AMONKAR, AN APOLOGY, THOUGH NOT QUITE

AMONKAR, AN APOLOGY, THOUGH NOT QUITE

You (Kalpana Sarkar) are absolutely right that she was a soulful singer of khayal, too. Her earlier recordings were steady but with age the voice thinned out appreciably and, strangely so, for usually it thickens with age, and the voice began quivering unduly, perhaps, more than she would have liked, and even more than her gayaki in the Jaipur-Atrauli style of Mallikarjun Mansur would have permitted. I add on, though, to say that she was not following Mansurji as such but being an ardent admirer of this musical genius from her gharana --- although, she repudiated the very concept of gharana as being a limiting factor in musical development as opposed to it being a stylistic variation with some unique features of its own with its characteristic contribution to music overall --- she could not have failed to have been influenced significantly by the maestro's rendition style. Mallikarjun Mansur had a similar quivering style of presentation as is evident in Amonkar's latter renditions. The quiver, though, often is a deliberate doing to effectively amplify the production of the right shrutis of the notes of the particular raga and this fact must be underscored in our appraisal. Where the quivering exceeds such limits as enjoined by the exposition of shrutis, there the voice may be faulted with due deference and with regard to other factors such as age and health as stated above.

All things said, it must be admitted, though, that these were the bearers of our musical heritage and must be revered critically and not blindly --- for blindness leads not to knowledge but to ignorance --- and a fair appreciation must be their due for their legacy to last along innovative and original channels of self-expression of this millenia-old musical tradition.

Written by Sugata Bose