Thursday, September 13, 2012

Das Dhrupad


I met Pallab Das, the Dhrupad singer, for the first time in November 2009. I was living in Assi Ghat then. One day, I accidentally bumped into my tabla player friend, Yogesh and he told me he is organising a concert in Vivekananda Ashram. I never realised this experience would change my whole perspective on Indian classical music and would be my first entry into Dhrupad. I landed up. I was open to anything. I welcomed any new experience. I also never realised I would become very close friends with Pallab Da and learn Dhrupad from him that winter in 2010 (more on that later).

It was an intimate gathering of about twenty people. Chai was organised from Balu's chai shop. I also met Lara there for the first time. A French tabla player who looked like a Bond chic. That winter in 2009, I would also spend one amazing evening with her when I watched her play the tabla. This city is just breathtaking. So much happens here. Every instant is fresh. Pallab Da began singing and the whole setting went into complete silence. His gestures and expressions were so intense. He looked me in the eye. I felt like he was singing just for me. It would have to be one of the best concerts I went to (some of the other great concert moments in my lifetime would have to be seeing Radiohead opening with "Airbag", seeing Silverchair's Daniel Johns in a skyblue suit, seeing Tool's Maynard Keenan's silhouetted appearance, seeing Porcupine Tree play the whole of "Fear of a Blank Planet" in one go, seeing Chris Cornell jam with a bunch of twenty-year olds and seeing Steely Dan with Yana Gupta in London). Back to Pallab Da. After the concert, I went and met him. He seemed very welcoming and humble. He gave me his CD and I told him I would like to meet him again so we exchanged numbers.  I went back to my room and listened to his rendition of Raag Multani. It drew me in completely. I was absorbed by his voice. I heard his heart sing. You can hear the piece here.

When I returned to Benaras in 2010, I got back in touch with Pallab Da. This time I was interested in making a film on him. My friend, Isaac Niemand was with me. We visited Pallad Da and discussed possibilities. We wanted to do a fiction film about a singer who loses his voice in Benaras. Unfortunately, the film didn't materialise but what came out of our meeting was I started going for classes. These would be the best times of my life. I used to wake up at 4:30 in the morning and cycle to Pallab Da's place in the cold winter to practise my "kharaj". Kharaj is when you practise your low notes and see how low you can go. You have to keep trying to step down half tones because in Dhrupad the singer is expected to hit really low notes. Just as the sun's ray's entered his room I was filled with the sounds of the raga. I went everyday in the morning for my kharaj and in the evening for my class. There I was introduced to the melancholic Raag Shree. I was also introduced to the light Raag Bhupali and to "Sakhi more piya ko dekho" (one of Pallab Da's compositions). We used to have chai after every class. "Chai ka chuski" as he used to call it. His mother started calling me Krishna because I reminded her of Lord Krishna. I felt so at home in Benaras. I never knew that these were the last days of my life. And one day a storm would come and I would become a vortex surfer.  

2 comments:

  1. hi, im going a story on a shehnai player in Kasargod. He mentioned Lara, the french tabla player from Banaras. They played together. May i have her full name, pls

    ReplyDelete
  2. hi, im going a story on a shehnai player in Kasargod. He mentioned Lara, the french tabla player from Banaras. They played together. May i have her full name, pls

    ReplyDelete