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Fine sample of Kirana Gharana
ONE OF the leading exponents of the Kirana Gharana, Shanti Sharma, performed at the Amethyst under the auspices of Sri Mathangi last weekend. Shanti Sharma belongs to the northern branch of the Kirana Gharana that used to be headed by Ustad Wahid Khan. Ustad Amir Khan, who emerged the best exponent of this gayaki from the northern school, taught Pandit Amarnath, who in turn, taught Shanti. After the demise of her guru, Shanti learnt from Ustad Mashkoor Ali Khan whose compositions she rendered most soulfully.
The first badaa khayal of the evening was in Raga Pooriya Kalyan. Shanti represented her musical lineage in her presentation of this raga. Her voice smoothly glided over all gradations of the notes and finally from komal rishaba to shadja. Her extremely fine intonation of the swaras conveyed a single musical sound with a distinct expression and not a string of notes.
Her rendition produced sama — a masti evocative of Sufi music that carried the audience with it. Shanti's frequent use of maend — the glide touching the taar sapthak and mandra (sapthak in the lower octave) — and her meticulous attention to the mandra sapthak was in keeping with the style of the Kirana gayaki and brought out the meditative, contemplative and emotional aspects of the raga. As the raga progressed and she reached taar shadja, the apex of the pyramid, it was not repeated as in other styles but merely hinted at, as though the music was being completed in the mind rather than physically.
The second badaa khayal was in Raga Jog, "Laage na man more mitwa". A late night raga with a pentatonic character, it omits rishab and dhaivat from the sapthak while the madhyam is komal. The raga makes use of gandhara and nishad in both its teevra and komal variations.
The use of komal gandhar calls for great artistic acumen as it gives the melody its distinctive identity. Shanti delineated this beautifully.
The taans were fast-paced and interspersed with boltaans. The chhoot taan, a speciality of Kirana Gharana, was characterised by structural rather than ornamental elegance.
She concluded the recital with a bhajan in raga Mishr Manjh Khamaj, "Khel man re phagun ke din chaar." Ustad Nissar Ahmed on the tabla and Shri Vidyanand on the harmonium provided good support.
Aruna Sayeeram's introduction, where she traced her memories of a concert by the legendary Ustad Abdul Karim Khan of the southern branch of the Kirana Gharana in her childhood, provided another link of continuity in what appears to be a well-kept musical tradition.
JYOTI NAIR BELLIAPPA
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