Dhrupad

Classical Music of North India
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Sangeet
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Joined: 07 Jun 2013, 12:50

Dhrupad

Post by Sangeet »

Dear all:

Just wanted to share a few things about dhrupad.

It is a vocal genre in Hindusthani sangeet. 'Dhruva' means a refrain and 'pada,' of course, means poetry. Dhrupad gained popularity during the mughal period. But adequate reference to it is found in the sama veda. This makes it one of the oldest forms of musical genres. Dhrupad usually has very long alaps, and they heavily depend on repetition of swaras. It is often said that dhrupad has nine swaras: the usual seven swaras, the absence of all the swaras, and the presence of all the swaras. This play between the absence and presence of the swaras creates a unique flavor in the minds of the rasikas.

Dhrupad is very meditative and serious in texture, and that might have led to its unpopularity. But, thankfully, it is gaining interest. With new artists like Gundecha brothers and Uday Bawalkar, the future of dhrupad doesn't look dim. Moreover, to promote dhrupad a three-day musical festival called 'Dhrupad Mela' is organized every year on Tulsi Ghat in Varanasi in March. This festival is sixty years old. For three nights the ghats and the ganga resonate with meditative music. (How I wish to attend it once in my life!) The famous practitioners of dhrupad are the Dagar brothers. Another interesting thing to note about dhrupad is that though very vedic in nature it has flourished mainly in the hands of muslim musicians. Music transcends everything for sure.

A few clips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxUD1LyA ... 6F7EB27C45

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQSiPHLt ... xUD1LyAyp0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TODtRiJbX04

Thanks,
Sangeet

Rsachi
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by Rsachi »

Sangeeta,
Great Darbari Kanada, thanks!
Varsha shared last year two wonderful links to YT videos of Ustad Sayeeduddin Dagar singing in a French cathedral.
Bhupali and Jogiya.

Nick H
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 02:03

Re: Dhrupad

Post by Nick H »

Chennai Rasikas!

According to kutcheris.com there is a dhrupad recital by Uday Bavalkar at the MA this Saturday (20/7/13) evening. A perfect opportunity to taste this music :)

rajeshnat
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by rajeshnat »

Sangeet wrote: Dhrupad usually has very long alaps, and they heavily depend on repetition of swaras. It is often said that dhrupad has nine swaras: the usual seven swaras, the absence of all the swaras, and the presence of all the swaras. This play between the absence and presence of the swaras creates a unique flavor in the minds of the rasikas.
Cannot understand absence and presence of swaras . When you say absence do you mean at that time they sing just the alapana and when you say presence of all swaras ,what does that mean over and above seven swaras.
BTW I was thinking to an extent any hindustani music has quite a heavy repetition of swaras . Is dhrupad more prominent than other HM forms?
Last edited by rajeshnat on 18 Jul 2013, 14:29, edited 1 time in total.

Sangeet
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Joined: 07 Jun 2013, 12:50

Re: Dhrupad

Post by Sangeet »

Dear Sachi,

Great to know that it was darbari kannada! My ears are still not trained. :) I am new at the forum. It will take me time to know the members and their postings here. Thanks for replying.


Dear Nick,

How fortunate for those in Chennai! Had the performance been a month ago I would have attended it. I really wish to attend that musical festival that takes place in December. I have only heard of it.


Dear Rajeshnat,

A friend had explained to me about this play between the absence and presence of swaras. But I will be honest, I cannot illustrate it with technical terms. Regarding dhrupad being prominent in HM, I think the case is opposite. Very few dhrupad programs are organized. But I guess it is gaining popularity. And if Uday B is singing in Chennai it is good news for dhrupad as a genre. Plus, I know that in the US it is gaining popularity, too.

Thanks,
Sangeeta

Nick H
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by Nick H »

I agree that Dhrupad is not "prominent." Isn't is regarded as somewhat esoteric, a minority, acquired taste, like some very highbrow form of jazz or classical in other genres? I don't think it is "easy listening" to most.

Sangeeta, to experience our "December" season you have to come here from October to February :lol:

Sangeet
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by Sangeet »

Yes, Nick, it is serious in flavor. Here is a link that might be useful:

http://dhrupad.org/about/

Nick H
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by Nick H »

The nature of Dhrupad music is spiritual. Seeking not to entertain, but to induce feelings of peace and contemplation in the listener.
Works for me.

Nick H
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by Nick H »

Nick H wrote:According to kutcheris.com there is a dhrupad recital by Uday Bavalkar at the MA this Saturday (20/7/13) evening. A perfect opportunity to taste this music :)
Badly organised/advertised, resulting in a very small turnout and probably a loss for the promoters. Tickets were Rs500 (just the front two rows) and 300Rs. How easily they could have made that 500, 300 and 200 --- and 50 for the balcony. It was not advertised in The Hindu: the combination of that and a better spread of ticket prices would surely have brought better attendance, even for this music form which is very esoteric for the Chennai taste. I believe it would: last season showed that Hindustani music is better appreciated here than in years gone past, and I think more would have been willing to discover Dhrupad.

Enough of the gripes, which I feel on behalf of the artist rather than myself. It was a wonderful evening of music, and I have not experienced anything like it for 15 or 20 years. Quite long enough to have really forgotten what a real Dhrupad performance is really like --- and it is like no other sort of music, either Indian or anywhere else in the world.

As usual, I wish that I could report anything of any use at all in the way of raga or song lists, and, as usual, I am limited to a purely subjective writeup.

Uday Bhawalkar's performance was modest and restrained from beginning to end. I reflected that there is a certain love-song-oriented musical genre called soul. No, that it not soul music: this is soul music! For real.

In the first section, the alap proceeded slowly and thoughtfully, eventually giving way to the jhor [?] with its strongly felt pulse. At some point the pakhawaj joined like distant thunder. The rendition of the first raga took up more than one hour but, as I commented to my wife, the time passed as in a dream.

Yes, I have seen dhrupad before, even performed by the great names of the genre, but it has been such a long time that this night was like something completely new to me. New and wonderful.

We touched upon the seriousness of the music. As far as Indian classical music is concerned, I guess this is as heavyweight as it gets. On a personal note, I do find it difficult to comprehend how it is that my wife can sit through it also entranced, but finds the deeper carnatic performers difficult. Oh well, each to their own.

vasanthakokilam
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by vasanthakokilam »

Thanks Nick for a wonderful and heartfelt write up. I have listened to Dhrupad a bit here and there but never attended a concert. You have motivated me to make a note for myself to attend one.

In my limited listening, I found Dhrupad to be somewhat closer to the Carnatic aesthetic than Kayal. ( not that I know either one well ). My listening to it is still limited but when I give it the time and attention, the rewards are enormous.

The deliberately slow singing matches well with the glide ( meend ) gamaka resulting in certain wonderful aesthetics which otherwise do not surface. Of course, the word 'slide' does not really capture all that goes on there. My prototypical example for this is the Ustad H. Sayeeduddin Dagar's Boopali which Sangeet links above and which was previously shared by Varsha which Sachi also refers to above ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQSiPHLt ... xUD1LyAyp0 ). Though it is normally said that Boopali and mohanam are equivalent ragas in these two systems, the sheer inadequacies of such comparisons are laid bare in his performance and show how different they are or can be ( with each one being excellent in their own ways )

Rsachi
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by Rsachi »

Nick, your notes from the concert bespeak a meditative temperament. That is also the key ingredient of Dhrupad, and so you resonate with it. The two videos of Sayeeduddin Dagar performing in the French church are in my opinion excellence examples of how dhrupad works. And works on you.
I found this bit in SPICMACAY site which is I think we'll written:

The word Dhrupad, or Dhruvatar in Sanskrit comes from two words – Dhruvatara which means “the evening star” or the star that is fixed and never trembles and “pada” which means work or poetry. Hence Dhrupad means “the true song” or the “song of truth”. Dhrupad is a form of Hindustani Classical music. This is the purest form of Classical Music without any embellishment and totally austere in its delivery. Its current format is still in the same traditional style as it was when it started thousands of years ago. Originally, Dhrupad was a means of offering to the divine through sound. From the temples, it moved with the wandering minstrels, to the courts of the kings and finally to our concert halls. The dhrupad recital is broadly subdivided into the alaap (raga elaboration), the jor (with steady rhythm) and the jhala (accelerating strumming). Then the composition, Bandish, is sung to rhythmic accompaniment. As Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar puts it,
“When I close my eyes and begin to sing, there is only darkness… slowly, light comes, then the beginnings of colour.” Given the depth, the subtlety, the varied dimensions and the mysticism of this art form, the atmosphere created during a Dhrupad performance is indeed one of beauty and serenity.
Some of the renowned artists include Sri Baha’ud’din Dagar, Sri. Uday Bhawalkar and Ustad H. Sayeeduddin Dagar

I find that to enjoy Dhrupad, I need NO visual stimulus. I need to close my eyes, with quietude inside and outside, and just dissolve in its pure sound. Dhrupad is the Zen of sound. Dhrupad is like a train that stops to admire the countryside. It loses time. And gains eternity.

vasanthakokilam
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by vasanthakokilam »

Thanks Sachi for that snippet. What Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar is interesting. I wondered what the state of mind of such soulful singers are and his comments give us a clue.

BTW, in case you have not noticed, the rest of the parts of Sayeeduddin Dagar are now available in You Tube.

Here is the full list. All parts are a must listen! The whole performance bears somewhat of a structural relationship to RTP, but in an elaborate fashion. May be CM concerts were closer to this format, or derived from this, prior to the Ariyakudi format, while allowing for vastly different aesthetics.

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQSiPHLtKDY
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOPz_t_qYB8
part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_30Tcytj5M
part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIL0xNmaIzo
part 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXhvqXeljFI
part 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUUYRGSR40A

Rsachi
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by Rsachi »

Yes! Found this after research when Varsha posted the jogiya and bhupali links last time!
Thanks.
BTW Dhrupad is aired often these days on DD Bharati.

Rsachi
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Joined: 31 Aug 2009, 13:54

Re: Dhrupad

Post by Rsachi »

VKM,
The entire concert is also available as a CD on the net. It has a couple of more items.
I have played the pieces you listed on my Bose and wowed many!

The church itself is remarkable. Read here: https://sacredsites.com/europe/france/vezelay.html

Sachi R

Rsachi
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by Rsachi »



Nick H
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by Nick H »

Rsachi, thank you for your comments and elucidation. There are several forms of music that I love, and some, including, of course, the one that brings us all together in this forum, sometimes touch very deep inside. With Dhrupad, however, I find something akin to a new dimension.
Here is the full list. All parts are a must listen!
Indeed. I listened to the entire set last night. I went on to some performance on their remarkable form of the veena. I have had a couple of Dhrupad Days!

Nick H
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Joined: 03 Feb 2010, 02:03

Re: Dhrupad

Post by Nick H »

The second raga performed by Uday Bhalwalkar, I heard announced as "Meg." Thinking that must be one of my hearing aberrations, I dismissed it, but it seems there is a raag Megh :)

Sadly, even my wife is unable to help with remembering the announcement of the major raag: she only remembers it is for rain --- and I'm sure there are several of those. But if anyone can suggest an evening raag sung for rain, it might jog our brain cells.

Here is a YouTube playlist that begins with the individual parts listed by VK.

As a side note, I have such fond memories of London's South Bank Centre, especially the Queen Elisabeth Hall, and the just-right-size Purcell room, where I would have first heard this, and other Indian, music :)

rshankar
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by rshankar »

Nick - since Megh means clouds, your wife's recollection is probably spot-on...

Nick H
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by Nick H »

Oh! She thought the first raag was for rain.

Never mind, memory or no, we just enjoyed enormously.

Sangeet
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Joined: 07 Jun 2013, 12:50

Re: Dhrupad

Post by Sangeet »

Dear rasikas,

Sorry for the delayed response. I have been jet-lagged and tired. And, I had no proper internet connection to type out a thoughtful reply to the wonderful observations made by Nick, Rsachi, Rshankar, Vasanthakokilam, and other rasikas. I am really glad to have finally found a group who enjoys listening to Dhrupad, and appreciates the beauty in it. It is indeed a very serious kind of music and not all can sit through it. The long alaps, the breaking of words into their smallest units -- syllables or phonetics, and the voice modulations to bring out sound from three parts of the body -- nose, throat, and stomach -- create a special experience. My technical knowledge, to be very honest, about carnatic or hindusthani music is very limited. No one in my family or even friend circle (until recently) was into classical music. Fortunately, however, I have always been able to feel the bhavas in musical pieces. I remember and recognize ragas by the feelings they evoke in me. My response to music, thus, has always been very private, internal, and subjective.

One important observation that I have made while listening to dhrupad is that I have never cried. For instance, raga sahana often drives me to tears and I start feeling heavy. Some other ragas also evoke mellow emotions. But I have never felt sad while listening to Dhrupad. I feel very, very, peaceful and calm. To me, it is a style of singing that puts us in touch with the peace that we deserve and are supposed to work for.

Though normally Dhrupad pieces are long, often the bhajans sung in it are short. Still the sound of pakhawaj and the divine voice of the singer make it beautiful. I will try to share a couple of pieces by Gundecha Brothers.

Regards.

Sangeet
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Joined: 07 Jun 2013, 12:50

Re: Dhrupad

Post by Sangeet »

Friends,

Sorry for the delay. Life has been hectic! Uff.

This is one of the pieces I was talking about. Ragam dwijaivanthi. So melidious. So soft. Lovely alap.

Copy-pasting the link:

Listening to 'Raga Jaijaiwanti' from 'Young Masters - Gundecha Brothers' using Raaga.com Android App

http://raa.ag/aHI00036

Nick H
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by Nick H »

Yesterday I was listening to this:

Rahim Fahimuddin Dagar - Dhrupad - Raga Kedar

Sangeet
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by Sangeet »

Nick,

I enjoyed it. Thanks. Very peaceful. I heard this after that piece. A very small piece in mohanam by Uday B.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=d6GowRh5Vl ... re=related

varsha
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by varsha »

http://www.mediafire.com/listen/v3ro0a4 ... _dagar.mp3
Amazing recital from recent AIR National Program

varsha
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by varsha »

http://www.thehindu.com/features/friday ... 919310.ece
JYOTHI HEGDE - I HAD POSTED A VIDEO SOMETIME AGO

varsha
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by varsha »


Nick H
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Re: Dhrupad

Post by Nick H »

... Another family that ensured that I fell in love with Indian music --- even in London. Probably, first, at the Purcell Room in the South Bank Centre. I wish we could transplant that intimate auditorium into Chennai!

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