foobar2000 1.1.15 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2020-02-07 22:05:01
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Statistics for: 01-Raga Yaman
Number of samples: 190033920
Duration: 1:05:59
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Peak Value: -0.48 dB --- -0.45 dB
Avg RMS: -21.83 dB --- -20.54 dB
DR channel: 15.90 dB --- 14.31 dB
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Official DR Value: DR15
Samplerate: 48000 Hz
Channels: 2
Bits per sample: 24
Bitrate: 1585 kbps
Codec: FLAC
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Об исполнителе (рус.) | About Artist (ru)
Устад Зиа Мохиуддин Дагар (14 марта 1929 – 28 сентября 1990) – представитель 19-го поколения музыкальной династии Дагар. Зиа Мохиуддин Дагар (также известный как Устад З.М. Дагар) родился в городе Удайпуре провинции Раджастан. Он обучался музыкальным основам индийской классики у своего отца, Устада Зиауддина Хана Дагара (Ustad Ziauddin Khan Dagar), служившего придворным музыкантом у правителя Удайпура. З.М. Дагар овладевал параллельно вокальным искусством и игрой на рудра-ви́не. В то время рудра-ви́на чаще использовалась классическими музыкантами в качестве вспомогательного инструмента, дополняющего вокал. Молодой Зиа Мохиуддин решил изменить эту традицию и стал использовать рудра-вину как основной инструмент, впервые выступив с ним с сольной программой в 16 лет. Хотя при жизни отец и не рекомендовал сыну экспериментировать со структурой ви́ны, однако после его смерти Зиа Мохиуддин решил-таки видоизменить инструмент. Чтобы лучше приспособить рудра-ви́ну для индивидуальных выступлений, он существенно её преобразовал. Заручившись технической поддержкой музыкального дома Kanailal & Brother, З.М. Дагар увеличил не только длину бамбукового грифа ви́ны (для большего мелодического диапазона), но и величину и без того громоздких тыквенных резонаторов (для качественного звукоизвлечения более протяжных нот и более тонких микротональных модуляций). Из-за подобных модификаций инструмент получил название «ви́на Дагара». Кроме сольных концертов, проходивших в сопровождении тампуры (реже – пакхаваджа), Зиа Мохиуддин нередко давал концерты в дуэте с младшим братом, вокалистом Зиа Фаридуддином Дагаром (15 июня 1932, Удайпур, Индия — 8 мая 2013, Панвел, Индия), который после кончины брата стал музыкальным наставником для его сына Бахауддина Мохиуддина Дагара, ныне известного исполнителя на рудра-ви́не. http://soloneba.com/bahauddin-dagar-musical-rapture/
Об исполнителе (англ.) | About Artist (en)
Z. M. DAGAR: A MEMOIR BY JODY STECHER
Z.M. Dagar was the slowest moving individual I've ever met. He was never interested in playing very fast music, and his mind and body seemed to be set at alap speed. He gave the impression of being continuously half asleep, but everyone who got to know him soon realized that Dagarsahib was alive and alert to subtle realities that most people never even notice. He was a keen observer of people and events, a sort of amateur psychologist, and he could speak to the innermost part of a person when he wished to - with his music of course, but also with words. English was his fourth language I think, but he got his point across splendidly.
Dagarsahib had very strong hands and fingers. I watched him make sitar mizrabs from heavy wire without any tools and of course he pulled heavy vina strings with phenomenal accuracy. Anyone who has tried to replicate Ustad's meend and sruti will know it takes not only a lot of patience and skill but steady endurance as well.
He was a splendid cook. He used black pepper as much as chilies and was fond of chicken. He made the best blackeye peas (loobia) and the best cauliflower I've ever eaten.
He felt that North Indian classical music, and Dhrupad alap especially, was a Universal Science of music and sound, of which India was the custodian. It could be learned, performed and deeply felt by non-Indians. He rejected the notions of "Hindu music," "Muslim music," "Black music" etcetera and I think he enjoyed gently annoying ethnomusicologists by his emphatic dismissal of their terminology and concepts. Of course he recognized different musical styles in different cultures and communities but he knew from experience how pure music could transcend rather than define the differences between people. He also knew that sound is vibrating air and that vibrating air in itself has no religious beliefs or cultural identity.
Dagarsahib was proud of his family and its musical traditions. He spoke to me often of his ancestors and their accomplishments and musical characteristics. It seemed to me that he had the highest respect for two in particular, his father Ziauddin Khan, and Behram Khan. He played Darbari Kannara rarely and Shri Rag virtually never, because these were, as I understand it, specialties of his father. Ziauddin died when Z. Mohiuddin was a teenager, and these rags apparently reminded him of this loss. His great great great uncle, Behram Khan, was Dagarsahib's model of the perfect musician.
I had the good fortune to be present when Ustad was teaching various students. I don't know how many dozens of lessons I witnessed. He related to each student differently but I can make some safe generalizations about his teaching methods. First of all he found a way for each student to relax and feel safe with nothing to defend or to prove. This was a prerequisite condition to both being able to learn and to achieve the fixed unwavering mind that is essential to this kind of music. Next, and equally important he would find the student's strength and affirm it. If a student was doing anything right, anything at all, he or she would hear about it from Dagarsahib, both directly and indirectly. He would usually discourage students from criticizing their own music, saying, with the greatest kindness imaginable, that if anything in the student's music needed criticism or improvement, he, the teacher, would be sure to mention it at the appropriate time. Which he did.
He would teach a student relatively few rags, but at great length and in great detail, as opposed to many rags quickly and superficially. The student eventually developed the skill and confidence to perceive the details of any rag one might hear, and to learn it without direct instruction. This of course took time and effort.
He always taught by singing, whether he was teaching vocal or instrumental music. The core of a typical lesson consisted of Dagarsahib singing a phrase and the student repeating the phrase. If the phrase was correctly sung or played, the student would be instructed to repeat it several more times. If not, Dagarsahib would sing it again and perhaps use sargam or demonstrate on the student's instrument. After the phrase was correctly repeated a number of times, Ustad sang a new phrase which was similarly repeated. Then the student would sing or play both phrases in sequence. In this way, over days, weeks, or months, 20, 30, 40 or more minutes of music would be memorized. This much was true of all of his students' lessons. But there were differences. One person would be asked to memorize something exactly. Another would be encouraged to expand or vary a phrase; or the same student would be asked to do any of the above on different occasions.
In my own case, I learned, through my mistakes, to intuit viable alternatives. When I would play something that was slightly different from what Ustad sang (although I had intended to render it perfectly) he would let me know if it was something he might have sung. In this way I learned the parameters of a rag. Over time I learned to make 'mistakes' that were coherent musical statements in the Dagar tradition. When starting a new rag he always made sure I could repeat the asthai exactly as he sang it. When we reached jor, sometimes he'd have me memorize phrases and sometimes he'd have me improvise for 10 or 15 minutes. He would nod approvingly, utter an occasional vahvah and would stop me only if I went out of tune or out of rag and I didn't realize it. I was always aware that he was always aware of what I was aware of.
My first year of study with Dagarsahib was entirely on sarod, which I had been playing for about five years. Soon after, I began to learn and concentrate on the sursringar, which has a beautiful voice for alap, akin to the vina. I also learned vocal music from Ustad for about a year. Just as he treated every student according to their 'nature' as he would put it, my lessons on each instrument had somewhat different qualities, reflecting the nature of the instrument and its effect on me. My sursringar lessons were serious and exacting, the music slow and profound. On sarod he would have me play very fast three octave tans that I wouldn't have dared to try on my own for fear of ruining the music. He would say: "You are always showing me what you can do. Show me what you can't do so I can help you." This was so disarming that I found as I would attempt 'impossible' tans that I actually could play them after all. During another sarod lesson he had me switch 'on command' between Bhairavi and Bilaskhani Todi, until I could produce, to some extent, the microtonal differences at will. In my vocal lessons he stressed an open unconstricted sound and instructed me to arise at 5AM each morning and sing SA and PA alternately on the vowel 'aa.' When I first received my sursringar (this was his personal instrument which he brought to me in California from Chembur and sold to me at cost) he gave me only sarod lessons and told me to "play whatever you feel" on the sursringar each night for a half hour or so just before going to sleep. After five or six days we began lessons on the sursringar.
Z.M. Dagar was a famous binkar and teacher, but he was also a wonderful singer. He didn't have a loud voice or (so he said) a lot of vocal stamina, but he had a mastery of nuance, sruti, and phrasing that I have never heard equaled. Listening to him sing was not unlike listening to him play. As for his playing, he put in a lot of detail, a lot of meend, more microtones then most other musicians, and he maximized the vina's ability to sustain long tones. His music was slow, majestic, and deeply spiritual.
I heard him play about sixty rags, but he had favorites that he played regularly. His concept of certain rags (Multani, Malkosh, Mian Malhar, and Todi, all come to mind immediately) was similar to that of other Dagar family members. Other rags like Abhogi, Chandrakosh, Bhairavi and Yaman, he played with facets and details never heard elsewhere. His Behag was exquisitely delicate, his Marwa hypnotic, and I am at a loss for words to describe his Bhimpalasi - it was beyond compare. His versions of Desi and Jaijaiwanti also had fascinating beautiful special features that no other contemporary North Indian musicians displayed in their renditions, but curiously he never seemed to play these two rags in public, only for friends and select rasikas, and then only for a minute or two.
He was rightly known as an alap specialist and gave a relatively short portion of public recital time to playing with pakhawaj. Yet he had an unusually firm grasp of time and tal. This was particularly evident when he was giving vocal lessons. He would sing dhrupad and dhammar in an apparently nonchalant manner and suddenly without warning land forcefully on sam. He would lead the listener away from counting beats or any kind of metered perception and then when one least expected it: BAM!, as if to say: "I was never lost..." It was like a giant whale moving gracefully on the surface of a calm sea suddenly diving with a great splash and flourish. http://www.raga.com/cds/222/222booklet.html
DHRUPAD: AN ANCIENT TRADITION
by Sunil Dutta
The History
Dhrupad is the oldest existing form of North Indian classical music. The dhrupad tradition is a major heritage of Indian culture. The origin of this music is linked to the recitation of Sama Veda, the sacred Sanskrit text. Dhrupad is the oldest vocal and instrumental style, and the form from which Indian classical music originated. The continuity of dhrupad, a contemplative and meditative form, has been sustained by traditions of devotional music and worship. Indeed, the leading dhrupad maestros remark that rather than to entertain the audience, dhrupad's purpose is aradhana (worship). The nature of dhrupad music is spiritual, seeking not to entertain but to induce deep feelings of peace and contemplation in the listener.
The word dhrupad is derived from dhruva (fixed, steadfast) and pada (word, composition). Dhrupad probably evolved from the earlier chanting of om, the sacred syllable which is claimed in Hindu canon to be the source of all creation. Om is said to have a spiritually purifying effect on the person chanting it. Later, the rhythmic chanting of the Vedic scriptures evolved into singing of chhanda and prabandha, some time in the first millennium AD. Dhrupad is said to have emerged from prabandha. One significant characteristic of dhrupad is the emphasis on maintaining purity of the ragas and the swaras (notes). According to some accounts, dhrupad was sung in temples, the singer facing the divinity. The compositions were prayers addressed to Hindu gods. Later, dhrupad evolved into a highly sophisticated and complex musical form, while still retaining its sacred character. The language of composition also changed from Sanskrit to Brijbhasha, over the period between the 12th and the 16th centuries. A major part of the compositions being sung nowadays were written in the 16th century and later. About six centuries ago, dhrupad music came to be patronized by the royal courts and its complex rendering was directed to highly sophisticated royal audiences. Among other topics, a number of compositions were written in praise of emperors. However, the sacred nature of dhrupad survived and even in the 20th century we are fortunate enough to hear this majestic form of music as performed more than 500 years ago in the royal courts of the emperors and kings of India.
The Music
Dhrupad music has two major parts (each of the two parts is further subdivided into several), alap and dhrupad. Alap is sung without words and dhrupad (also called bandeesh, the fixed composition part) is sung with the accompaniment of a pakhawaj, a two-headed barrel-shaped drum. A vocal dhrupad performance begins with a meditative alap in which the artist develops the raga, note-by-note, without any instrumental accompaniment except the drone of the tanpura. The emphasis is on developing each note with purity and clarity. To quote Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar: "Alap entails the search to get the most perfect pitch of every note. It takes you into a sort of meditation in which you are lost in the waves of sound and forget everything. There remains only sound."
The alap begins very slowly and the tempo gradually increases. The alap comprises the major part of the performance. It uncovers the personality of the raga. The contemplative music surrounds and absorbs the audience. The alap evokes a mood in the audience that coincides with the mood of the raga that is chosen.The singer uses certain syllables (om, num, re, ri, na, ta, tom) that have a peaceful and meditative effect. These syllables are taken from a mantra and denote various Hindu gods. The philosophy behind not using words is that words may distract and thus lessen the chance of floating in a spiritual plane. Without the distraction caused by words, what one hears in the alap is the sound of pure music, ideally leading to divine fusion. The artist concludes the alap after exploring the three octaves and the limits of the raga being sung through improvisation. Then follows the bandeesh, a traditional composition set to a Brijbhasha text followed by composed and improvised variations, accompanied by pakhawaj.
Generally the dhrupad compositions are sung in chautal (a 12 beat rhythm cycle). Other tala cycles that are used are sula tala (10) and tivra tala (7 beats), and dhamar (14 beats). The meaning of text in composition is very important and the artists must pay careful attention to the enunciation of words. Even during improvisation, care is taken not to mispronounce the words. The singer and pakhawaj player engage in a lively dialogue, but do not attempt to compete with each other.
The Guru-Shishya Parampara of Oral Teaching
The teaching of dhrupad is very closely tied to the ancient system of guru-shishya parampara (the teacher-disciple tradition). This is an oral tradition that dates back thousands of years. The students lived in the home of their guru and devoted themselves to riyaz (practice) of music. The lives of students were focused on learning music and helping with the household chores of their teacher. The teacher could supervise the students all the time and provide guidance. The music was taught orally, with teacher singing a phrase and students repeating it until they perfected it. The learning of dhrupad music does not involve transcribing the teaching. The leading dhrupad teachers strongly believe, as did their ancestors, that learning of music is not possible through text books.
Due to its strict adherence to purity, learning dhrupad is very difficult. It takes years of rigorous and painstaking practice, involving many hours (8 to 12) of singing every day, before a dhrupad student can reach a stage when he will be ready to perform competently. These early years of total devotion to learning also mean total financial dependence, as the student does not have the time to earn a living. In the past, the teacher took care of the needs of students, so that they could commit themselves completely to the study of music. The guru, in turn, was provided for by the royal court. This royal patronage led to the preservation of guru-shishya parampara for centuries, until the abolition of the princely states in India in 1947. In effect, the disappearance of the royal system also led to a decline in the support for dhrupad music. Great artists were suddenly faced with financial hardship and were left with no support. The guru-shishya parampara was severely impacted by this turn of events. The central and state governments in India are belatedly making limited efforts to revive this tradition. The Dhrupad Kendra in Bhopal, based on this ancient tradition, has produced several outstanding vocalists. However, much additional work needs to be done to ensure the survival of this ancient tradition, an intrinsic part of the culture of India. As the guru-shisya parampara depends upon oral transmission of information, if there is no one to transfer the information, the musical tradition, that is thousands of years old, might simply disappear.
The Banis
During the seventh century, five geetis (styles of singing) were mentioned by Matang. These geetis, called Shuddha, Bhinna, Gauri, Vegswara, and Sadharani were supposed to have developed later into the four banis (or vani) of dhrupad: Gauhar, Khandar, Nauhar, and Dagarvani. Historians have not bee able to resolve the questions related to the genesis or even the existence of the banis, due to a lack of documentation.
The style of singing by Darbhanga and Talwandi Gharanas is said to be derived from khandar vani. Asad Ali Khan, the rudra vina maestro, states that his family practices Khandar vani. The family of Indra Kishore Mishra claims to be the practitioner of Nauhar and Khandar vani. The Dagar family practices Dagarvani bani.
Prominent Dhrupad Gharanas Today: The Dagar Family
The Dagar family claims lineage through Swami Haridas (fifteenth century), a renowned singer of that time. Besides Swami Haridas, Behram Khan (1753-1878) was the most renowned dhrupad artist in the Dagar clan. He was associated with the royal court of Jaipur. Other famous artists were Ustad Zakiruddin Khan (1840-1926) and Allabande Khan (1845-1927), well known for their jugalbandi (duet) performances. The famous Dagar brothers are the grandsons of Allabande Khan, whereas Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar and Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar are the grandsons of Zakiruddin Khan. The Dagarbani dhrupad rendition is characterized by meditative and leisurely development of alap. The purity of a raga is never compromised for the sake of showmanship, often observed in many other Hindustani music concerts in recent times. Even during the singing of the composition, with intricate rhythmic patterns, the music maintains its spiritual character.
The biographical details of the musicians of the past are very sketchy, partly due to the oral tradition of passing information. The available information is largely anecdotal and unauthenticated, especially when it comes to tracing the genealogy of the gharana (musical tradition) systems. The history of the Dagar family (Dagar Gharana, or tradition) can be authentically traced to the 1800s, although contemporary historians believe that Dagar family has been associated with Dhrupad for twenty unbroken generations. It is accepted universally that the Dagar family has contributed significantly to preservation and spreading of Dhrupad. They have helped keep this art alive, even though this music was losing popularity in a time of changing tastes. A unique and interesting fact about the Dagar Gharana is that unlike most of the gharanas of North Indian classical music, it claims no connection with the legendary Tansen.
Talwandi Gharana
The Talwandi tradition is associated with the western parts of India, specifically, Punjab. Presently, the tradition has very few singers, all living in Pakistan. Prominent singers of the tradition include Muhammad Hafiz Khan and Muhammad Afzal Khan. Hafiz Khan claims that the Talwandi gharana represents Khandar bani. Dilip Chandra Vedi, who learnt from Talwandi Gharana members in the 1920s, claimed that Nayak Chand Khan and Suraj Khan were the founders of Talwandi Gharana. Contrary to other opinions regarding dhrupad, Hafiz Khan places Islam at the center of dhrupad philosophy. The mantra sung by him during the alap is "nita tarana tarana Allah (Almighty in Islam) tero nam." The Talwandi Gharana appears to have similarities to the Darbhanga Gharana described below. A few recordings exist that show extremely fast concluding portions of the alap. The compositions display highly complex rhythmic variations.
Darbhanga Gharana
Darbhanga tradition is one of the two main living Dhrupad gharanas, besides the Dagar tradition. The Mallik family represents Darbhanga Gharana of dhrupad. Radha Krishna and Karta Ram, the court musicians for the Nawab of Darbhanga, are considered the founders of the tradition. A link to the musical line of Tansen is traced through Bhupat Khan, the teacher of the founders of the family. The performance of the Darbhanga Gharana of dhrupad singers can be distinguished mainly by the way compositions are sung after the alap. A major emphasis is placed on the rhythmic aspect of the singing. According to Abhaya Narayan Mallik, the Darbhanga tradition is associated with Gauhar Bani. The family has a rich stock of compositions to draw upon. Prominent singers include the late Ram Chatur Mallik, Vidur Mallik, Abhaya Narayan Mallik, and Prem Kumar Mallik.
Bettiah Gharana
According to Falguni Mitra, the main proponent of Bettiah Gharana, Bettiah Gharana has compositions available from all the Vanis, though more emphasis is placed on Khandar Vani. The ornamentations and rhythmic variations are strictly applied during the rendition of dhrupad. He states that the gharana originated in the royal state of Bettiah in Bihar. Pyar Khan of Seni Gharana and Haider Khan are considered to be the major influence on this gharana.
Dhrupad Music in the 20th Century and Beyond
USTAD ZIA MOHIUDDIN DAGAR (1929-1990) was the world's most renowned exponent of India's ancient rudra vina, the instrumental ancestor of the sitar. He was also one of the few masters of dhrupad, the slow, austere, meditative traditional music still performed as it was centuries ago by Dagar's forefathers in the Mughal courts. But Dagar was no mere historical curiosity. He had several promising students in India, and in the United States, where he performed and taught regularly since his American debut in 1968. Dagar was affiliated with the American Society for Eastern Arts in Berkeley, California, and he also taught for many years at the University of Washington, in Seattle.
A staunch traditionalist, Z. M. Dagar represented the nineteenth generation of an illustrious family whose musical traditions date as far back as the thirteenth century. Yet Dagar did break with tradition when he became the first in his family of classical vocalists to publicly perform on the vina.
"All dhrupad singers were vina players," Dagar explained, "because vina was very important for dhrupad. Sometimes a singer would play the vina to check the shrutis (microtones, of which there are 22 in the Indian octave), and by listening to them on the vina, he would learn. But the singers never performed on vina outside the home."
Dhrupad means "fixed poetry," and in fact refers to a style of classical Indian vocal music. Though it is commonly held that dhrupad was originated in the fifteenth century by Raja Man Singh Tomar of Gwalior, in north-central India, it is more probable that the raja merely revived and encouraged a musical form evolved from prabandha, a far more ancient type of classical song composition. Because of their sacred temple origins, dhrupad songs were religious or philosophical. They were majestic paeans to gods and goddesses, performed with great reverence. Gradually the object of these grand hymns shifted from divinities to nature, and to the kings and emperors who protected and patronized the musicians.
A dhrupad text, which avoids ornamentation and demands clear, firm intonation, consists of only four lines, and with these any raga or other composition can be rendered in its purest form. Each line, which forms the basis of a musical segment, has a name and an order of its own, and in Indian terms, "the musical idea stretches its wings in the asthayi (first section), soars up in the antara (second section),
goes in the sanchari (third section), and finally, with a broad sweep of notes in the abhog (fourth section), furls its wings."
It was during the reign of Akbar the Great (1542-1605) that dhrupad reached a high-water mark, and four banis - methods of improvisation or presentation - became apparent in the songs. These were the gaudahara bani, the naohara bani, the khandara bani, and the dagora bani. The last of the four literally has been synonymous with the Dagar family tradition to the present day.
Z. M. Dagar was born on March 14, 1929, in the town of Udaipur, within India's state of Rajasthan. He began his training early under the tutelage of his father, Ustad Ziauddin Khan Dagar, court musician for the Maharaja of Udaipur. "Actually I was five years old when I started singing," recalled Dagar, "and I practiced exercises until I was seven or eight, when my father started me on compositions and ragas - but no theory, because I was very small. At that time I was also given a small vina to play, but it was hard for me; so my father said, 'Start with sitar.' A couple of years later I switched to vina."
The order of strings on the vina, from bass to treble, is the reverse of that on the sitar. But the change did not seem to hinder Dagar's transition from one to the other. "It all depends on practice," Dagar insisted. "Though the vina is really strung opposite, I never felt any difficulty, because vina is a family tradition. My father was a very great singer, but in the daytime he played vina. I always watched him; I liked the instrument. My mind was all the time vina, vina, vina, vina, vina! He cautioned me, 'You want to learn, but don't play vina outside the home!'"
The young Dagar was inspired by the playing of such greats as Dabir Khan and Sadaq Ali Khan, as well as by that of certain sadhus - holy renunciates who played only according to their deep devotional moods. Finally, Dagar became so intent on devoting himself solely to vina as a means of expression that his father consented to a public recital. Z. M.'s performance career began at age 16 at the court of Udaipur, like so many of his family before him. "Practice and keep your tradition," the maharaja told him.
Dagar remembered that he was only 11 when he first began thinking seriously about improving the structure of the vina, but his father did not encourage experimentation. "So many times I changed the peacock sound chamber and decorations," Dagar said, "but my father would say, 'Wait, wait! Don't!"' In 1948, two years after his father died, Dagar resigned from the Udaipur court and began a lengthy period of research, experimentation, and practice. He traveled to Jaipur, to Calcutta, and finally, in 1951, to Bombay - where he lived for the rest of his life.
As a result of his investigations into improving the vina's sound, he decided to totally redesign his instrument. For hundreds of years, vinas had been constructed the same way: A light, hollow length of bamboo served as the neck, with nonmovable wooden frets secured to it by hard wax, and two dried gourds (tumbas) served as sound chambers. In 1959, Dagar commissioned the shop of Calcutta luthier Kanai Lal to construct a strikingly different prototype. One year later Lal's younger brother, Nitai-babu, proudly unveiled the finished product. The neck of Dagar's new vina was a hollow tube of seasoned teak, with a large, intricately carved peacock sound chamber at one end and a dragon's head at the other. The lotus-bud-design tuning pegs and the floral decorations that covered the gourds were also fashioned from teak. To further enhance the deeper sound quality he had sought, Dagar had Lal substitute two giant tumbas, specially grown in central India, for the standard-size gourds.
Dagar also began using heavier-gauge strings, and he added another chikari, an auxiliary rhythm string, to the traditional pair. He further ordered that the metal-topped wooden frets be lengthened from 2-1/4" to 3-1/2", giving him greater freedom to bend his notes. "This was good for pulling," he explained. "With the longer frets, I could pull five notes on my first (kharaj or bass) string, whereas before I could pull only half a note!"
Another innovation was in the method of fastening the frets to the neck. "Originally," Dagar explained, "the frets were fixed in place with wax, which was a lot of trouble. If the weather was very hot, the wax would melt. If the weather was very dry or cold, the wax became tight and cracked. So I liked the idea of fixing the frets as sitar frets are fastened - with thread, and movable along the neck." Though 24 frets gave Dagar all the notes, including sharps and flats, necessary for Indian classical music, the movable frets allowed the minute tuning adjustments needed for various ragas, as well as allowing compensation for seasonal or climatic changes.
In playing his new vina, Dagar dispensed with mizrabs, the wire plectrums traditionally used for vina and sitar. He found that striking the strings alternately with the nails of his right-hand first and second fingers, while occasionally striking the rhythm strings with the slightly elongated nail of his pinky, produced a "better, mellow sound."
Finally, he even altered the established north-Indian manner of holding the vina. Traditional practice had vina players resting the instrument's upper gourd over the left shoulder; instead he nestled the large gourd upon his left knee, in the way of south-Indian vina players.
Finding travel difficult with such a large, delicate instrument, Dagar kept one vina in the United States and two in India. "I'm still researching for a better sound," he reported, "and I've ordered two more vinas from Kanai Lal, so every year I go to India, spend a month at my home in Bombay, then go to Calcutta to check everything. Now each vina takes a couple of years to make."
Despite all his technical innovations, Dagar insisted that his music remained unchanged. "Many people ask why I don't play faster - though I know how to play fast, also," he said. "My father told me, 'Please keep the tradition. Your style should be slow, not fast.' Some gharanas [traditional stylistic disciplines] play with a lot of mizrab, a lot of ornaments and improvisations; each is different. But I never change my style."
Dagar's playing has been described as being "both sensual and profoundly spiritual at the same time." Capturing the subtle, unique character of each raga often depends on accentuating the sharp, flat, or very flat qualities of certain notes; and it was the perfect rendering of these subtleties that became a Dagar trademark. In a deliberate and unhurried fashion, he unfolded and revealed each note of the alap movement, the slow, serene solo exposition of a raga - hypnotically, hauntingly coaxing and stretching the most delicately shaded nuances, the notes between the notes, from the thick bronze strings. Dagar's stylistic emphasis clearly was on the alap, his vina's voice supported only by the drone of a tanpura, a plucked open-string instrument used to constantly sound the tonic and dominant notes of the scale as a guiding background for the soloist. In recitals outside India, Dagar often performed only with tanpura accompaniment, though he enjoyed the addition of a pakhawaj - a large, sonorous, double-headed wooden drum - when available, to round out a performance by bringing it to a stately conclusion.
Dagar's theoretical knowledge, much of which was handed down to him by his family, was voluminous; yet he seemed to prefer limiting his concert repertoire to a few favorite ragas. These are profound, sober, mysterious pieces, tinged with pathos, longing, and majesty, and he explored them anew at each recital. To maintain the intimate quality of his music, Dagar tended to avoid large halls or outdoor performances. He said that "a small hall, a good amplifier, sensitive microphones, and a good audience" were the elements most conducive to enjoying his transcendental Indian chamber music.
Today both the rudra vina and the dhrupad style are rare in India. Times have changed, and audiences have been won over by the faster, more exuberant improvisational khyal techniques of the sarod and the sitar. "Twenty years ago there were a lot of vina players," lamented Dagar, "and now only a couple are left in India. Dhrupad is very, very difficult. It requires much practice, patience, and a lot of time before a teacher will allow a student to perform. Khyal is a little easier than dhrupad; but I like the sound of vina. It makes me relax!"-Adapted from article in Frets Magazine, May 1981
Dagar's Tuning:
3 Chickari strings: High sa (G#), #2 steel; Sa (G#), #4 steel (two)
4 Main playing strings: Low ma (C#), #7 steel; Low sa (G#), #22 bronze; Very low pa (D#), #20 bronze; Very low sa (G#), #18 bronze
Laraj (occasionally struck with left-hand pinky): Low sa (G#), #24 bronze
Об альбоме (англ.) | About Album (en)
Zia Mohiuddin Dagar · Raga Yaman (Rudra Veena // Seattle // 15 March 1986)
Around ten years ago, deep into a cozy and hazy night following a concert with my sound brothers Daniel O'Sullivan and Kristoffer Rygg in London (as Æthenor), they graciously introduced me to a recording of rudra veena (a kind of noble deeper bass relative to the sitar, in a way) as performed by dhrupad master Zia Mohiuddin Dagar.
Dhrupad, for those who do not know, is a branch of Hindustani classical music said to "show the raga in its clearest and purest form". It's pacing concentrates heavily on the slow, contemplative alap section and works with specific microtonal gestures and deep characteristics of resonance ... in short I was hooked on this new (to me) and ancient form of music from the first listen, and feel that a more or less continual listening & reviewing of Zia Mohiuddin Dagar's recordings in the years that followed have influenced my own approach to music quite heavily (if, albeit, indirectly).
In early 2015 I was able to make contact with Zia Mohiuddin Dagar's son Bahauddin and some of his American students/disciples, primarily Jeff Lewis. Over time we developed a friendly and educational exchange, access a massive archive of recordings and developed these two paired titles for my label. It's been a long path to arrive at actually releasing them but also probably in many ways one of the most significant releases I've worked on. And I'm proud to be able to reveal these to date unreleased archival recordings of one of the masters of dhrupad, Z. M. Dagar, to the public for the first time.
Zia Mohiuddin Dagar was the nineteenth generation in a family tradition known as Dagar gharana, a rich lineage which continued and performed the musical form of dhrupad (Bahauddin Dagar continues the lineage as a master rudra veena dhrupad player of note today). Initially, dhrupad was a rigorous, austere, devotional genre that was sung in Hindu temples. But between the 16th and the 18th centuries, it became the preeminent genre in royal courts in North and Central India, and the Dagar gharana developed and continued publicly following the eventual loss of court patronage for dhrupad in the 19th century. The French ethnomusicologist Renaud Brizard covers the story of Zia Mohiuddin Dagar's life and teaching (a long story also in Seattle, my hometown!), the Dagar family and gharana, the rudra veena and more topics in an extensive set of liner notes in this release.
Raga Yaman was recorded at a public concert in Seattle at the HUB Ballroom at the University of Washington in March 1986 (the week after the accompanying release SOMA028 Ragas Abhogi & Vardhani was recorded) at the end of his last tour of the United States. Yaman was a special raga for Zia Mohiuddin Dagar, one of his signature raags. For centuries, Yaman has been considered as one of the most fundamental ragas in Hindustani music and is one of the first ragas which is taught to students. A deep knowledge of Yaman gives a key for understanding many other ragas. It's filled with tranquility, contemplation, pathos and spiritual yearning.
-Stephen O'Malley, March 2018, Paris, France
Stephen O’Malley would like to especially thank Bahauddin Dagar, Jeff Lewis & Jody Stecher for their enthusiasm, cooperation, patience, insight & advice toward developing these editions. Thank you also to Laurel Sercombe & John Vallier from the University of Washington Ethnomusicology Archives, Shantha Benegal, Philippe Bruguière, Dan Neuman, Ira Landgarten, Renaud Brizard, Ian Christe, Peter Rehberg, Rashad Becker, Daniel O’Sullivan & Kristoffer Rygg, all for their direct or indirect cooperation, assistance & patience.
released June 1, 2018 https://ideologicorgan.bandcamp.com/album/raga-yaman-rudra-veena-seattle-15-march-1986
Состав | Artists
Zia Mohiuddin Dagar – Rudra Veena
Elizabeth Reeke & Annie Penta – Tanpuras
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发表于 2020-9-23 06:02:45
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