‘Glory doesn’t come easy’

Long hours of practice is what makes a musician perfect, feel Hindustani vocal musicians of repute Begum Parveen Sultana and Ustad Dilshad Khan while voicing their views on music and its
changing trends to Subbalakshmi B M

“There are no shortcuts to excellence. Probably one could get a sort of temporary glory that way,” say popular Hindustani vocal musicians and virtuosos in their own right, Begum Parveen Sultana and Ustad Dilshad Khan. 
Often referred to as the ‘inimitable pair’ and the ‘ethereal duo’, Begum Parveen Sultana and Ustad Dilshad Khan are as popular for their jugalbandi performances as they are for their solo concerts. The artistes who were in the city last month to present a Hindustani vocal jugalbandi concert, shared their views on music and its changing trends with Deccan Herald.

“A jugalbandi concert is a sort of cerebral marriage between the performing artistes. It requires that both of them have absolute compatibility with each other in terms of voice, pitch, rendition - in all they need to understand each other ‘musically’. It’s a sort of ‘give and take’ policy. It takes a lot of hard work to prepare for a jugalbandi. If the concert involves two artistes presenting different musical styles - for example a Carnatic and Hindustani jugalbandi concert, then both artistes would require to rehearse at least for six months so that the performance is anything like credible,” feels Begum Parveen Sultana.

Begum Parveen Sultana belongs to a family of musicians. Her father Ikramul Majid and grandfather Mohammed Najeef Khan were both ardent music lovers and musicians themselves. Begum Parveen Sultana began her arduous training in music under the guidance of her father at the age of five. She then began to train under renowned maestro Acharya Chinmoy Lahiri. She gave her first classical recital at the age of twelve at the Sadarang Music Festival and captured her audience with her extraordinary voice. After that, wherever she performed, it was to packed houses and enthralled audiences.
It was later that she found the Guru in Ustad Dilshad Khan who laid down a much deeper foundation to give a new dimension to her singing. Begum Parveen trained under him according to the Patiala Gharana which gave her music both melody and a diligent flow of its grammar. Whether she sings a khayal, bhajan or tumri, Begum Parveen Sultana keeps the form in pristine purity.

Ustad Dilshad Khan, an artiste of international repute, is a rare musical genius. Hailing from a family of music lovers, he was initiated into tabla training under Pandit Gyan Prakash Ghosh at the age of five. Since his father wanted him to master vocal music as well, he trained in the art under different maestros including Prof N C Ghosh, Ustad Bade Gulam Ali Khan, Ustad Niaz Ahmed Khan and Ustad Fayaaz Ahmed Khan (Kirana Gharana). A qualified marine engineer, Ustad Dilshad Khan practised music for long hours even at work. After experimenting a lot with his voice, he now handles even the most complicated thaanas and paltas with ease. He has created many new raagas and incorporated more than 100 raagas of Carnatic music into Hindustani music, besides composing numerous khayals, bhajans and ghazals. He has done extensive research in voice culture, musical shastras and grammar, old and extinct raagas, standardisation of raagas and more along with famed musicologists Dr Bimal Roy and N D Mukherji.

“Indian music is the mother of all music. We are culturally a very rich society. Music has to become a compulsory part of the Indian education curriculum so that youngsters get a strong foothold on the basics of music and learn to appreciate it in the true sense of the term. Simply because we have a rich culture, we cannot afford to take it for granted,” says Ustad Dilshad Khan.
“Times have changed and so have musical preferences. There have been times when pop music was the order of the day, then it was ghazals, then it was filmi qawwalis and today it is fusion music”. Whatever that may be, classical art forms continue to have their own audiences and that will never change, according to Begum Parveen Sultana. She continues to say that a large section of the younger lot today are looking at possible shortcuts to glory and have a readymade excuse to justify that - ‘no time’. “Of course, there are a number of young artistes who are working hard and are doing well for themselves, so one cannot say all are bad.”

Ustad Dilshad Khan continues, “Today’s trend is more of ‘see music’ rather than ‘hear music’. It’s like the changing fashion trends. What is ‘in’ today is ‘gone’ tomorrow. People are seen to be more worried about how to present their music rather than what they are presenting as music. That has to change.”

Awards and accolades have almost come naturally to the two artistes who have travelled widely across the globe. In 1980 the Government of Haryana bestowed Ustad Dilshad Khan with the title ‘Sangeet Martand’. In 1986 the ‘Swami Haridas’ Award followed. He was a member of the jury for the 1994 Indian Grammy Awards and has participated in a number of music festivals which include the Summer Solstice Festival in New York (1981), Avignon Festival in Paris (1984), and the Indian Music Festival in UK (1991). He has recorded songs for the Deutche Radio, Radio France, New York Television and Moscow Television in addition to several cassettes, LPs and CDs released by the Indian music companies. 

Begum Parveen Sultana was bestowed upon with the title ‘Cleopatra of Music’ in 1970, ‘Poetess of Music’ in 1972 and along with the ‘Padmashree’ she has won many other awards like ‘Gandharva Kalanidhi’, ‘Mia Tansen’, and ‘Sangeet Samrangni’. In addition to her audio cassettes, LPs and CDs, is the popular ‘Khayal Se Bhajan Tak’, a four-cassette series of the music of both Ustad Dilshad Khan and Begum Parveen Sultana.

They have together given more than 700 concerts in India and 400 concerts around the world including those at the New York Town Hall, Logan Hall, Queen Elizabeth Auditorium, Tchaikovsky Auditorium and Kremlin Hall, Musee Goumet Auditorium (Paris), Laurenturn Auditorium (Los Angeles), Wilsshire Elbe Theatre (london), etc.

“Audiences are a varied kind. In India, South Indians are a more educated and well-informed lot musically. Similar audiences appear in Maharashtra and Calcutta. Of course, there are people who come to hear us although they are not aware of the intricacies of music. But that does not mean that artistes can give them anything and everything,” feels Begum Parveen Sultana. 
“People who come to our concerts expect a great deal from us, artistes. If at the end of a concert, they feel they have got what they came for, if we have lived up to their expectations, then that is our greatest reward,” say the duo.

But then, That’s what all legends say, is it not?