Dhrupad's odyssey in Europe

"... From a very young age, Wasifuddin Dagar learnt the art of the alaap pushed almost to the extreme of meditation. However, his taste as well as his temperament, made him intensify the unbelievable dynamic qualities of dhrupad ....

... This artist possesses a theatrical art that enables him to communicate with tremendous ease with every audience. These exceptional qualities have made him a roving ambassador of dhrupad. He heads the Dhrupad Society of Delhi, regularly organising dhrupad festivals in order to promote the interpreters of an art form that has become obsolete at the beginning of the 21st Century but that is miraculously surviving."

Christian Ledoux

THE main Amphitheatre of Theatre de la Ville is packed. A capacity crowd of 1,000 people has come to hear the youngest member of the Dagar family perform. In a modern hall equipped with superb acoustics, they patiently wait for the maestro to arrive. Though some have specifically booked months in advance, others have a running subscription for musical concerts. A few minutes after the scheduled time, Ustad Wasifuddin Dagar, barely 31 years old and who enjoys an enviable international reputation, walks on to the stage. He is accompanied by a pakhawaj player and his two sisters who will play the tanpura. An elegant carpet has been spread out and the group takes its place as an expectant hush rapidly descends over the hall.

The Dagar bandhu settles down and fingers glide on the two tanpuras, emitting a variety of notes. A part of the audience recognises the tuning drill while the other wonders if the concert has already started. Suddenly, the young heir to the Dagar tradition stretches behind him to take the tanpura from one of his sisters. He tunes it patiently. Then, the next one, taking all his time. The tuning over, the concert can start. In barely one sentence, the Ustad announces that Raga Bihag will follow his alaap. Not a word more, no explanation of kind. He expects the audience to follow as he says "the emotion expressed is far more important than the words".

For the next two hours, he sings and enthrals the predominantly French audience. No one talks, whispers or leaves the hall. No one coughs or even fidgets too much. This is simply not done in France. It is indeed a trained audience and Wasifuddin loves it.

At the end, he gets a standing ovation. Three curtain calls later, he decides to do an encore. He sings a rare variety of Chandrakaus with rishab. Here again the audience is supposed to know the intricacies of this subtle variety of music that has become synonymous with the Dagar name in India and abroad for the last few decades.

After the concert, friends and admirers surround Wasifuddin. The mantle of success sits easy on his young shoulders. With great warmth, he hugs members of his faithful audience and old acquaintances. Others buy the compact discs on sale and engage him in conversation. This carries on until the lights are switched off to remind people politely that it is time to leave. It is past 11 on a mid-week chilly March night.

The Dagar team is criss-crossing Europe. It has just returned from a concert in Holland, and is going to Belgium for two days before returning yet again for a concert in the south of France.

This young, unassuming and popular musician, affectionately known as "Bacchu" to his close circle of friends and admirers, particularly enjoys performing in France. "Chahane wale Paris mein khas taur pe hain." He is aware that the ground has been prepared and nurtured well before him by two generations

of Dagars. Actually the initiation of the French public to the Dagarvani tradition dates back to the 1960's, when Moinuddin and Aminuddin Dagar were invited by UNESCO to perform in Paris. And the man behind it, and who was in a way responsible for introducing dhrupad to audiences here, was Alain Danielou, an authority on music and an Indophile.

Since that first visit, Zahiruddin and Faiyazuddin Dagar, Wasif's uncle and father, made many trips to France in the 1970's and 1980's. In 1985, a handful of dedicated music lovers formed the Dhrupad Society in France to promote this music and organise concerts and lecture demonstrations. Over the years, the sustained efforts of this society have borne fruit and there is a loyal audience of regulars for every Dhrupad concert. "French fans have been able to relate very well to our music from the beginning as they are a very sensitive people," says Wasifuddin, who represents the 20th unbroken generation of dhrupad singers in the Dagar family. It is only after his father's death in 1989, that Wasif started performing regularly in India and abroad with his uncle, either in jugalbandi or solo.

In fact, in October last year, Jecklin, a Swiss music company released a set of five CDs of his music. Called "The Art of Dagarvani", these were recorded near Indore at the historic fort of Maheshwar, where Wasif's grandfather, Ustad Nasiruddin Khan was the court musician. The neat CD box costs 395 FF (or 65 euros) and has one distinguishing feature - all the ragas contained therein were recorded at the appropriate time of the day or night. A second CD with Jecklin is in preparation and will enable lovers of Dhrupad all over Europe to have access to his music, assuming the distribution is further streamlined. This first concert at the Theatre de la Ville, the Mecca of Indian music and dance in Paris was testimony to the continued success of Dhrupad. In one stroke, it signified an entry into a more rarefied strata. Concerts here are recorded and agreements that organisers have with radio stations facilitate the broadcasting of music programmes on local frequencies. But France occupies only a small, though special, place for Dhrupad in Europe. Wasif has already performed in Holland, Germany, Switzerland and Hungary. The rest of Europe awaits this Ustad whose success and popularity at this young age promises an even brighter future.

RAJESH SHARMA

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