enriched through the contributions of many renowned folk singers.

However, in the era of the globalization and the Electronic Media Boom, this rich tradition of the folk music was badly hit. On one hand, it was tampered with by the market forces whose sole objective has been to exploit the maximum value from everything, and on the other hand, it was disfigured by the popular music which moulded it to the popular taste. Thus, it got new expressions like "Disco Garba", "Punjabi Pop" etc. Indipop singers like Daler Mahndi, Ila Arun etc gave it a new shape. It was transformed into disco music to be suited to the disco theques.

Movie melodies also contributed to the alleviation of the folk tradition. Many lyricists and music composers exploited the folk music and earned millions. However, in the process of creating more money, the folk musical tradition was shattered.

At present, the situation is such that those who even do not know the Punjabi (for instance), claim to sing Punjabi folk. My opinion is that unless one is familiar with the cultural traditions of a particular region, he/she cannot sing the folk melodies of the region. Surely, there are artists who can perfectly copy the style of the folk singers. However, the photocopy of a document cannot be considered as the original document. Likewise, the imitation of a folk style cannot be considered as the real one. To sing a folk song, one has to be familiar with the culture of that region. Secondly, folk songs are not composed. They just are transferred from one generation to another. Of course, these songs keep on changing according to the changing societies as the lyrics are not generally in the printed form. Every singer of the folk melodies contributes to the little changes that take place from time to time. The singers who are used to the cultural heritage of the particular society generally keep on changing the tunes as well as the text as per the requirements of that society. But those who are not related to the cultural heritage of the region cannot compose a folk song as is being done in some cases.

The problem is that the electronic media and the cyber space have changed the very definition of Hindustani music. Singing for the viewers and singing for the microphone cannot be alike and hence do not create the same enthusiasm in the hearts of the performers. When the artists perform for the recording machine, they do not get the feedback from the audience. Therefore their performance is affected. Performing before an appreciative audience provides a challenge to the artist; the challenge to enchant them with his/her charming innovations, the challenge to share with the viewers the same aesthetic experience which has been mentioned in the Upanishads as "Parmananda". This challenge is missing while performing in the captivity of a recording studio. However, the professional artists have changed their mindset according to the demands of the era. The artists of great repute hardly bother for such circumstantial realities. They have just been used to these situations.

The other problem is that new forms of music like the movie melodies, the fusion of two different kinds of music etc have changed the scenario completely and sometimes adversely. Here I would like to make some comments upon the Movie Music.

It is true that the film music has contributed immensely to popularise the music amongst the masses. It is also beyond any disagreement that the movie melodies have provided a lighter alternative in comparison with the traditional but tough classical music. But gradually, this kind of music has been transfigured into "computer-programmed" mechanical kind of music which, instead of giving us pleasure, increases the blood circulation thereby contributing to the high blood pressure. The yearn to imitate the Western style of music has also made the matters worse. Then there are "copy cats" who have not even got the basic training in Hindustani music and have still become composers. All these circumstances have created a kind of confusion. This confusion is reflected in the learner of music. When one wishes to learn music, he/she generally is not sure as to what kind of music he/she wishes to learn; the classical traditional music or the popular music of the modern era.

The result is that the appreciators of classical music are decreasing in numbers. Subsequently, the great artists of the classical music are forced to change their strategy of their performances. They are adopting new forms of music like Bhajan singing, fusion of different kinds of music, performing in duets and trios to make the performance more appealing etc. Many classical music artists are trying their luck in the world of cinema. Some have succeeded some others were not so fortunate. But the main thing is that many traditional artists are getting away from the classical music because they do not see any future in this direction.

Here let me tell you that the Electronic Media (Especially, Radio and TV), which is supposed to be the guardian of our heritage of music, is cashing upon the popular music only. Gradually, the space for the classical music is shrinking on these traditional avenues. On electronic media, now-a-days, the content of the broadcast is decided on the basis of the TRP rankings. The features which go high on the popularity charts, survive whereas, the programmes which have low ranking on the popularity charts but happen to be excellent in their content, vanish. On the state-owned TV channels too, the space for the classical music is shrinking day by day. Secondly, the time slot for such programmes falls at an odd time so that very few persons ever watch these wonderful programmes.

The world of glamour is slowly swallowing the world of our illustrious traditional arts and music. Disco Bhangda, DiscoGarba, DiscoDandia etc are the trends of today. In the strong and exciting beats of these new trends, many of us misunderstand these popular forms with the folk music of the oral tradition. Pop singers sing the folk melodies and some of us think that this is the real one. Recently, the song "Saas Gaari Deve" by Rekha Bharadwaj is actually based upon the traditional Chhattisgarhi folk melody. The difference is that the movie melody does not represent the real tradition of the folk culture. However, the new generation of today think that this is the real one.

On the internet, too much of classical music is available but there is nobody to decide what is right and what is wrong. In this era of IT Boon, everybody can upload the stuff of one's choice. There are sites like "YouTube" which host such video content. But there is no control on the quality side. Therefore, those who are not aware of the classical music cannot decide the authenticity of such music.

The only hope is from the traditional musicians. They can devise their strategies in such a way that the classical music gets more popular. They can create an appreciative audience by teaching the basics of the classical music. Not a single individual can do this. Therefore, the classical musicians should come together for the cause of our music. We have to save our heritage of wonderful music. Through small concerts, lecture/demonstrations, seminars, workshops etc the awareness for the classical music can be increased.

We have to counter the challenges posed by the Media Boon, the IT Boon etc. It is the human tendency that they like the spicy food and avoid the healthy one. Likewise, the exciting spicy music is liked more than the positive traditional music. Let us admit this fact. But it is our duty to present the facts in the right perspective. As the parents explain to their young ones about the benefits of the healthy food in comparison to the junk food, so we shall have to explain the students and the audience of music about the benefits of positive classical music over the modern pop music.