Music through the passage of time: A Canberra night by Dhrupad
“গানের ভেতর দিয়ে যখন দেখি ভুবন খানি”
Music is the elixir of human soul. Eons and eons ago, when human species had not yet arrived on earth, there still sounded on earth rustles of autumn leaves, swirling sounds of falling water in waterfalls, birds were still chirping in the evenings in that human-less nature, and wild animals howled in the wild at night.
In that time spread over millions of years, there was sound and fury in nature,
But alas, there was no music.
For sound to become music a human soul is needed.
To be scientific, human ears are needed to listen and to transmit that sound to the human brain, where sound is converted into not just the listened natural sound, but the distilled essence of all sounds, known as music.
In the beginning of the Dhrupad program in Canberra respect was paid to that unique natural history of music; one heard sounds of cloud and thunder, cacophony of birds, and sound of waves as water fell cascading.
And like magic a musical journey had began.
Spanning a thousand years a chronicle of music in the Bengal delta began the details of which are now in everybody’s recent memory in Canberra. Like quicksand of time this evening too has now become memory, will remain so.
What did it have in it? Let us recapitulate.
Like any musical evening it had a variety of good songs, Charhapodo songs, Kirtan, Jarigan, Tappa; Baul songs, Tagore songs, Songs of Nazrul and DL Roy. And then the program had the whole gamut of modern songs in urban settings.
But important as those songs are, the program was not remarkable because of presentation of just many songs, but rather for opening the listeners ears to the chronology of the musical journey of Bengal encompassing numerous songs of many genre and traditions.
For us Bangalis music is not just the abstract eternal tunes, rather it is poetic words of heart mixed in the pitch of the octave and parcelled into our soul, it is poetry melodiously transformed into something greater.
So the journey started with the most ancient lyrical text of Bangla, the Chorja Giti. And so it continued covering devotional songs, songs of five great lyric writers led by Tagore and Nazrul. It was songs galore, bringing into every heart longing and nostalgia, sense of loss, love and vibrant warmth of patriotism.
Songs that ripples with folk pathos of giants such as Radharaman, Hason and Lalon, great Bauls of Sylheti uplands and our riverine delta.
Songs of the great cities, and modern songs that mixed different heritages. Songs whose influence came from Central Asia as Vedic Aryans brought to South Asia worship of fire, and as Muslim Sufis brought in sounds of Persia, Turkey and Arabian peninsula. And finally as Europe came to our doors causing Rabindranath to say “দিবে আর নিবে, মিলাবে মিলিবে, যাবে না ফিরে”
If one listened to the progress of the songs one felt the great sweep of this journey as something novel was being created by the human migrations, and the culture that people carried across continents.
It is a unique journey spread over a millennium or
more as religion, trade, invasions, and sheer human love for new lands and culture conjoined together to create something new and superbly creative. We can call it the grand creation of Bangla Music.
That so many decades later such a journey and its musical components have been put together by a group that calls itself “Dhrupad” is a sheer miracle.
Dhrupad name carries in it the legacy of Mia Tansen, one of the greatest musicians of all times and the court musician of Emperor Akbar. I grew up hearing about his legendary status, how he could bring rain on earth through music.
But now time has changed and here in this globalised times the group called “Dhrupad” is more eclectic, mixing youth with experience, modernity with sound classical traditions and participants from western tradition of music.
The auditorium of a church where Dhrupad performed was full, electric with eager human nerve as people kept coming in. 250 people sat with rapt attention for more than 3 hours to follow this journey.
In the end was there a realization that musically we are a powerful cultural entity of global scale? I hope there was.
Did people notice that starting from Chorjapodo to Satya Saha, we span a huge scale of time and tradition, creating a synthetic and powerful entity of culture whose time has come? I hope they did.
As the program ended, there was mingling, exchanges of congratulations, pleasantries. I am happy to offer a snapshot of my quick impression.
Certainly Robin did an amazing job holding every piece of music together with his virtuoso qualities, training re-training every one over months. And every song he sang had the signature of his deep training in music.
Avijit, a crowd-pleaser with silken voice received many accolades ; and of course the sweet melodies of Shampa and Priyanka were much appreciated by all.
Mintu like a head-honcho of band-music reminding people perhaps of Azam Khan or Lucky Akhand?
Nitya, Andrew and Allen bringing in the best instrumental training along with an easy admixture of West and East in Music. And showing the western heritage of two Tagore songs was just superb.
Tapash the multi-talented, Saurav brilliant with Tabla, Rinky sang “Akasher Hate Achhey ek rash neel” oh so melodiously, and the two young ones, Sami and Punya receiving roaring applause as the older ones realised that the baton has been passed on to the newer generation.
As Jessi and Tulip read and explained the musical journey, Manik helped the story along with his video projections. Punam helped along all through the preparations . Sound enginners were superb in creating a great balance between sounds of human voice and that of instruments.
The Church was humming. In the end it was also a social, friendly evening in Canberra, a congregation of 250 plus people of common bonding and heritage. In the end it was an event where music is a pretext for good old human interactions. But beyond such camaraderie a cultural step of huge length has been taken and its impact should last for a long time.
We must tell our young ones of this remarkable journey. How we are not just an ethnic entity of a fixed place, but that we are an accumulated product of many religions, many spiritual ideas, of many tunes and poems as they mingled and settled in the long vista of time. We must tell them that we carry in us vital and heterogenous elements of the whole humanity. Indeed, we are the ones.
As a wintry night moved into mysterious darkness shrouded in fog, the 250, now content in music, went home. Orgnisers of Dhrupad, now fatigued after a long travail of preparations and rehearsals went home too. For months, a participant in this preparation, I have observed this group put this show together, and have felt their pulse as they grouped into a long time of protracted rehearsals.
In their preparation for this collective celebration of music of Bengal, I saw an uplifting human enterprise, a combination of poetry, memory, nostalgia and music all coming together; and finally the act of sharing it during the performance galvanised a significant part of the Canberra community.
To live with happiness and peace in this world of strife and human divisions, we need music. Nature has put music in us for a purpose. A glue and tonic for the soul, extracted from sound of Nature, and distilled in the essence of human laughter and cry, music, more than we realise, holds us together and gives us a form of therapy against strife, grief and loneliness.
As the program ended with a rousing song of our ancestors domestication of Gourd or লাউ as food as well as instrument of music, the program told the tale of the whole humanity not just in music but the entire gamut of human emotions.
We wish Dhrupad well; Let all our words be Dhruba Pada, (ধ্রব পদ) or true eternal poetry.
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Starting from time immemorial, music of the Gangetic delta of Bengal has imbibed the spirits of classical Indian music, music from the Middle East and finally contemporary Western music. Such amalgamation has created a unique tradition in world music.
Dhrupad, a Canberra based musical group, is committed to the continuation and promotion of this musical tradition.
Dhrupad presenters:
Robin Guda
Shampa Barua
Priyanka Biswas
Avijit Sarkar
Sudarshana Rinky
Mohammed Khan (Mintoo)
Punna Joyotee
Sami Chaudhury
Saurav Acharjee
Amkar Das (Tapash)
Kowsar Khan (Jessie)
Tulip Chaudhury
Joining Dhrupad in the program are Canberra musicians: Nitya Bernard Parker, Andrew Purdam and Alan Lee.
Script: Abed Chaudhury
Video and graphics: Shahadat Manik
Program support: Poonam Das
Website: www.dhrupad-australia.com
email: admin@dhrupad-australia.com
Dhrupad Presents A Musical Extravaganza
কালের আবর্তনে বাংলা গান
Legacy of Bengali Music
Saturday, 15 September 2012 6pm – 9pm
Inaugurating prayer song
Dao shourjo dao dhairjo-Give me strength, give me patience
Song from early period
Ucha ucha paboto-– charya geeti – devotional song
Songs from middle period
Bhojo gaurango – Kirtan – devotional song
Fojor wakte namaaj – Jarigaan – devotional song
Monre krishi kaj janona – Ramprasadi song
Se kenore kore o pronoy – Nidhu Babur Tappa
Songs from the modern period
Songs of the Five Poets
Aguner poroshmoni –Rabindranath Tagore
Eka mor gaaner tori – Atul Prasad Sen
Tumi nirmalo koro –Rajani Kanto Sen
Dhono dhanno pushpo bhora – D L Roy
Jago nari jago – Kazi Nazrul Islam
Shyama tonni ami megho borona – Kazi Nazrul Islam
Alga koro go khopar badhon – Kazi Nazrul Islam
Puranosei diner/Auld Lang Syne – Rabindranath Tagore/Robert Burns
Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes/Kotobaro bhebechhinu – Rabindranath Tagore/Ben Johnson
Folk Songs
Amay eto rate kene dak dili – Abbasuddin
Nishithe jaiyo phulo bone – Radha Romon
Ami robona grihe – Radha Romon
Nesha laagilo re – Hason Raja
Keno piriti baraila re- Shah Abdul Karim
Lalon fakir kon jaater chhele – Lalon Fakir
Desher Gaan – Patriotic songs
Prithibi amare chae – Sri Bidhayak
Muktiro mondiro/Amar bhaiyer rokte (medley) – Altaf Mahmood/Abdul Latif/Apel Mahmud
Shitero shishire bheja – Bhupen Hazarika
Contemporary Songs
Emoni borosha – Kamal Das Gupta
Coffee houser sei – Gouriproshonno Mojumder
Briddhasram – Anindya Chatterjee
Modhu maloti daake aye – Salil Choudhury
Akasher hate aachhe ekrash nil – Satya Saha
Tomay chhara – Bappa Mojumder
Papri keno bojhena – Azam Khan
Eki sonar alloy – Khan Ataur Rahman
Mamonia – Lucky Akhand
Jao pakhi bolo hawa chholo chholo – Shantonu Maitra
Finale Song – compiled by Himagshu Goswami
