Introduction

Music finds its origin in the divine sound of Om deep rooted in the Hindu culture. In the same culture music is studied as a science and as an art in the guru-shishya (student-disciple) tradition. The sheer excellence of this tradition is evident from the fact that Indian music has kept its flavour for centuries in spite of foreign cultural influences. Over the time it has evolved and culminated into various special forms.

The guru-shishya tradition has been practiced in India since the vedic times. In the context of music the tradition took the form of gharanas (pronounced in plural as gha-raa-naa-s). I take pride in mentioning the fact that I belong to the city of Gwalior known for being the largest vocal gharana. Of course my relation to the city doesn’t imply a relationship to the Gwalior gharana, I’ve had the opportunity to be present at various cultural fests and musical performances by the gurus of the art.

Gwalior celebrates the Tansen Samaroh (festival) in memory of its son Tansen who was born in the suburbs of Gwalior. The function is held in December and spreads across several days and showcases performances by classical maestros from all over India. I’ve had the privilege of being a part of it on a chilly winter night. I saw Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma playing santoor (an Indian musical instrument). I sat there mesmerised through the night when finally the performance came to conclusion.

My affair with music stretches back to the time when I was about two years old. I was just about good enough to grasp the words of the songs and we’d recently watched the movie “Nikaah (1982)” (yes, I was two years old then). I was the favourite entertainer at my place; they sat me on a table and I sang this song “Dil ke armaan aasuon mein beh gaye” umpteen times.

Later, when I may have been about ten years, my father bought us a cassette player and a cassette of K. L. Saigal. I played it endlessly and remembered all the songs from “Jab dil hi toot gaya” to “Jhulana jhulaao” to “Chupo na”. Later when we had ten cassettes in the collection and my father started creating a list of the collection on the paper, I could remember which song belonged to which side on which cassette.

I today own more than two hundred titles covering K.L. Saigal, K.C. Day (father of Manna Dey), Kishore Kumar, Rafi, Mukesh, Sonu Nigam, Ustaad Rashid Khan, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Ustaad Vilayat Khan and more. I have had the fortune of studying music and I miss it every moment. Though it comes as a blessing that I have the ear to observe the subtle nuances of the musical performance. Due to my interest in music I came out to be a self learner and can perceive music a little better than people with no technical knowledge.

Starting this blog was a long cherished dream which comes true today. It comes to me as an honour to quote the names of the musical greats in golden letters as I post on this blog. My effort will be to review the melodies which have become immortal with time be it the classical flavor or the latest Sonu Nigam track and bring it to you with a unique approach. I welcome you all to share the magical experience. This blog is dedicated to my close family for their love and their blessings that enable me to perceive music as an spiritual elevation.