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August 3, 2003
Review: Filial duties
MORE often than not, children admire their parents, and don’t see anything wrong with them. And if a parent happens to be a celebrity then the admiration knows no bounds. What if the celebrity is also a mentor? The answer to that comes in two books, which are labours of love — from writing and selection of photographs to production. One is by two young sarod players Aman Ali Bangash and Ayan Ali Bangash on the inimitable Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and the other by Anoushka Shankar, the sitarist daughter of the world renowned sitar nawaz Pandit Ravi Shankar.
In keeping with the tradition of our classical music, the disciple holds the mentor in awe and considers the Ustad (or Guru) above all weaknesses, both as a musician and as a person. So, if you are looking for a critical appraisal of Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Amjad Ali Khan then the two publications by Roli Books are not for you. But if you wish to see them from the viewpoints of their children/disciples and if you love to read lively prose and look at some remarkable and well reproduced photographs from their respective collections then these two books may well turn out to be collectors’ delight.
The one difference between the two outstanding musicians is that while the Ustad was tutored by his father and uncle, the Pandit found a generous and highly competent teacher in Ustad Allaudin Khan. Normally, our ustads and pandits (the two titles are bestowed when the practitioners achieve a high degree of perfection — one being for Muslim musicians and the other for their Hindu counterparts) are magnanimous with their own children-disciples and not so with pupils who are not close relatives.
But there are exceptions and as Pandit Ravi Shankar has time and again said, Ustad Allaudin Khan shared his knowledge with him and his own son Ustad Ali Akbar Khan in equal measure. Panditji later got married to his Ustad’s daughter, who bore him children, but the marriage didn’t last long. However, Shankar’s admiration for her father has gone from strength to strength.
Anoushka recalls how her father left a luxurious life in Paris to go to the backward village of Maihar in West Bengal to become a disciple of Baba Allaudin Khan who was not just a fine performer and outstanding tutor, he was also a loving and caring person. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan didn’t have to suffer the pangs of dislocation.
While both are distinguished musicians, no two people can be as different as Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and Pandit Ravi Shankar are from each other. Khan’s first marriage — arranged by his mother — didn’t last long, but when he wedded an accomplished exponent of Bharat Natyam, an attractive Brahmin girl from South India, he found in her a friend, philosopher and guide. She initially performed with and without him, but when the kids arrived she took to managing them and their father.
The Bangash brothers say that their parents have been made for each other. Shankar, on the other hand, had had more than one live-in relationships. Anoushka is the product of one, later her parents tied the nuptial knot. This year’s Grammy Award winner Norah (Geetali) Jones is Anoushka’s half-sister.
Ravi Shankar’s greatest contribution to our classical music is that he introduced it to the West. Today thanks to him and musicians like the tabla wizard Zakir Husain, there are more ardent students of this genre of music in California alone than in the entire subcontinent.
It’s a far cry from the early days when he saw crowds smoking, shouting and giving vent to their carnal desire, when he was performing. This was how they behaved when the pop stars performed. Shankar would walk out and return only when the crowd agreed to observe decorum.
He was in for another shock when he saw Jimi Hendrix, towards the end of his performance, putting gasoline over his guitar and setting fire to it. To Shankar and all other musicians from the subcontinent a musical instrument could not be handled disrespectfully.
Look what the Bangashes have to say about their father: “A major milestone in Abba’s professional life occurred in 1971. On his actual twenty-sixth birthday, Abba took the bold decision to play a solo, night-long concert at Kala Mandir Auditorium in Kolkata. The concert lasted for over nine hours and was attended by over one thousand people.”
Like them Anoushka Shankar has a lot of credit to give to her Bapi, which is how she refers to her father.
While the Bangash brothers have preferred not to dedicate their book to anyone, Anoushka dedicates her work to George Harrison and refers to him “as an extension of my father”. The Beatle Harrison was Shankar’s admirer and a close friend. He died shortly after the text of the book was finalized.
The quality of production of the two hardbound books leaves nothing to be desired. The photographs, originally in black-and-white or in colour, have all been reproduced in sepia tones. The captions, sometimes anecdotal, do justice to the pictures.
Bapi...The Love of My Life
By Anoushka Shankar
Roli Books, New Delhi
ISBN 81-7436-311-8
144pp. Rs495
Abba...God’s Greatest Gift to us
By Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash
Roli Books, New Delhi. Distributed in Pakistan by Liberty Books (Pvt) Ltd, 3 Rafiq Plaza, M.R. Kayani Road, Saddar, Karachi
Tel: 021-5683026.
Email: libooks@cyber.net.pk Website:
www.libertybooks.com
ISBN 81-7436-212-6
128pp. Rs495
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