Tuning in

“The penetration of information technology in the corners of the world has made computers accessible to even remote villagers in India. Earlier,learning music meant traveling to places where one could find a guru. This website helps one right from the basic understanding of the swar,raag and so on. Not that this is a substitute to a guru,but it helps one learn music instead of giving it up because of the lack of a guru,” says Balakrishna Chaitanya.

With lehja,a basic requirement for tabla performance as the newly introduced feature on a website,the online portal will be useful for tabla players who can take an online assistance with the website. To be launched within 10 to 15 days,Chaitanya adds,“Tabla artiste has a dedicated study of his own. The lehja or nagma is visible in the mehfil,but is not available for the riyaz. With this,even a tabla artist can practice with the required lehja.”

From basics to raags,the website aims at becoming a complete portal for assistance for riyaz of Indian classical music. Commenting on gharana tradition of the Indian classical music,Chaitanya adds,“Gharana is more about the style of singing and has nothing to do with the technicalities of music. Alankar,swar,aakar are the basics that remain common for all the gharanas and thus the website does not restrict one to a particular gharana of music.”

The duo has earlier made available,similar packages through CDs on their website http://www.riyazmala.com that received clicks from across the globe and even from different states across the country. Providing technical support to the venture,Anil Chaitanya,a commercial artist by profession says,“The material is according to the approved syllabus of the government of Maharashtra. Not only that,many schools are known to access the website which is an open source. The website has till date received about 37,000 clicks with 12,000 clicks per year. Maestros such as Gangubai Hangal,Shrinivas Khale,Asha Khadilkar or for that matter poet Mangesh Padgaonkar have also encouraged us in this initiative so much so that Gangubai even did riyaz on one of the CDs. That has been the greatest receipt of our effort.”