Kumar Gandharva, the lord of the ragas
Raga Nand. Artiste Kumar Gandharva.” Among the ragas, it doesn’t enjoy the popularity of, say, a Darbari or Bhairavi, or Yaman Kalyan. The three mentioned just now are embedded in Indian culture through film songs, bhajans and ghazals, but Nand is an unknown quantity. The radio crackled and the bandish, “Rajan ab toh aaja re/Thiraa na rahat kajraa aakhan mein rajan.” The carefree, imperious and muscular start to this delicate raga grabs the listener from the get-go. The interpretation is incendiary with gossamer touches on a few words like “kajra”. Nand has been sung by other artistes, but Kumar’s version stands alone; nothing quite like it has ever been sung in that raga. Almost like Rolling Stones’
“Satisfaction ” or Beatles ’ “Yesterday”; or if you like your analogy classical then Ustad Amir Khan and Pandit Jitendra Abhisheki’s rendition of Raga Marwa.
A CELESTIAL CENTURY
<div data-placement=«Mid Article Thumbnails» data-target_type=«mix» data-mode=«thumbnails-mid» style=«min-height:400px; margin-bottom:12px;» class=«wdt-taboola» id=«taboola-mid-article-thumbnails-109094799»>Tomorrow, April 8, is Kumar Gandharva’s 100th birth anniversary but that is a just a numerical milestone. The real reason to celebrate him would be to acknowledge that he wasn’t just a savant, or a prodigy, but also that he didn’t care much about tradition, when you define it as something being timeless. His interpretations were to look at the fundamentals of musical structures that defined tradition and then move pieces that he thought didn’t fit or add bits that others thought were no short of heresy, but which enriched the auditory experience. For Kumar, tradition was something that needed
to be renewed or else it would be an ossification.
