Pt. Ajoy Chakrabarty does not like to categorise music as classical and light-OxBig News Network

Pt. Ajoy Chakrabarty
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Myself and a few other students, training under guru Pt. Amarnath at Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra in Delhi, were awe-struck when we got to hear a cassette containing six Bangla compositions by guru Jnan Prakash Ghosh. The soulful voice of singer Ajoy Chakrabarty, an unfamiliar name then, captivated us so much that we kept hitting the play button on the tape recorder. After a few months, this young singer came to Delhi for his debut concert at Kamani Hall as the opening artiste of ITC Sangeet Sammelan in 1983. I attended the concert and was amazed to see how the melodious voice I had heard in the record transformed effortlessly to render the robust gayaki of the Patiala gharana. Since then I have keenly followed Ajoy Chakrabarty’s music and his rise as an eminent Hindustani vocalist. Yet, he does not take his craft lightly.

Five years ago, I went to Mumbai to attend a music seminar. I wasn’t aware that Pt. Ajoy Chakrabarty was in the room adjacent to mine at the hotel till I heard the sound of the tanpura and the famous voice singing raag Bhimpalasi, followed by Yaman, Bagesree and Darbari. His riyaz went on till late in the night. Early next morning I woke up to the soothing notes of raag Lalit. Then came Bhairav and Ahir Bhairav. It was incredible. You then realised what goes into the making of a successful artiste.

Ahead of his concert in Chennai, the veteran vocalist talks about his bond with music and the joy mentoring young enthusiasts.

The veteran Hindustani musician is an exponent of the Patiala gharana
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

How difficult is it to make your own space as a musician?

I came from a humble, non-gharanedar background. Thanks to Vijay Kichlu saheb (an exponent of the Agra gharana, he helped ITC set up the Sangeet Research Academy in Kolkata) I could enter ITC Sangeet Research Academy as its first scholar. It enabled me to get the feel of what gharana is. And inspired me to rise at par with peers such as Rashid Khan, who was much younger yet much more appealing. During SRA’s famous musical tours in India and abroad under saheb’s supervision, I saw Hari-ji (Chaurasia)ji muffle the flute with his handkerchief and play for hours till we reached our destination. All this led me to immerse myself in riyaz. I wanted to share all that I learnt and experienced during my long journey in music with youngsters in the field. The aim behind launching my music institution ‘Shrutinandan’ was to open up the beautiful world of music for the learners. I teach them not just to sing or play an instrument but to appreciate good music, whatever be the genre.

So you also teach them film songs, Bengali compositions, ghazals and more.

As a youngster, I fell in love with the songs sung by Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle and Manna Dey, Ragpradhan gaan, Baul and Tagore’s songs. My father was an untrained but gifted singers. When he found out my love for music, he encouraged me to pursue it. He would tell me not to discriminate between classical and other styles of music. He felt it would make me a versatile musician. That’s how I took to singing thumri. Lighter forms of music have a lot of emotions in them.

Do you agree that the large number of gifted young musicians today augurs well for the future of Indian music.

Yes, I agree. Institutions like Shrutinandan have a major role to play in this. So do parents. The way the young combine traditional learning methods with technology has widened the reach of our arts. Each phase in time throws up its own challenges. Taiyari should not be limited to music, you also have to prepare your mind to fight some new battles. I have always been open to new ideas since it’s important to help the art evolve with changing times.

In the age of social media, how difficult is to sift the good from the bad?

Discerning listeners can easily do so. For artistes, who cannot handle the social media game, delve deeper into the art to stand out. Surrender to the music, it will own you up and show many new vistas. Once Zakir (Hussain) bhai was talking about the art of accompaniment and said that he is always very conscious about ‘Sangat ke dil mein kya chal raha hai (what goes on in the mind of an accompanist). Keep fine tuning your perception and adding to your repertoire. To accomplish this, I learnt dhrupad from the grandson of Jadu Bhatta and thumris from guru Jnan Prakash Ghosh. This helped me understand the khayal, my forte, better. To sum it all, like the survival of any relationship, music also demands love, respect, belief and surrender.         

Pt. Ajoy Chakrabarty will be perform a concert titled, ‘Dhrupad to Thumri: A Musical Exploration’ in Chennai on January (6.30 p.m.) at The Music Academy. The concert also features Brajeshwar Mukherjee and Ayesha Mukherjee (vocal suppurt), Yogesh Shamsi on the tabla, Ajay Joglekar on the harmonium, and Amaan Hussain on the sarangi.