Accompaniment
Daniel Fuchs
Taking Warrren's new thread and exchanging just a few letters, I'd like
to hear (almost) everyone's opinion on the use of the Harmonium in the
accompaniment of Khyal.
I know the purists' viewpoint in favour of the sarangi, but I really
enjoy a good sounding harmonium in the hands of a master like Appasaheb
Jalgaonkar.
Even though I believe my ears to be fairly senstive to out-of tuneness,
I don't really hear any in a good harmonium accompaniment of a good
singer.
Is that maybe because singers would tend to adjust their intonation to
the harmonium?
Anyone?
Daniel Fuchs
Amit Chatterjee
In article <349CF4...@stud2.stud.uni-goettingen.de>,
Daniel Fuchs <DFu...@stud2.stud.uni-goettingen.de> writes:
> Taking Warrren's new thread and exchanging just a few letters, I'd like
> to hear (almost) everyone's opinion on the use of the Harmonium in the
> accompaniment of Khyal.
>
> I know the purists' viewpoint in favour of the sarangi, but I really
> enjoy a good sounding harmonium in the hands of a master like Appasaheb
> Jalgaonkar.
>
This is an old debate. IMO, the quality of the accompaniement is determined,
not by the instrument, but by the artist accompanying the vocalist. A bad
sarangi player can be a menace (as is evident in many recordings) and the
same is true for a harmonium player. Appasaheb is an excellent musician and
i think he would have been a good accompnist even if he played sarangi. It
requires the right temperament to become an accompanist and many dont have
this quality. Mastery over the instrument is important but the temperament
part is quite important. Take a look at Zakir Hussain, for example, inspite
of being very talented, he, IMO, is a failure, as an accompanist.
Both, Sarangi and Harmonium, have strengths and weaknesses as an accompaning
instrument. Sarangi is obviously more suitable because it is difficult to
handle micro-tones, meends, gamaks, andolan with harmonium. At the same time,
sarangi is more difficult to master and probably requires greater attention
and thus the sarangi player probably spends more time concentrating on playing
than listening to the vocalist. In addtion, the
sarangi goes out of tune and often requires re-tuning in the middle of a
composition.
From my experience as a listenser, the sarangi sounds good during the
slow part of the khayaal but sounds quite screachy during the drut part
specially during the taans. The harmonium, on the other hand, sounds good
during the drut part but not so good during the vilambit khayyal. There are
exceptions to the above, of course.
Many very well-known vocalists show preferences towards a harmonium
accompaniment. I am not sure why this is the case. It is perhaps because
they are very used to the harmonium as it is somewhat difficult to find a
sarangi player who can accompany during the riyaz. At the same time, some
very well known musical figures advocate not using harmonium. I believe their
main opposition is self-accompaniment with the harmonium. It is quite common
in light classical music, natya sangeet, rabindra sangeet, etc. for the
vocalist to play the harmonium while singing. This, in most case, results in
the vocalist concentrating more on the harmonium than the vocals.
Regards.
--
************************************************************************
Amit Chatterjee
a s a v @ i x .n e t c o m . c o m
amit_ch...@hotmail.com
http://pw1.netcom.com/~asav
************************************************************************
Rajan P. Parrikar
In article <349CF4...@stud2.stud.uni-goettingen.de>,
Daniel Fuchs writes:
>Taking Warrren's new thread and exchanging just a few letters, I'd like
>to hear (almost) everyone's opinion on the use of the Harmonium in the
>accompaniment of Khyal.
>
>I know the purists' viewpoint in favour of the sarangi, but I really
>enjoy a good sounding harmonium in the hands of a master like Appasaheb
>Jalgaonkar.
>
>Even though I believe my ears to be fairly senstive to out-of tuneness,
>I don't really hear any in a good harmonium accompaniment of a good
>singer.
>
>Is that maybe because singers would tend to adjust their intonation to
>the harmonium?
Namashkar, Herr Fuchs.
This is a recurring topic and I am appending my response generated about
two years ago when the issue surfaced. I am deleting the name of my
interlocuter and replacing it with XYZ.
Apropos of your comment about Appa Jalgaonkar: I have ambivalent opinions
of the fella. On one hand (pun intended) his taiyyAri is fantastic as also
his swara-dnyAna and knowledge of rAgadhAri. OTOH, I find his approach and
style to be distractive. He has this zig-zagging, up-and-down wiggly manner
of playing (that is, he doesn't hold the tone constant for long) that tries
to do too much around a single note and it grates on the ears after a while.
Compare this with, say, Govindrao Patwardhan or Tulshidas Borkar's surili,
relatively-linear melodic fingerwork and it is clear the latter are more
pleasing and meld well into
the vocal context.
Among the newer ones, Arwind Thatte comes to mind for his excellent support.
The Dharwad/Hubli area has had some good players, namely Bijapure, Mehmood
Dholpuri and Gadigayya Nandimath who were regulars with Mallikarjun Mansur
and Basavraj Rajguru. Vasant Kankapura is taiyyAr but too loud and jerky and
somewhat lacking in a good rAga-based grounding.
Goa has had some extraordinary harmonium players (and, around the turn of the
century, a superb group of sArangiyas as well, primarily from the Parvatkar
clan) from which Madhukar Malpekar-Pednekar (labelled P. Madhukar as the
accompanist on old 78 rpms) was unanimously considered a magician on the
instrument, without any equal. And there were others like Vasantrao Amonkar,
Ratnakant Ramnathkar (in his younger days, before he went on to become a
preceptor) and so on. Almost all of these fellas came from the Kalavant
community, did music not for glory but because they were born into it and
were goddamned good at it. A motley few went on to achieve fame (Dinanath
Mangeshkar, khaprumama, Kesarbai, Mogubai, Kishori) but most of the rest died
unsung (pardon the silly pun).
Regards,
r
From boulder!spot.Colorado.EDU!parrikar Tue Jan 9 17:18:56 MST 1996
rticle: 16472 of rec.music.indian.classical
Path: boulder!spot.Colorado.EDU!parrikar
From: parr...@spot.Colorado.EDU (Rajan P. Parrikar)
Newsgroups: rec.music.indian.classical
Subject: Re: PROJECT SARANGI
Date: 10 Jan 1996 00:07:17 GMT
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Lines: 155
Message-ID: <4cuvvl$1...@lace.colorado.edu>
References: <4cjmo6$q...@newsbf02.news.aol.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: spot.colorado.edu
X...@aol.com (XYZ) writes:
>For years, Indian Government has been trying to save the Bengal tiger from
>extinction. This PROJECT TIGER effort should have been more than enough
>inspiration for the folks in Hindustani classical music to seriously think
>and act to save the Sarangi, one of the best accompanying instruments
>especially suited on account of its tonal quality and versatility.
>(Another instrument equally or even more versatile is Violin. I shall
>however deal with Violin in a separate e-mail shortly).
Fine. I have no quarrel with PROJECT SARANGI and wish you well in the
effort.
>The scene we see today is indeed tragic. The accompaniment is almost
>exclusively on harmonium. Except for some isolated Sarangiyas, this
>beautiful instrument is nowhere to be found. The impending demise of
>Sarangi may have started by the All India Radio when it lifted the ban on
>harmonium around 1970-71. This has probably led to a phenomenal increase
>of the H-players (most of them Swayambhu or self-taught!!!). Since
>S-players became less and less visible, the vocalists seem have reasoned:
>Its O.K. to use Harmonium. What difference does it make anyway ?? The
>listeners also seem to have accepted this situation with complete
>indifference.
>This indifference is what makes me sad and angry. If people care to listen
>to the quality of Sarangi accompaniment that was provided to such legends
>as Vilayat Hussain Khan, Bade Gulam Ali, Faiyyaz Khan, Krishnarao Pandit,
>Kesarbai Kerkar and so on, they will agree with me that : Yes, this is
>what a true Saath is. Even in those golden years, Harmonium was around
>but I am sure it did not have the stature of a sarangi for the simple
>reason that these eminent artists wanted Sarangiyas AND rightfully so.
This is factually untrue, your last sentence. Almost all of the above names
you have quoted preferred harmonium accompaniment. To this list we may add:
Vazebuwa, Bhaskarbuwa, Amir Khan, Abdul Karim Khan, Sawai Gandharwa, Nissar
Hussain Khan, Behrebuwa, Bal Gandharva, Begum Akhtar and on and on.
The AIR ban on the harmonium was a silly, hare-brained idea to begin with.
What was surprising is that it (the ban) had the support of men such
as Rabby Tagore and, of all people, Nehru (if quarks had been discovered
in India the dude would have had an opinion on them too). As it finally
happened, all these attempts at retaining the "purity" of Indian classical
music fell flat and good sense finally prevailed with the lift of the ban.
And phenomenal increase in H-players? There are still only a handful of
really top-notch H-accompanists in the country and not surprisingly they
are in great demand. While it is facile to get started on the instrument
- any johnny can push the bellows and run his fingers over the keys and
claim he "plays" the harmonium - competance and proficiency are hard to
come by, as anyone who has experience with the instrument will tell you.
Furthermore, skillful accompaniment not only demands mastery over instrument
technique but also a keen sense of swara-dnyaan and a thorough grounding
in rAgadhAri.
>Dont get me wrong. I have nothing against harmonium. I think it is a
>useful, general purpose instrument which can help/initiate someone become
>music-literate. But to use it for accompanying Hindustani vocal music, is
>to pretend that the gayaki ang, Meend, Behelav, intricate gamaks are not
>really important,
And yet, when you listen to the gayaki of each of the above doodes, your
assertion has no leg to stand on.
>or that these phrases can be reproduced not on the
>instrument but by creating visual effects (meaning use of hand/facial
>gestures !!). Folks, these effects CANNOT be done on harmonium. Period !!
Gee, dude, we are shattered by this revelation.
Yes, musical devices such as meends and gamakas are inherently impossible
to coax out of the harmonium. However, you seem to subscribe to the
viewpoint that the paramount goal of accompaniment is to generate a note-by-
note, microtone-by-microtone, gamaka-by-gamaka replica of the vocal output.
Not everyone agrees. Others feel (and quite sensibly so) that the function
of an accompanying instrument is to complement the main vocal line, _not_ to
cross swords with it. To that end they prefer an instrument that can provide
a pleasing, sustained, non-intrusive tone to form the soft secondary
melodic line with as little time-delay as possible, use it plug the gaps
betweens vocal pauses via interludes and in general help enhance the musical
ambience of the performance. They do not consider cloning of the vocal
output on the instrument a sine qua non for an accompanying format.
Most of the required boundary conditions are satisfied handsomely by the
harmonium, which is why its rise in popularity and assimilation into the
vocal performance format is to be seen as a natural evolution.
A well-tuned, triple-reed array (with, say, a Nar-Kharj-Kharj configuration)
can provide a rich, resonant tone ideal for accompaniment to "mardani"
gayaki (which you have expressed a fondness for), quite in contrast to
the effeminate, whinging, intrusive and distractive tone of the sarangi. The
overall consistancy, crispness, strength and superiority of tone of a harmonium
is seen as a good trade-off vis-a-vis its limitations in the production of
meends, gamakas etc.
The charges made against the harmonium in its accompaniment mode fall
broadly along two lines and I shall address them briefly. Note that the
thrust of my defense here is for its utility as an accompanying instrument.
I hold no brief for its inherent limitations that are all-too-familiar.
Charge #1: Cannot produce microtones, gamakas, meends.
Guilty as charged. However, I have indicated above how production of these
devices is not the be-all and end-all of accompaniment protocol. A nimble-
fingered and skilled player of the harmonium can do a functional imitation
of the meend or gamaka to tide over the phrase. In the worst-case scenario,
its volume can be diminished to a point where it doesn't clash with or
mask the vocal curve (which is what is of prime interest anyway).
The inability to capture microtonal variations on the harmonium can be an
acute problem for certain ragas and less so in others. But again in the
accompaniment mode, these problems are relegated to the background. Good
fingerwork and bellow-control can mitigate and even surpass them. I have
yet to hear someone say that Amir Khan's Darbari suffered because the
harmonium fella had no place to go for his ati-komal gandhar. As an aside,
it is chimerical to assume that the sarangiya can abstract out to a high
degree the precise shade and nuance of the swara and play them back within
the very short response time available. It just doesn't work out that way
in practice even though the sarangi is in principle capable of producing
all the microtonal effects. Another point usually missed is the wayward
and unmusical behaviour of the sarangi in the fast passages. The instrument
can be one hell of a screechy joke as it scampers to catch up with the
rapid fire taans and it doesn't even take a trained ear to smoke out this
besuraapan.
Charge #2: Ruins intonational integrity of the artist.
Balderdash. If your intonation is bad to begin with, doing away with
harmonium accompaniment isn't goin' to improve matters. You have to dig
at the root of the problem of how you got to be so lousy. Now one way
that could have happened is if you cut your vocal teeth USING the harmonium
as a crutch. No concert performer worth his name has had his intonation
screwed up after using a harmonium for accompaniment. Even good harmonium
players don't have intonation problems [Ajoy Chakraborty excepted] when
they demonstrate a raga by singing it out. Mallikarjun Mansur, Bhimsen Joshi,
Kumar Gandharva, to name a few - all masters of intonation and afficionados
of harmonium accompaniment - have been using harmo accompaniment all their
lives, with no change in intonational status whatsoever. This charge
is a non-charge really and is often used by musically-challenged
hushpuppies to sound more intelligent on the issue than they really are.
Due to constraints of time, I'll end with the following comments. Listen
to MM's recording (Tulshi Borkar on the harmonium) of Basanti Kedar and the
treatment of the dhaivat. MM intones not the 'standard` komal dhaivat but
an augmented one closer to the 'mean` shuddha dhaivat. TB has no option but
to use the shuddha D key. Nevertheless a fantastic recording and complete
delineation of the Raga characteristics. Fussing over and clamouring for
a sarangi merely to emend this subtle (albeit important) shade of the swara
we shall leave to the purito-pundits who revel in picking the flyshit
out of the pepper.
>Where do we go from here?? can we do anything from USA ??
>YES, We can !! It is high time that we start a PROJECT SARANGI movement.
I wish PROJECT SARANGI a harmonious (hehehehe) start.
Warm regards,
r
Sajjad Khaliq
Amit Chatterjee (amit_ch...@hotmail.com) wrote:
: Take a look at Zakir Hussain, for example, inspite
: of being very talented, he, IMO, is a failure, as an accompanist.
I think that is a rather extreme and strong point of view.
He must be doing something right as an accompanist to be THE most sought
after tabla player today. Can you think of a leading artist with whom
Zakir Hussain has NOT given tabla accompaniment? You name it, he has
played with them all: Vilayat Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, Ravi Shankar, Nikhil
Banerjee, Pt Jasraj, Imrat Khan, Rais Khan, Amjad Ali Khan, Shiv Kumar
Sharma, Hariprashad Chaurasia, Asish Khan, Lakshmi Shankar, Brij Bushan
Kabra and the list goes on and on.
Are you trying to stay that virtually ALL of India's top musicians today,
like to have Zakir Hussain as an accompanist because they need the
expeosure and crowds that Zakir Hussain so easily pulls in?
You can criticise Zakir Hussain, or any leading Indian musician you like
on this forum, but I think you should at least be accurate as to how you
describe them and their success or failures as musicians.
The only failures in my opinion Zakir Hussain has had are his movies such
as Heat & Dust and Saaz.
--
Sajjad Khaliq / Hamilton / Ontario / Canada
Amit Chatterjee
In article <67knig$3h6$1...@main.freenet.hamilton.on.ca>,
aa...@freenet.hamilton.on.ca (Sajjad Khaliq ) writes:
> Amit Chatterjee (amit_ch...@hotmail.com) wrote:
>
>: Take a look at Zakir Hussain, for example, inspite
>: of being very talented, he, IMO, is a failure, as an accompanist.
>
> I think that is a rather extreme and strong point of view.
>
Sajjad,
I hate getting into this Zakir Hussain debate again. Note the "IMO" in
my statement above. It is MY opinion. Obviously there are thousands
(probably millions) who think otherwise including some of the artists you
mentioned. I dont like his accompaniment because he tries to please people
with cheapo relas and adds very little to enhance the overall quality of
music. An accompanist should always try to enhance the quality but he seems
more eager to please the crowd.
Toby White
Amit Chatterjee <amit_ch...@hotmail.com> wrote in article
<67ln2a$8...@dfw-ixnews9.ix.netcom.com>...
> I hate getting into this Zakir Hussain debate again. Note the "IMO" in
> my statement above. It is MY opinion. Obviously there are thousands
> (probably millions) who think otherwise including some of the artists you
> mentioned. I dont like his accompaniment because he tries to please
people
> with cheapo relas and adds very little to enhance the overall quality of
> music. An accompanist should always try to enhance the quality but he
seems
> more eager to please the crowd.
With Zakir Hussain, its sometimes better to view the production as
jugulbandi, rather than accompaniment. I have one of the recordings in
which he "accompanies" Shivkumar Sharma. As accompaniment, I agree with
Amit. However, viewed as a rhythm jugulbandi, the whole album makes much
better sense and is really quite good, to my ear.
--Toby White
Sajjad Khaliq
Amit Chatterjee (amit_ch...@hotmail.com) wrote:
: >: Take a look at Zakir Hussain, for example, inspite
: >: of being very talented, he, IMO, is a failure, as an accompanist.
: >
: Sajjad,
: I hate getting into this Zakir Hussain debate again. Note the "IMO" in
: my statement above. It is MY opinion. Obviously there are thousands
: (probably millions) who think otherwise including some of the artists you
: mentioned. I dont like his accompaniment because he tries to please people
: with cheapo relas and adds very little to enhance the overall quality of
: music. An accompanist should always try to enhance the quality but he seems
: more eager to please the crowd.
Point well taken, and I realise that this only YOUR opinion.
Not liking his accompaniment does NOT mean he is failure as a tabla
accompanist. He is, I would say by any definition a very successful
tabliya, judging from the long list of major artists he regularly
accompanies, and is sought after by.
Ramya and Ravi
i don't like it personally. i think the sarangi producs more seamless
accompaniment, and believe that even appasaheb cannot get over the
"discrete" quality of the harmonium's sounds- i e it does not meld v. well
with the human voice. probably why it is not very popular in karnatic music
either- the preferred accompaniment is the violin ( which like the sarangi
produces a good approximation of the human voice - i think its called
"gayaki").
- however, i know the sarangi or violin for that matter has'nt prevented
a mediocre singer's voice from having a bad attack of off-shruthi !
----------
arn...@hotmail.com
Well, folks... I beg to differ. There are many more accompanists who give
the artist a much harder time. I don't want to take names though. Please
check out Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta with Zakir Hussain (Toronto, Canada
1989. Raga Kedar and Zilha). I feel Zakir matches Das Gupta's layakari
perfectly and does not overshadow him. And quoting Mr. Das Gupta himself:
"before going on stage, i was nervous... having heard Zakir's reputation
of bothering artists.... but on stage, he was ELEGANT.... Zakir Hussain
is a master of the art of accompaniment" (as told to me on July 27,
1997). -- Arnab Chakrabarty -- PS: With all regard to Shiv ji, I must
say that his baaj does not measure up to Zakir Hussain's tabla playing in
its rythmic aspects (though Shiv Sharma IS a master of rythmic
improvisation). Moreover, I do not think much of Mr. sharma's work with
the microphones.
> <67ln2a$8...@dfw-ixnews9.ix.netcom.com>...
> > I hate getting into this Zakir Hussain debate again. Note the "IMO" in
> > my statement above. It is MY opinion. Obviously there are thousands
> > (probably millions) who think otherwise including some of the artists you
> > mentioned. I dont like his accompaniment because he tries to please
> people
> > with cheapo relas and adds very little to enhance the overall quality of
> > music. An accompanist should always try to enhance the quality but he
> seems
> > more eager to please the crowd.
>
> With Zakir Hussain, its sometimes better to view the production as
> jugulbandi, rather than accompaniment. I have one of the recordings in
> which he "accompanies" Shivkumar Sharma. As accompaniment, I agree with
> Amit. However, viewed as a rhythm jugulbandi, the whole album makes much
> better sense and is really quite good, to my ear.
>
> --Toby White
-------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Post to Usenet
Rajan P. Parrikar
In article <882895615....@dejanews.com>,
arn...@hotmail.com (Arnab Chakarabarty) says:
>Well, folks... I beg to differ. There are many more accompanists who give
>the artist a much harder time. I don't want to take names though. Please
>check out Pandit Buddhadev Das Gupta with Zakir Hussain (Toronto, Canada
>1989. Raga Kedar and Zilha). I feel Zakir matches Das Gupta's layakari
>perfectly and does not overshadow him. And quoting Mr. Das Gupta himself:
>"before going on stage, i was nervous... having heard Zakir's reputation
>of bothering artists.... but on stage, he was ELEGANT.... Zakir Hussain
>is a master of the art of accompaniment" (as told to me on July 27,
>1997). -- Arnab Chakrabarty --
Well, Arnab, it is generally the case that while supporting elder,
heavyweight musicians (such as Mr Shankar and Mr Khan of San Rafael, for
instance) Mr Hussain plays a subdued, subordinate role, whereas people
with lesser standing and stature he has no qualms about riding roughshod.
This happens with such frequency that the benefit of doubt can no longer
be given and therefore we must conclude that Mr Hussain, in his role as
an accompanist, is the equivalent of a musical bully.
Mr Das Gupta in his eyes must have a (deservedly) high ranking and it
isn't surprising that he rose to the occasion.
Regards,
r
arn...@hotmail.com
Rajan, you have a point there. I think (may be wrong) that he also
looks at the family and lineage of musician he is playing with....
I say this because he is very subdued when he plays with Amaan Ali
Bangash or Ayaan Ali Bangash (He HAS to, I guess.. considering the
duo's problems with the taal) or even the VK/IK family for that
matter. This bit occured to me after reading your article. regards,
Arnab
> Well, Arnab, it is generally the case that while supporting elder,
> heavyweight musicians (such as Mr Shankar and Mr Khan of San Rafael, for
> instance) Mr Hussain plays a subdued, subordinate role, whereas people
> with lesser standing and stature he has no qualms about riding roughshod.
> This happens with such frequency that the benefit of doubt can no longer
> be given and therefore we must conclude that Mr Hussain, in his role as
> an accompanist, is the equivalent of a musical bully.
>
> Mr Das Gupta in his eyes must have a (deservedly) high ranking and it
> isn't surprising that he rose to the occasion.
>
> Regards,
>
> r
-------------------==== Posted via Deja News ====-----------------------
DGandikota
<swa...@singnet.com.sg wrote:
> (harmonium) does not meld v. well
>with the human voice. probably why it is not very popular in karnatic music
>either- the preferred accompaniment is the violin ( which like the sarangi
>produces a good approximation of the human voice - i think its called
>"gayaki").
>- however, i know the sarangi or violin for that matter has'nt prevented
>a mediocre singer's voice from having a bad attack of off-shruthi
I think the import of violin into the carnatic music is what makes
it sound like a din it is. A feeble background sruti is enough.
IMHO, violin is a great instrument, but I don't like it when
mixed with vocals, flutes and other native instruments.
Dakshin
Ramya and Ravi
Daniel
i don't like it personally. i think the sarangi producs more seamless
accompaniment, and believe that even appasaheb cannot get over the
"discrete" quality of the harmonium's sounds- i e it does not meld v. well
with the human voice. probably why it is not very popular in karnatic music
either- the preferred accompaniment is the violin ( which like the sarangi
produces a good approximation of the human voice - i think its called
"gayaki").
- however, i know the sarangi or violin for that matter has'nt prevented
a mediocre singer's voice from having a bad attack of off-shruthi !
ramya
----------
Daniel Fuchs <DFu...@stud2.stud.uni-goettingen.de> wrote in article
<349CF4...@stud2.stud.uni-goettingen.de>...
> Taking Warrren's new thread and exchanging just a few letters, I'd like
> to hear (almost) everyone's opinion on the use of the Harmonium in the
> accompaniment of Khyal.
>
> I know the purists' viewpoint in favour of the sarangi, but I really
> enjoy a good sounding harmonium in the hands of a master like Appasaheb
> Jalgaonkar.
>
> Even though I believe my ears to be fairly senstive to out-of tuneness,
> I don't really hear any in a good harmonium accompaniment of a good
> singer.
>
> Is that maybe because singers would tend to adjust their intonation to
> the harmonium?
>
> Anyone?
>
>
> Daniel Fuchs
>
Amit Chatterjee
In article <67nf9c$479$2...@main.freenet.hamilton.on.ca>,
aa...@freenet.hamilton.on.ca (Sajjad Khaliq ) writes:
> Amit Chatterjee (amit_ch...@hotmail.com) wrote:
<snipped>
> Point well taken, and I realise that this only YOUR opinion.
>
> Not liking his accompaniment does NOT mean he is failure as a tabla
> accompanist. He is, I would say by any definition a very successful
> tabliya, judging from the long list of major artists he regularly
> accompanies, and is sought after by.
>
<snipped>
Editor's note : We are talking about Zakir Hussain as an accompanist here.
Maybe, failure is a wrong term to use because an artist is said to be a
failure if he/she has not made major money or he/she is not popular.
However, in the context of Indian classical music, we should not apply
the same criterion for judging whether a musician is a successful or a
failure. Many of the greatest has very little money, has not won any Grammy
and is unheard of outside classical music circles.
Regarding ZH being sought after as an accompanist by major musicians -
although I have never organized a musical event but I know quite a few
who do it regularly. What commonly happens is that the artist is given a
choice of accompanists who are either locals or are available during the
time-frame. The artist has a veto power and can say "I dont like ZH, find
me someone else". However, in practice it is rarely done as the artists
dont want to be considered a snob, inconsiderate, etc. The big concert
organizers in Europe/North America, while considering musicians and their
accompanists, very often look at the "star" quality. This is because they
can put up ads like "the greatest show on earth" and attract a lot of
people even those who are not into ICM. And ZH, considering his popularity
among the masses (dont know why, perhaps because of his charming nature) is
the number one choice. I have yet to come across serious ICM listeners who
do not have any reservations about ZH as as an accompanist.
WARVIJ
There are several different aspects of this thread
going on at once. The harmonium question is a
very interesting one.
As a singer I can well understand the appeal of the
harmonium (although when I'm in Pune, for example,
I will always work with Ramakant Paranjpe's violin
for sangat).
The sarangi and violin can sometimes be *too* close
to the voice for the comfort of the singer, who may
find the verisimilitude of their imitation disconcerting.
It is precisely the non-vocal qualities of the harmonium
that continually frame it as a background or accompanying
instrument.
There are several other issues which are especially
germane to younger vocalists. A sarangi master is
likely to have practiced and performed for decades,
and may in many respects be a more technically
proficient artist than the singer (not necessarily all,
mind you). This leads to an uncomfortable psychological
tension; a reversal of the usual hierarchical forms
which may make the accompanist over-eager to
suggest ideas or play solo interludes inappropriate to
the vocalist's conception (and make it harder for
the vocalist to control!).
A *bad* sarangiya can do a lot of damage to a
performance, while a bad harmonium-iya (hee hee hee)
can be (both figuratively and actually) covered up
with a piece of cloth.
As Mark Levy and others have demonstrated through
experiment, and as Mallikarjan, Bhimsen, Faiyaaz Khan
and all the greats have demonstrated through singing,
the intonation of the harmonium forms no obstacle
to the emotionally effective rendering of microtonal
nuance.
I'll tackle the tabla accompaniment question later on --
Happy New Year, everybody!
Warren
Sudheendra Hangal
Rajan P. Parrikar (parr...@rococo.colorado.edu) wrote:
<...>
: fingerwork and bellow-control can mitigate and even surpass them. I have
: yet to hear someone say that Amir Khan's Darbari suffered because the
: harmonium fella had no place to go for his ati-komal gandhar. As an aside,
<...>
an old private recording I have of a live Darbari by Bhimsn Joshi has a
harmonium-wallah who has managed the andolan around 'ga' quite beautifully.
it's a full-length darbari/suha kanada (main bharose apne ram ke, followed by
jhanak jhanakva, followed by tu hai mohammedshah). i don't know if the recording
is available commercially. does anyone know the one i mean - if so, any idea
who is playing the harmonium ?
anyway, how is andolan done on the harmonium - is it simply playing ga-Re ?
is there a particular technique for using the bellow ?
sgh
Rajan P. Parrikar
In article <688nia$sb2$1...@engnews2.Eng.Sun.COM> han...@Sun.COM (Sudheendra Hangal) writes:
>an old private recording I have of a live Darbari by Bhimsn Joshi has a
>harmonium-wallah who has managed the andolan around 'ga' quite beautifully.
>it's a full-length darbari/suha kanada (main bharose apne ram ke, followed by
>jhanak jhanakva, followed by tu hai mohammedshah). i don't know if the recording
>is available commercially. does anyone know the one i mean - if so, any idea
>who is playing the harmonium ?
No. However, the likelihood of it being Govindrao Patwardhan is high. My second
guess would be Purshottam Walawalkar.
>anyway, how is andolan done on the harmonium - is it simply playing ga-Re ?
>is there a particular technique for using the bellow ?
That would depend on the kind of AnDolan. It is usually a combination of
bellow-control to modulate the volume, pressure control during key
depression to simulate a sound 'curve' (this is particularly hard and is
given to only a few to really master), and delicate fingerwork for graces
and ornamentation.
Regards,
r