A shishya of the strings

And to fulfill that need, the latest in the series of seminars and workshops being organised will address both the scientific values underpinning the systems of Hindustani and Carnatic music as well as those related to performance and design of instruments.

Four sessions are scheduled, each dealing with a specific aspect of the tanpura: acoustics, which deals with the physical properties of the instruments and the various effects on sound quality; aesthetics, which will take up the historical uses of the tanpura in different gharanas;

performance, highlighting the different ways in which each performer employs the tanpura; and design and manufacture, a panel which will bring together craftsmen from various centres of instrument design.

Significantly, in an attempt to keep up with the times, they will also discuss electronic substitutes for the droning accompaniment the tanpura traditionally provides.

Each panel is chaired by a distinguished moderator and participants include musicians, musicologists, and students nominees drawn from 10 of Mumbai’s most distinguished academies.

Parikh, moderator of the performance section, stresses on the practical values and utility of such gatherings for professionals as well as aspiring students.

"Most seminars have been elitist in their orientation," he says, but hopes that this workshop "will have a direct relevance to performance."

The workshop is the undertaking of the Sangeet Research Academy (SRA), a Calcutta-based trust foundation of the ITC, of which Satyajit Ray was a trustee. The academy employs music scholars and traditional gurus, and attracts students of vocal music from all over the country to reside at its campus in Tollygunge, Calcutta.

Its activities range from traditional education to musicological research, in which new technologies are deployed to the further understanding of classical music. Central to its endeavours is the guru-shishya parampara.

Despite much criticism, Parikh feels that the guru-shishya parampara which is the base of all classical music instruction is still a form which ensures excellence. Adherence to traditional methods, however, does not hamper exploration of new methods of music production and instrument craft.

Dr Suvarnalata Rao of the NCPA, who is organising and participating in the workshop, is a Homi Bhabha Research Fellow doing work on the acoustics and craftsmanship of Indian string instruments.

A PhD in Musicology, she draws intellectual sustenance from the Nobel Prize-winner Dr C V Raman, who was the first to discover that Indian string instruments have the richest tonal quality in the world.

Accounting for the differences between the two systems of Indian classical music, Rao points out that Hindustani performers use a natural gourd for their tanpura, while Carnatic music uses a wooden gourd.

The Workshop is sponsored by the western branch of SRA which is the only centre outside of Calcutta.Co-sponsoring it is the Mumbai branch of the Music Forum, a group of music critics, artists and connoisseurs.