What’s Changing In North Indian Classical Music?

A lot has changed in the world of classical music, in North India, after the pandemic. The total disappearance of concerts led to a new medium of consumption of music – through the internet. Even when Live concerts resumed with a bang, so to speak, the audience for recorded music on youtube, and private channels remained. This has changed things, somewhat – many classical music performances are today accompanied by a visual element – the backdrop has theme related images. Thus, at a Malhar festival, dedicated to the monsoon raga Malhar, the backdrop was of falling rain, to stimulate the audience subliminally. At a recent Mahesh Kale abhang concert in Delhi, the backdrop was a collage of videos of pilgrims on the yatra to Pandharpur, reminding the audience of the context of the music.

Concerts are no longer being held only in auditoriums or outdoors in parks. Now, a younger generation wants an experiential event, not confined only to the aural. Thus, home baithaks that include dinner and the ability to engage with the artists are increasingly becoming popular. ‘Music-ations’ or music residencies are held in varied locations (the upcoming Malhar and the Sea, at ITC Grand Goa on the 22nd-24th August) or the more modest Lonavla Festival (8-10 August) held at the Manashanti Kendra ashram. Here, one is confined to the venue, for music sessions starting in the morning and going on late in the night.

The audience that is very visible in concert halls now is no longer grey haired; and no longer expects free concerts. Even in Delhi, musically the most conservative of all cities north of the Vindhyas, ticketed concerts are now the norm rather than the exception. Old organisations like the 75 year old Shankarlal Festival, the 79 year old Vishnu Digambar Jayanti and the over two decades old Swami Haridas Nritya and Sangeet Sammelan have so far resisted ticketed festivals, but one suspects this will soon change. Organisations like Delhi based Parampara, now in its 27th year have started ticketed festivals; organisations like Banyan Tree, Swara Samrat Festival, Uttar Dakshin and Swara Zankar now hold only ticketed festivals, even in Delhi. Artists like Ustad Amjad Ali Khan have always advocated for ticketed concerts, pointing out that free music commands no respect, and seems to imply it cannot appeal so needs to be offered free.

Tradition in Transit

Musical content has changed in presentation – concerts by and large are of a shorter duration; with an hour, or hour and half now the norm. The Delhi Government Classical Music festival even had 40 minute slots! This has impacted not only the format of presentation, which is no longer leisurely and ambling, with maybe thirty minutes devoted to slowly unfolding the raga, in a meditative ‘vilambit’ (slow) pace. Concerts are crisper, many elements of embellishment being totally ignored; as an example, ‘jhala’ (the rhythmic strumming on two wires) which was played both before the composition, and at the conclusion of the concert is now frequently just a hurried two or three minute affair at great speed. In an earlier age one recalled Ustad Amjad Ali Khan playing four or five types of ‘jhala’, in beats of four five even seven for fifteen or twenty minutes after the ‘aalap’. One suspects the popularity of instruments like the flute and violin ( a somewhat recent, seven decade old phenomenon) may have also precipitated this trend as ‘jhala’ is essentially a technique of a plucked string instrument.

Artists are now forced to choose which technique they will focus on – sometimes an instrumentalist will totally avoid ‘gamakas’, and play only fast ‘taans’ for greater impact. Or a vocalist will sing two or more ‘thumri’s’ or ‘bhajans’; lighter pieces that appeal to a lay audience. The assumption is, your audience is not knowledgeable and will not appreciate solid music, so need to be enticed with gimmicks, speed virtuosity or overwhelming emotional content.

Thus, instead of sticking to one main raga, many young instrumentalists now play the ‘aalap’ and ‘jor’ in one raga and switch to another for the composition, played with the tabla. Vocalists even of the seniority and stature of veteran vocalist Pt Venkatesh Kumar now sing short compositions for fifteen or twenty minutes in three or four ragas during a concert.

Another discernible trend in concerts organised in the cities of the North is unusual duet pairings. Having just one artist, however popular may not always sell tickets to a younger audience for whom novelty is important. Thus, increasingly one hears of a sitarist paired with a Carnatic violinist, or a male with a female vocalist, or even three vocalists together (Ranjani Gayatri the Carnatic vocal duo paired with Kaushiki Chakraborty). This adds to audience anticipation of musical one upmanship. Recently Kaushiki Chakraborty sang with the more junior Kathak exponent Bhakti Deshpande at a niche festival (Ragas by the River) held in the exotic locale of a wild life forest.

For older listeners, the emphasis given to the ‘sangatkaar’ or accompanyist, specially during an instrumentalist’s concert is novel. Nowadays after each piece played by the main artist, the table accompanyist chips in, with his solo. Earlier, the tabla player, however great, waited to be invited to present his solo, and this maybe happened only once or twice in the concert. In fact, many new wave organisers refer to the concert as a ‘jugalbandi’ or duet, whereas in the traditional format, the tabla or pakhawaj though an active participant in the creation of the music, was only an accompanyist, following the lead of the main artist. This was why the difference of renumeration of accompanyists remains so different, till today; usually not even being half of what the main artist receives. The difference of status mercifully seems to have balanced out, with most organisations making the same level of hotel and travel reservations for all artists.

The proliferation of concerts indicates classical music concerts are here to stay. A few decades ago, the ‘lean’ period for musicians was during April till September, when they focussed on repertoire. Now there are concerts happening throughout the year. One can only pray that the quality of music does not get too impacted; Indian classical music has survived around 2000 years or more because of its base of introspection, focussing on creating serenity in the music. If that declines due to audience expectations, the music itself will suffer.

Shailaja Khanna is a fifth-generation musician and part Archivist at the Sangeet Natak Akademi. She writes regularly on music for The Hindu's Friday Review, The Tribune's Sunday Spectrum, and The Patriot. Her contributions also include occasional book reviews for The Asian Age, as well as articles for the IGNCA journal and Sruti magazine.