The Concepts of Swara and Raga in Dhrupad

Dhrupad singing requires the practise of nada yoga, which is a form of laya yoga. The sadhana of nada yoga produces a resonant voice that comes from deep within, and seems to permeate the very being of the singer. The voice is different from the throaty voice that is ideal for khayal and thumri singing. It is a voice that is very rich in overtones. The author of this article can say from his personal experience of training under various Ustads of the Dagar tradition, that this sadhana involves shifting the source of sound gradually to the base of the throat (kanth mool), and further down to the heart (hriday), and the navel (nabhi) till a stage is reached when the entire region from navel to head (murdhanya) vibrates as one. There is a shloka in the Sangit-ratnakar of Sarangdev, which describes the method of producing nada. In the voice of a Dhrupad singer who has achieved siddhi in nada yoga, the intonation of a sa produces very prominent overtones of pa and ga. A similar prominence of overtones is seen in the rudra veena and the sursingar, which are regarded as the ideal instruments for Dhrupad alap, and alos in the instrument of percussion accompaniment the pakhwaj. This prominence of overtones enforces a consonance or samvad between the notes and the pace of dhrupad alap must necessarily be slow, because consonance cannot be experiences without lingering on the notes. The prominence of overtones that is achieved through the nada sadhna of Dhrupad also creates a consonance between the voice and the tanpura, and it is this consonance that produces a dense and meditative atmosphere that is so characteristic of the singing of the Dagars. Ustad Nasiruddin Khan was especially renowned for his accomplishment in nada yoga, and it is said that the prominence of overtones in his voice sounded like the tanpura and appeared to blend with it. This quality can also be seen in the voice of his younger brother Ustad Rahimuddin Khan Dagar, in some of his old recordings.

Consonance or samvad is especially important in Dhrupad because a raga in Dhrupad is identified by its swarup or characteristic ambience, and is not seen to be merely a certain sequence of notes. The concept of the swarup of a raga comes from the fact that the sa is itself a variable and undergoes microtonal shifts from one raga to another. The two centre strings of the tampura establish the sa, and the sa of the raga varies in relation to this. Each raga employs a distinct shade of sa, which uniquely characterises its swarup, and all other notes employed are merely overtones of this sa. The re of the Megh has a lower pitch than the re of Miya Malhar, and that is a consequence of the sa of the two ragas being different.

The swarup concept in the Dagar tradition enables the tanpura or the veena to be tuned differently for different ragas, so that the instrument itself, by its very tuning, can establish the swarup of the raga to be performed. The raga in khayal is essentially a certain sequence of notes, and the ambience of the raga in khayal is maintained by frequently repeating its characteristic phrases. In the Dagar tradition of Dhrupad, the swarup concept enables a treatment of ragas in which a characteristic note sequence need not br constantly repeated. The correct shade of a sa (or of re or of any other note of the raga) is sufficient to establish the swarup of the raga. It is therefore possible to linger on the notes, and explore the relationships between just a few notes at a time without losing the characteristic ambience of the raga. This can be experienced in the recording of Megh released by the Mewar Foundation, in which with the very first low and subtly modulated re, Ustad Nasir Moinuddin Dagar establishes the swarup of Megh. The fact that the tuning of the tanpura and the very first sa can establish the swarup of the raga, can be experienced in the recordings of Darbari kanada and Asavari of the Elder dagar Brothers that were released in the 1960s.

It is often heard that Dhrupad employs just plain notes, and all ornamentation is avoided to produce a very austere and rigid kind of music. There is actually a whole world of ornamentation in Dhrupad, but the ornamentation is essentially microtonal, employing the notes in their subtle microtonal shades. To give an example, an accomplished Dhrupad singer can sing raga Jaijaiwanti without employing komal ga but can create an illusion or aabhas of komal ga by making a minute microtonal inflection on re. The author has heard several demonsrations of this treatment of komal ga in Jaijaiwanti from Usatd Rahim Fahimuddin Dagar, Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar and Ustad Zia Fariduddin Dagar. This subtle and microtonal ornamentation of Dhrupad seems to be lost on listeners who are used to ornamentation on at grosser level that occurs is other forms. In the recording of Mia ki malhar by the Elder Dagar brothers released by the Mewar Foundation, this concept of microtonal ornamentation can be seen in the interplay of the two nishads and dhaivata, with the patterns showing the subtle microtonal gradation of the notes. The meends seem to actually progress through the various microtonal shades, and the transitions from ni to sa seem to occur in stages through subtle gradations. The stays on the nishads seem to touch several shades o these notes.

The Dagar Dhrupad tradition sees the notes as fluid entities with endless shades that seem to flow and merge into each other. They somehow seem to elude a definite grasp. Birendrakishore Roychoudhary has mentioned this in his book on the musical heritage of Tansen. He has written about the atmosphere of mystery and strangemness that is created when the notes are not touched or grasped as definite points, (Hindustani sangeet mein Tansen ka sthan by Birendrakishore Roychoudhary translated by Madanlal Byas, published by Vani Prakashan, New Delhi). Indian classical music has today reached a stage, where the very mention of a variable sa or pa should be greeted with derision. Yet there still survives a musical tradition wghich recognises that a whole world of musical possibilities opens up when the notes cease to be mere points. But this a world that cannot be accessed easily.

The Elder Dagar Brothers

The Elder Dagar Brothers Usatd Nasir Moinuddin Dagar (1919-1966) and Ustad Nasir Aminuddin Dagar (1923-) were recognised as the foremost singers of the Dagar tradition of their generation. They were trained in the musical tradition of their family by their father Ustad Nasiruddin Khan (1889-1936), and their uncle Ustad Ziauddin Khan (1886-1946) and Ustad Riyazuddin Khan (1885-1947). In their juggalbandi (duet) singing, they complimented each other with their slightly contrasting styles and deferring voice qualities and shared a rapport that is possible only between musicians who have undergone their entire process of musical development together.

Their singing was charaterised by serene and dignified alap, a richness of subtle microtonal ornamentation, and the beauty and imaginativeness of the melodic elaboration. The elder brother Usatd Nasir Moinuddin Dagar, who usually dominated the proceedings, was particularly known for his mastery over the deeper and subtler aspects of the Dagar tradition. His singing had all the characteristics of the nada, sadhana of the Dagar gharana and his music contained stylistic influences of his father Ustad Nasiruddin Khan and his uncle Ustad Ziauddin Khan. In many of his performances he would actually demonstrate the stylistic peculiarities of his great predecessors. There was dynamism, a certain element of surprise in the sudden turns that his melodic improvisation could take. The younger brother Ustad Nasir Aminuddin Dagar with his slightly restrained style, a deep resonant voice and flowing patterns full of devotional feeling form the perfect juggalbandi (duet) partner for his elder brother. After the death of Ustad Nasir Moinuddin Dagar, and Ustad Nasir Faiyazuddin Dagar continued the tradition of Dhrupad juggalbandi singing.

A musical tradition, which depends of a very small number of musicians for its survival, with just one or two of them having a grasp of the tradition in its totality, always runs the risk of suffering decline due to the loss of a crucial member. The untimely deaths of outstanding musicians like Ustad Nasiruddin Khan, Ustad Ziauddin Khan, Ustad Hussainuddin Dagar (Tansen Pandey), Ustad Nasir Moinuddin Dagar and others has deprived the Dagar tradition of such crucial torchbearers.

Yet a core body of knowledge still survives, and it is to be hoped that this knowledge will built upon and the tradition will rejuvenate itself.

The Dagar Heritage

The first time Mohinuddin and Aminuddin Dagar came to Europe for a concert tour in the mid-sixties, Dhrupad was perhaps at its lowest ebb in India. The appreciative response of Western audiences was beyond expectation, and their performances in Venice, Berlin and Paris are still engraved in the memory of those present. The Dagar Brothers, as they are known, belonged to a prestigious family of Dhrupad singers whose founder was Baba Gopal Das, a Hindu who is said to have converted to Islam at the time of Emperor Muhammad Shah. His younger son Behram Khan established himself in Jaipur, where he became a court musician of great repute. He taught his brother's grandsons Allahbande and Zakhiruddin Khan who used to sing together, quickly asserting themselves as the foremost Dhrupad vocalists of their time. Zakhiruddin, an erudite musician, was offered the privileged rank of first court musician in Udaipur, whereas his brother was employed in the court at Alwar. A report from the first All India Music Conference held in Baroda in 1916 praises the two brothers' vocal duet. Musicologist Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande was deeply impressed by Zakhiruddin's knowledge, as was the renowned Beenkar Bande Ali Khan, who gave the brothers his two daughters in marriage.

One of the four sons of Allabande, Nasiruddin Khan was a highly sensitive and imaginative artist. His mastery of alap captivated audiences, but sadly he died in the prime of his career in Indore, and left a void in the field of Dhrupad. He in turn was survived by four sons , later known as the elder - Zia Mohinuddin and Aminuddin and the younger - Zahiruddin and Faiyazuddin Dagar brothers. Fahimuddin Dagar is the son of Rahimuddin Khan Dagar, a younger brother of Nasiruddin. Both were also well versed in the Sanskrit and Persian languages. Rahimuddin added the suffix Dagar to his name, and this new patronymic was then adopted by the whole family.

Often compared to Nasiruddin for his musical sensitivity and spontaneity, Ziauddin Khan, the only son of Zakhiruddin succeeded his father in the Udaipur court. Although he would render Dhrupad singing in the way he was taught by his father, he also mastered the been, which he only played in private. Ziauddin transmitted his passion for the been to one of his sons, Zia Mohinuddin, who dedicated his whole life to preserving and promoting this awe inspiring instrument. Z. M. Dagar who passed away recently, was universally regarded as an exceptional musician. His command over the been was superb, and his senses of creativity lead him to express the alap in a unique manner. Endowed with a sharp pedagogical intuition, he and his younger brother, vocalist Zia Fariuddin, trained students in vocal music and various instruments, both in India and abroad.