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New Delhi: Leading
sitar exponent Imrat Khan of the Etawah gharana, who is one of the
few surviving players of surbahar, a variation of veena, says that
India should put clamps on "sleazy songs and movies" as Bollywood
and mass entertainment was "killing the culture of Hindustan."
"The whole world looks up to India for art and culture, but we are
following Bollywood and Afro-American culture. Russians are
censoring their culture and the Chinese culture too has
censorship...," Khan told IANS in a chat.
In the face of stiff competition from mass entertainment, he wants
a separate slice of the government largesse for the Indian
classical music for the survival of lesser-known traditional
genres.
"Bollywood and mass entertainment are killing the culture of
Hindustan. You can't bring anything from foreign countries to
India these days - there are curbs on everything, including
medicines. But there are no clamps on sleazy songs and movies,"
said Imrat Khan, who lives in St Louis in the US.
"India is very competitive. Horses and donkeys are treated on a
par. But the horse looks around and flees to places where they are
rewarded," he said on the exodus of classical musicians in the
1970s-80s.
The 77-year-old maestro was in the country to perform in the Delhi
Classical Music Festival, a five-day carnival of music, this week.
The brother of legendary musician Ustad Vilayat Khan has been
carrying forward the illustrious Etawah or Imdadkhani gharana of
music with his brood of five sons - four of whom have carved
niches for themselves on the mainstream classical stage. The
fifth, eight-year-old Azmat Khan, debuted at the Delhi fest.
His gharana, named after his grandfather Imdad Khan, dates back
nearly 400 years to the Mughal court in Agra.
"So long as the government pays little attention and the media
does not write about it, classical music will not flourish," the
maestro said.
The country "should have a budget of five percent of the outlay
for culture for the promotion of classical music education in
schools," he said.
Born to sitar and surbahar guru Ustad Inayat Khan and talented
vocalist Bashiran Begum, Imrat Khan was guided through the
rigorous rite of passage to music by his mother and older sibling
Vilayat Khan.
"My brother was very strict and disciplined. As the second son of
Ustad Inayat Khan, I have the same position as Ustad Vilayat Khan.
But I polished my brother's shoes and did his laundry.
"No student would do that today... Over time, my brother fell in
love with me and we practised sitar and surbahar together," Imrat
Khan recalled.
Surbahar is a string variant of ancient kacchapi (tortoise) veena
created by Imrat Khan's great grandfather.
"In the 1950s, we changed the sitar when we reduced the number of
strings from seven to six. We played the 'gayaki ang' (a special
musical sound) which required full swing of the right hand and the
seven strings jangled...," the musician said.
Imrat Khan's 'gayaki ang' is more grounded on the techniques of
classical vocals.
"It is a little different from that by my brother Vilayat Khan
because of the influence of the icons like Bade Ghulam Ali Khan,
his son Munawar Khan and Barkat Ali Khan," Imrat Khan said.
The maestro, who is recovering from an illness, wants to bring the
surbahar to his father's home at Kolkata's Park Circus to perform.
"I will have to go back to the gym near my home in St Loius to
strengthen my shoulder, biceps and triceps to play the surbahar.
It requires sheer physical strength," he said.
(Madhusree
Chatterjee can be contacted at madhu.c@ians.in)
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