There was a time in the first half of the twentieth century when the term “music conferences” in the context of Hindustani music implied a combination of discussions and concerts held over a few days. These conferences were attempts at bringing about a closer dialogue between those working in the areas of pedagogy, performance, and musicology. They sought to bring together musicians and musicologists on a common platform to discuss issues pertaining to the theory and practice of music, at a time when a chasm existed between practitioners and theoreticians.
Mirroring in some ways the prevalent political mood and nationalist endeavour, these music conferences aimed at proving to the West and to the Indian intelligentsia that Hindustani music had a scientific basis, that it was on par with Western music, that it was a reflection of a highly sophisticated culture and that it needed to enjoy a prestigious position.
The conferences organised separately by educationists Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande and Vishnu Digambar Paluskar are noteworthy in this regard.
From conferences to festivals
With the passage of time, music conferences shed their earlier association with theoretical discussions and focused only on performance. The term “music festival” or “sangeet sammelan” became more prevalent. Concerts held over many days featured several junior and senior musicians from across the country.
Some of these festivals continue to be held and performing at these events is a matter of prestige for most musicians. In fact, it is common to see performances at such festivals listed as achievements in their biodata.
In the past, this column has tried to reimagine the music that was broadcast on All India Radio during the 1930s and the concerts that were held as part of the famous Vikramaditya Festival held in Bombay in 1944.
Today, we will try to reimagine some of the music performances held at Calcutta in 1954 as part of The Dover Lane Music Conference, a music festival which started in 1952 and continues to be organised annually even now. Unfortunately, recordings of these sessions are not easily accessible, but here are other tracks featuring the same artistes in the sequence that they appeared at that edition of the festival.
The festival included dance recitals, but we will restrict ourselves to the music component. The first session was scheduled to begin at 8.30 pm on December 31, 1954. The musicians featured in this session included eminent vocalists Tarapada Chakraborty, Hirabai Barodekar, DV Paluskar, tabla exponent Anokhelal Mishra, sarod maestro Ali Akbar Khan and sitar maestro Vilayat Khan. Accompaniment was provided by Mahapurush Mishra, Gopal Mishra and Mannu Mishra.
The first track features vocalist Tarapada Chakraborty singing the raag Chhayanat. He presents a vilambit or slow composition set to the 12-matra Ektaal followed by a drut or fast composition in the 16-matra Teentaal.
Kirana gharana exponent Hirabai Barodekar presents two compositions set to Ektaal in the raag Bageshri on the next track. This is followed by a thumri. Vocal support is provided by her disciple and senior vocalist of our times Prabha Atre.
The next artiste presented at the Dover Lane festival in 1954 was Maihar gharana sarod maestro Ali Akbar Khan. The track included here features his interpretation of the raag Hemant through a composition set to a medium-tempo Teentaal.
The inimitable Gwalior gharana exponent DV Paluskar was scheduled to perform next in the session. Here is a recording of his presentation of two compositions in Darbari Kanada, the first in vilambit Ektaal and the second in drut Teentaal.
The final artiste in the first session of this festival was sitar maestro Vilayat Khan. He plays a dadra in the raag Bhairavi and is accompanied on this track by Banaras gharana wizard Samta Prasad.
In the next episode, we will attempt at reimagining the concerts from the second session held on January 1, 1955.
One of India’s leading tabla players, Aneesh Pradhan is a widely recognised performer, teacher, composer and scholar of Hindustani music. Visit his website here.