9
art & history
‘Bow’ down I
to ‘robber of
the heart’
Sriram Ravishankar
In
conversations
with esraj
artist Arshad
Khan who
recently
performed in
the city
t is probably one of the most
misconceived instruments in the
soundscape of Indian Classical
Music. Wrongly identified as the
“Saarangi”, this instrument gives
a completely different sound and
vibe. The esraj, (which translates
to ‘robber of the heart’ in English)
is hardly heard in today’s music
industry except for a few masters
who play it till date to carry on the
spirit of classical esraj forward. I
came across Khan saab first on the
internet in a video where he was
accompanying his father, renowned
esraj maestro Ustad Allaudhin
Khan. Khan saab’s name never stuck
along, but when I heard his brief
solo on MTV Unplugged, for the
track ‘Ranjha Ranjha’ with Rekha
Bharadwaj, I immediately recalled
that particular style of playing that
only a ‘gharana’ musician could pull
off. Later on, Coke Studio Season 2
for ‘Badri Badariyan’ and Season 3
for ‘Khari Khari’ with Amit Trivedi
made Arshad Khan a familiar name
on screen.
Khan saab is one such man who
radiates an exuberant passion
towards music and an undistorted
discipline towards practicing the art
of playing his instrument. “Sab allah
ke shukar se” (“All thanks to allah”)
he confesses. “Esraj came to me as a
tradition first and then became my
passion. It was a tradition because
my father, Ustad Allauddin Khan
was an esraj maestro. When I was a
child, I grew up listening to various
melodies on the esraj all day long
as riyaaz (rehearsals) went on from
nine in the morning to seven in the
evening at my place” explains Khan
saab. Belonging to the ‘dilli gharana’
of sangeet, Arshad Khan started
learning at the age of 8 under his
father. “One day, my father gave
me the esraj and asked me to play
it. After I played for him, he just
said “Tumhara haath achha bolega,
aage chalke tum riyaaz karo” (“You
have good skills, you must take this
forward and practice”) and I was initiated into the ‘dilli gharana’. After
practicing for many years, I started
accompaning my father at various
concerts. He felt very proud seeing
me perform with him at concerts
which gave him a lot of pride and
respect that he has a successor to
take the esraj tradition in the ‘gharana’ forward. He imparted a lot of
cultures and responsibilities that a
‘gharana’ musician must follow into
me that will stay with me forever;
they are an integral part of me”
elaborated Khan saab as I listened to
him in complete awe and silence.
Conversations with musicians like
these give you an insight into how
age old traditions like ‘guru-shishya’
(Teacher Disciple) or ‘sangeeth
parampara’ (Musical Lineage) are
still kept alive in their own subtle
ways amidst the rapidly changing scenarios across young India.
Unlike overnight online sensations,
musicians like Khan saab remind us
of how hard work, patience and perseverance pays off in the long term
than going behind fame and money
for short lived career spans. After
making it through a very hard, unrewarding, and painful early years,
Arshad Khan is one of the popular
synonyms that people think of when
they hear someone say, esraj. He
has performed at all the prestigious
music festivals across India, he has
performed in Europe, the Middle
East and China and has accompanied great ghazal artists like Ustad
Ghulam Ali Khan, Shafqat Ali Khan,
Shankar Mahadevan and Ustad Tari
Khan to name a few. His credentials
extent to Bollywood where he has
played for movies like ‘My Name
is Khan’, ‘I Hate Luv Story’, and
‘Chandni Chowk to China’. Popular
television serials like ‘Balika Vadhu’,
‘Badhe Achche Lagte Hai’, and ‘Na
Ana Is Des Lado’ add to Khan saab’s
elaborate profile as one of the most
preferred musicians in the industry.
Behind the Ghagra Choli is a rich history
Exhibition on bridal outfits of Northern
India traces the evolution of Ghagra
cholis over the years
OB Bureau
A
n exhibition-cum-fashion show to showcase
the bridal outfits of
Northern India, the Ghagra cholis in particular, was held in the
city last week.
The event threw light on the
history of the heavily decorated
and ornate outfit. According to
the organisers of the event, until
the 20th century, women wore
ghagras that reached down to
their ankles. This was largely to
show their jewelled toes, which
indicated the marital status of
women. Ghagras were made out
of two to three layers of coarse
khadi fabric, which created a
large flared look and remained
largely undecorated. However, ghagras did have gota strips
along the border on special occasions.
Ov