DECLINING CULTURE AND ITS POSSIBLE REVERSAL ... 4
In a musical composition the melody must be kept up in every phase without discordant or inharmonious phrases jarring the overall sonority. This is frequently the problem with 'bandishes' which enthral in phases and downright plummet to unmusical phrases thereafter which mar the melody. These lapses are often imbalances of syllables used which hurry up the utterance leaving little space for playing out the words which in essence sets in a discordance between tune and rhythm causing a loss of musical harmony. What is required then is a polishing up of the traditional bandishes with such embedded flaws and the composition of fresh ones free of such dissonance. This in turn would require --- as the late Utsad Amir Khan was wont to saying --- the musicians composing 'bandishes' to be gifted with a fair degree of poetic sensibility and genuine musical sense, for it is never quite the domain by divine right of a performing artist, even a maestro, to claim composition as his crowning inheritance for which he need not remain accountable to countless listeners exposed to such.
This then is the gist of the matter --- genuinely talented composers endowed with a pronounced musical sense and poetic sensibility ought to compose 'bandishes' that are free of crude structural defects and possessed of artistic refinement of a rare order. Such an accomplishment will be nothing new for there are as yet hundreds of such beautiful 'bandishes' that are gracing the voices of vocalists and enthralling audiences the world over, compositions that have been handed down to us from our illustrious predecessors and it is these that serve as beacons for future creative endeavours. The proper analyses of these classic compositions will guide today's composers in the comprehension of what truly is delightful about a great piece of musical writing that carves its niche perennially in the hearts of listeners. May such a day dawn when we have as many composers of calibre as we have musicians of melodic means !
Written by Sugata Bose
In a musical composition the melody must be kept up in every phase without discordant or inharmonious phrases jarring the overall sonority. This is frequently the problem with 'bandishes' which enthral in phases and downright plummet to unmusical phrases thereafter which mar the melody. These lapses are often imbalances of syllables used which hurry up the utterance leaving little space for playing out the words which in essence sets in a discordance between tune and rhythm causing a loss of musical harmony. What is required then is a polishing up of the traditional bandishes with such embedded flaws and the composition of fresh ones free of such dissonance. This in turn would require --- as the late Utsad Amir Khan was wont to saying --- the musicians composing 'bandishes' to be gifted with a fair degree of poetic sensibility and genuine musical sense, for it is never quite the domain by divine right of a performing artist, even a maestro, to claim composition as his crowning inheritance for which he need not remain accountable to countless listeners exposed to such.
This then is the gist of the matter --- genuinely talented composers endowed with a pronounced musical sense and poetic sensibility ought to compose 'bandishes' that are free of crude structural defects and possessed of artistic refinement of a rare order. Such an accomplishment will be nothing new for there are as yet hundreds of such beautiful 'bandishes' that are gracing the voices of vocalists and enthralling audiences the world over, compositions that have been handed down to us from our illustrious predecessors and it is these that serve as beacons for future creative endeavours. The proper analyses of these classic compositions will guide today's composers in the comprehension of what truly is delightful about a great piece of musical writing that carves its niche perennially in the hearts of listeners. May such a day dawn when we have as many composers of calibre as we have musicians of melodic means !
Written by Sugata Bose
Photo : Haridas Swami teaching Tansen with Emperor Akbar watching (an unhistorical painting).
P.S. : Sharmistha Chatterjee : [@Sugata Bose] Your compendiums are are a series of gifts to us ....we learn and learn.....
P.S. : Sharmistha Chatterjee : [@Sugata Bose] Your compendiums are are a series of gifts to us ....we learn and learn.....
No comments:
Post a Comment