Paying tributes to masters

On the occasion of World Music Day, three documentaries and an AV presentation, inspired by the lives of maestros of Indian classical music were screened recently.

The festival opened at IHC with Renuka George’s film on Ustad Asad Ali Khan - the world renowned Rudra Veena exponent, titled Asad Ali Khan - A Portrait. It explores the Ustad’s lineage from Rampur court to New Delhi where he lived with his adopted son Zaki Haider.

The late Mani Kaul’s film Siddheshwari on the life of the renowned Thumri exponent of Banaras gharana, Siddheshwari Devi was also screened. Though she had earned the title of Thumri-Queen, Siddheshwari’s repertoire had included not only thumri but also khayal and dhrupad apart from dadra, kajri, tappa, hori and chaiti. The film was introduced by Mita Vashisht who has portrayed Siddheswari in it. It focuses on how the singer came to be immersed in classical music and highlights key events such as her early years of training and struggle to survive as a single mother.

The Musical Journey of Begum Akhtar is an audio-visual presentation by vidushi Shanti Hiranand, a senior disciple of the Begum and herself a very eminent and one of the most under-rated singers today.

The highlight of the function was when Shanti   Hiranand, spoke with reverence about the times she had spent under her guru’s tutelage, and paid rich tributes to her. Graced with the sobriquet Mallika-e-ghazal, Begum Akhtar’s presentation was chosen to celebrate her 98th birth anniversary.

The day’s events folded up with Dhrupad - again a Mani Kaul film, which features the masters Zia Fariduddin Dagar and Zia Mohiuddin Dagar. Dhrupad finds Kaul studying the classical music form of Dhrupad, specifically the Dagarvani variation of it practiced by the Dagar family, with whom the director had close associations.

At a time, when the world seems to be overwhelmingly obsessed with fast pace and fast music, here was a leisurely and well conceived progra­m­me which lovers of Indian classical music are not likely to forget in a hurry.