About Pakhawaj

BHAIRAVI....

"Ache Din"....but whose?

संगीतातले ’अच्छे दिन’....पण कुणाचे?

आज काल जो तो म्हणतो की संगीतसृष्टीला चांगले दिवस आले आहेत. खरेच आहे का हो ते?

प्रत्येक गोष्टीला दोन बाजू असतात. एक दिसणारी आणि एक न दिसणारी. दिसणाय्रा बाजूबद्दल सगळॆच बोलतात कारण ते दर्शनी सत्य असते. दुमत असण्याचा प्रश्नच नसतो मुळी. एखाद्या स्पर्धेत कुणी प्रथम तीन क्रमांकात आले की तो/ती लागलीच वाखाणण्यायोग्य होतातच ! गुणवत्त्ता ही सिध्द होत असतेच. कुणी त्यावर समजा आक्षेप घेतलाच तर त्या व्यक्तीचाच काही स्वार्थ लपला आहे की काय अशी शंका घेतली जाते.

या गुणवत्तेला आपण ग्राह्य धरले तर किती तरी नव्या गायक/गायिकांचा व्यवसायिक क्षेत्रात प्रवेश व्हायला हवा. पण प्रत्यक्षात संगीतसृष्टीत उच्चपातळीवर पोचणाय्रांची संख्या अगदीच नाममात्र प्रमाणात वाढत असते. असे का असावे बरे?

वरील विचार भारतीय शास्त्रीय संगीताच्या उच्च पातळीवरुन करण्याचा आहे. ही उच्च पातळी म्हणजे स्वरप्रधान गायकीचा ध्यास घेणाय्रा कलावंतांच्या जडण घडणीची आहे. जिथे ’घरंदाजी’ आहे तिथे नव्या कलाकाराची उपज आहे असा सर्वसामान्य भाव असतो. पण आज आश्चर्याची गोष्ट ही आहे की नवा अंकुर संगीताच्या भावपक्षाकडे कमी झुकतो आहे. याचा प्रत्यय प्रत्येक सुसंस्कृत ठिकाणी दुर्दैवाने  येतो आहे.

शास्त्रीय संगीताचा मूळ भाव शब्दरहित विस्ताराचा आहे. त्यावर बंदिशीचा आकर्षक मुखडा, शब्दांची नजाकतदार बांधणी, लयीशी झोकदारपणे मांडलेला खेळ आणि स्थायी-अंतय्राचा मेलमिलाफ रचुन श्रोत्यांसमोर मांडून झाला की काम संपले ! पुढे रागविस्ताराचे काम आलाप, तान विविधांगाने मांडत राहणे यात असते. रागाचे अमूर्तत्व व्यक्त होण्यासाठी कलावंताला तनमनपूर्वक कलेशी ईमान राखून स्वतःला बराच काळ ’अव्यक्त’ ठेवावे लागते.

यात खरी गोम ती इथेच आहे. लौकर ’व्यक्त’ होण्याची हौस कलेच्या उत्कर्षाला मारक होत असते हा सर्वसाधारणपणे सिद्ध झालेला नियम आहे. बालकलाकार म्हणून होणारे कौतुक अंगभूत गुणांना ’पुढे’ आणण्याचे काम करते खरे , पण अप्रकट असणारे, कदाचित अधिक प्रभावशाली गुण कायमचेच दडपून टाकते हे ही अनेकांच्या बाबतीत खरे ठरले आहे.

कुमार गंधर्वांचे श्रेष्ठत्व निर्विवादपणे जगासमोर आले ते केवळ देवधरांच्या दूरदॄष्टिमुळे. कुमारांच्या अतिसूक्ष्म स्वरदृष्टीला देवधरांनी सावधान केले. बालवयात ऐकलेल्या प्रत्येक ग्रामोफोन रेकॊर्डची हुबेहूब प्रतिकृति कुमारजी उभी करत. इतकेच नव्हे तर त्या रेकॊर्डच्याही पलिकडे जाऊन मूळ गायकाच्या मनोभूमिकेत ते जाऊन पुढे गाऊन दाखवीत. तरीपण देवधरांची कुमारांकडे, त्यांच्या संगीतशक्तीकडे पाहण्याची दृष्टी विलक्षण कठोर होती असे नक्कीच म्हणावे लागेल. कारण (सवंग) लोकप्रियतेच्या मखमली काट्याना त्यानी लौकर दूर केले. म्हणूनच कुमारांची गायकी सर्व बंधने ओलांडून मुक्त झाली. रानोमाळ उन्मुक्तपणे भिरभिरणाय्रा वादळ्वाय्राप्रमाणे फुललीच फुलली. असामान्य प्रतिभेने संगीताला नवी दिशा देणारी त्यांची स्वरप्रवृत्ति केवळ त्याना वेळेवर दॄष्टी मिळाल्याचा परिणाम आहे. अर्थात शारीरिक अस्वास्थ्यामुळे विकल झालेल्या शरीराला माळव्याच्या लोकधुनींनी मानसिक उभारी दिली आणि त्यांच्या अंतर्मनातल्या स्वरधारानी नवा साज शृंगार केला हा त्यापुढचा इतिहास आहे.

हिंदुस्थानी संगीताच्या क्षेत्रात सध्याच्या काळात आणखी एक तळपणारा तेजस्वी तारा म्हणजे आनंद गंधर्व अर्थात आनंद भाटे. बालवयात बालगंधर्वांची अवघड पण अचंबित करणारी गायकी आत्मविश्वासाने चोखंदळ श्रोत्यांसमोर गाऊन रसिकांचा कंठमणि बनलेल्या भाटे यानीही पुढे बराच काळ ’अव्यक्त’ राहून भीमसेनजींच्या गुरुत्वात राहून स्वतःस पूर्ण तयारीने ’व्यक्त’ केले. ’घराणेदार’ गायकीतून (पणजोबा सुप्रसिद्ध भाटेबुवा ) ’अभ्यासाचेनि प्रकट’ झालेले हे एक उत्तुंग व्यक्तिमत्व आहे.

वर उल्लेखिलेली दोनही उदाहरणे वेगवेगळ्या कालखंडातली असली तरी त्यातला स्थायीभाव तोच आहे. त्यांच्यातला समान धागा हा अंगभूत गुणाची उत्तमतेने केलेली जोपासना आणि त्यांच्या स्वयंस्फूर्तिला मिळालेले भावकवच हा होय.

हे सर्व याचसाठी की आज छोट्या-मोठ्या स्पर्धांतून किंवा टीव्ही चैनलवरुन लहान मुलांचा सहभाग खूप असतो. त्यांना मिळणारी बक्षिसे आणि इतर प्रलोभने त्यांना क्षणार्धात ’स्टार’ बनवीत असतात. त्या स्पर्धांचा विषय संपल्यानंतर कितीजणानी शास्त्रीय संगीताच्या व्यवसायाची कास धरली आहे हे पाहणे एक अभ्यासाचा विषय ठरेल. झटपट कलाकार बनल्यानंतर परिश्रमाची पराकाष्ठा करुन परंपरा सांभाळण्याचा ’अट्टाहास’ कोण करेल बरे?

नंदन हेर्लेकर

nandanherlekar@gmail.com

nandanherlekar@gmail.com

Temples And Folk Arts

Every temple in Dakshin Kannada (Mangalore) has a preternatural history which goes hand in hand with arts and culture. In and around Mangalore there is special cultural belt of Tulu Nadu. There are a large number of cultural genres of music, dance, drama, instrument playing and a peculiar kind of colouring the faces and body parts. The headgear, the dresses, ornaments and the dialogue delivery: everything is unique.

Bhoot Kola

Bhoot Kola

Bhoot Kola

 

Madal, A Percussion Of Central India (Non Carnatic)

Maddal

Maddal is a class of barrel shaped hand drums of the mridang class.  Where other members of the mridang class tend to be used in classical music, the maddal tends to be used in folk music.

The construction of the maddal tends to be similar of the pakhawaj.  As in the pakhawaj and mridangam, it invariably has a permanent application on the right hand side.  However, it is really difficult to generalise about the left side application.  Among the folk maddals, one may find permanent applications, dholka massala type applications, or even temporary applications such as flour and water.

One interesting characteristic of the maddal is the variety of sizes and shapes that one may find for the drum shell.  Although they tend to be fairly consistent within certain geographical areas and small ethnic groups, when viewed across the breadth of South Asia one finds a very great variation.

It should be stressed that the maddal is not a single instrument but a class of related folk drums.  Specific examples include the jaspura(Northeast India), madar (central India), maddale (Southwest India), mandar (Central and Northeast India), and the tumdah (Northeast India).  One could even argue that the pung and the khol could also be include in this classification.

Violin in South Indian Music

Violin, The Popular String Instrument in South Indian Music

What is Violin?

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. The violin is sometimes informally called a fiddle, regardless of the type of music played on it. The word violin comes from the Medieval Latin word vitula, meaning stringed instrument this word is also believed to be the source of the Germanic "fiddle". The violin, while it has ancient origins, acquired most of its modern characteristics in 16th-century Italy, with some further modifications occurring in the 18th and 19th centuries. Violinists and collectors particularly prize the instruments made by the Gasparo da Salò, Giovanni Paolo Maggini, Stradivari,Guarneri and Amati families from the 16th to the 18th century in Brescia and Cremona and by Jacob Stainer in Austria. Great numbers of instruments have come from the hands of "lesser" makers, as well as still greater numbers of mass-produced commercial "trade violins" coming from cottage industries in places such as Saxony, Bohemia, and Mirecourt. Many of these trade instruments were formerly sold by Sears, Roebuck and Co. and other mass merchandisers.

A person who makes or repairs violins is called a luthier, or simply a violin maker. The parts of a violin are usually made from different types of wood  (although electric violins may not be made of wood at all, since their sound may not be dependent on specific acoustic characteristics of the instrument's construction), and it is usually strung with gut, nylon or other synthetic, or steel strings.

Someone who plays the violin is called a violinist or a fiddler. The violinist produces sound by drawing a bow across one or more strings (which may be stopped by the fingers of the other hand to produce a full range of pitches), by plucking the strings (with either hand), or by avariety of other techniques. The violin is played by musicians in a wide variety of musical genres, including Baroque music, classical, jazz, folk music, and rock and roll. The violin has come to be played in many non-western music cultures all over the world.

Origin and History of Violin

Turkic and Mongolian horsemen from Inner Asia were probably the world’s earliest fiddlers. Their two-stringed upright fiddles were strung with horsehair strings, played with horsehair bows, and often feature a carved horse’s head at the end of the neck. The violins, violas, and cellos we play today, and whose bows are still strung with horsehair, are a legacy of the nomads.

It is believed that these instruments eventually spread to China, India, the Byzantine Empire and the Middle East, where they developed into instruments such as the erhu in China, the rebab in the Middle East, the lyra in the Byzantine Empire and the esraj in India. The violin in its present form emerged in early 16th-Century Northern Italy, where the port towns of Venice and Genoa maintained extensive ties to central Asia through the trade routes of the silk road.

The oldest documented violin to have four strings, like the modern violin, is supposed to have been constructed in 1555 by Andrea Amati, but the date is very doubtful. The violin immediately became very popular, both among street musicians and the nobility, illustrated by the fact that the French king Charles IX ordered Amati to construct 24 violins for him in 1560. One of these instruments, now called the Charles IX, is the oldest surviving violin. The finest Renaissance carved and decorated violin in the world is the Gasparo da Salò (1574 c.) owned by Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria and later, from 1841, by the Norwegian virtuoso Ole Bull, who used it for forty years and thousands of concerts, for his very powerful and beautiful tone, similar to those of a Guarneri. It is now in the Vestlandske Kustindustrimuseum in Bergen (Norway). "The Messiah" or "Le Messie" made by Antonio Stradivari in 1716 remains pristine. It is now located in the Ashmolean Museum of Oxford.

WHAT IS VIOLIN ? (Additional Information)

Violin is one of the most common instruments of south India. It is praised for its beauty, tone and also for many other reasons. It is loved by all the musicians across the world.
The Violin is a string instrument. Its sound is produced through the vibration of its strings with the help of a bow.
When the bow is kept on the strings and moved according to the musical instincts, the strings vibrate and produce heavenly sound. With its beautiful singing tone violin has proved to be an extremely important instrument in western art music. It has been linked also to the art music of middle east and south India.
It was developed in the early 16^th century. It is the smallest and the highest pitched instrument of the Violin family. The violin family includes,viola, cello and double bass. In these the double bass is the biggest instrument. 
When played as a folk instrument violin is known as Fiddle. Violin usually has four strings but there are some violins with 7 strings also. The strings are usually made up of nylon or steel. The violin has a  wooden body, shaped differently. It looks almost like a hour-glass. It's body is made made up of soft wood.  {some electrical violins are made up of some other material}. Usually ‘Ebony wood’ is used for making violin.This kind of wood is used because of it’s beauty and quality.
It is arched at the top and back. It has two upper bouts and two lower bouts. Violin particularly consists of a sound board {also called as top plate or belly}, neck, bridge, four strings, two end blocks, a sound post, maple ribs and back.
The sound quality of the violin usually depends on its shape or on the wood it is made. It might  depend on the thickness of its top and back. The strings of the violin have a silk wrapping at both the ends. A full sized violin is {4/4}14 inches or 35 cms.

G-D-A-E is the tuning used in most of the violin music.The violin is usually tuned to D#-A#-D#-A# in ‘South Indian’ style. Violin is tuned by tuning pegs in the peg box under the scroll. Other way of tuning violin is by adjusting the fine tuner screws at the tailpiece.
So friends hope you all knew somethings about violin.