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Vilayat Khan's Rag Bhankar | ||
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John Campana | ||
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DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF USTAD VILAYAT KHAN (1924-2004)
It is very rare for a Hindustani raag bearing one name to possess multiple personalities, and more surprisingly, still be recognized by that name regardless of the musician playing or singing it. Bhankar is one such raag, or perhaps the only one of its kind in Indian music. It mantains this unique position not without controversy, especially regarding its movements and pitch material, the very building blocks of its being. The literature (Bhatkhande, Patwardhan, Garg, Subbha Rao, et al.) seems to agree on the general profile of Bhankar: it belongs to Marwa thath; its vadi/samvadi are Pancham and Shadja; it is sung during the last part of the night (Vilayet Khan Sahib refers to it as a morning raag [Subha] in an earlier performance of the raag); it employs characteristic phrases of Vibhas; it has a sampurna jati, although Nishad is either omitted in the ascent, omitted all together or has limited ascent in some of the performances analysed for the purpose of this study. Bhankar uses two madhyams, komal rishab and the rest of the notes are natural. The final authority, as is usually the case with Hindustani music, is derived not from books but from actual performance. It will be soon clear that none of the performances of Bhankar (including Vilayet Khan's) analysed below, adheres strictly to the prescription set down in the shastras. We are very fortunate that public and private music archives contain performances of Bhankar by representives of several gharanas. A brief report on these performances will serve to elucidate the controversies regarding the presentation of Bhankar by different gharanas, and specifically Vilayet Khan's. It will be made clear that more than controversial, Bhankar is a unique raag capable of revealing itself through a number of distinct ang-s. It is by virtue of this unusual potential that it can blend with the artistic sensibility of any great performer, and despite the rather drastic tonal variations from one interpretation to another, still retain its raag essence. Of the six ustads surveyed three (Azmat Hussein Khan, Sharafat Hussein Khan and Faiyaz Khan) are from Agra gharana. One (Mallikarjun Mansur) is from the Jaipur-Atrauli-Gwalior gharana, and one (Chand Khan) is from the Delhi gharana. And then there is Vilayet Khan. Khansahib historically hails from the Ithawa or Imdadkhani gharana whose repertoire consisted mainly of the major raags, until he came along, that is.
Khansahib must have learned Bhankar from the vocal ustads in his formative years and in time followed the melodic paths of Bhankar which best suited his artistic temperament. It would be interesting to know which gharana influence made the most impression on him since of the ones referred to in this study, none is similar to his conception of the raag. To my knowledge his is the only instrumental version of Bhankar. The feature most common to all the vocalists surveyed is the bandish which employs the words "He (or 'Tu') Kartar" in the mukhra. With little or no variation, the phrase G r - m -- G, P G r S - m - m- P, which is definitely the major pakad of Bhankar, is readily identifiable in all cases including Vilayet Khan's.
Faiyaz Khansahib stresses the Bhairav ang in the middle octave, and that at times, the dhaivat he sings seems to lie somewhere between the komal and shuddh ranges of the note. Sharafat Hussein also displays a penchant for this ang especially through his added allusion to Bhairav ang Gauri. If the komal dha was veiled in Faiyaz' and Sharafat's treatment of Bhankar, it becomes more pronounced in Azmat's and Chand Khan's version. Its refulgent use by Mallikarjun Mansur, dispels any doubt of its existence in Bhankar. We should recall at this point that the literature does not even mention the komal dha with reference to Bhankar. The Lalit ang predominates in the presentations of Azmat, Chand Khan and Mallikarjun appearing in the bandish as well. Mallikarjun lingers on komal dha before descending to Ga through both madhyams and Pa as well. It should be mentioned the the shuddh dhaivat continues to be present in all five vocal renditions of the raag.
At the first hint of ascent to the antara, in Mallikarjun's version, the komal dha mysteriously disappears to facilitate, it would seem, the traditional ascent to Sa by way of shuddh dha. The komal dhaivat reappears in the descending resolution to middle Sa. Traditionally Bhankar is not expounded at great length being considered a 'small' raag which resides or affirms itself in the middle octave. This is certainly true of all the ustads mentioned thus far with the exception of Sharafat Hussein and Vilayet Khan whose treatment of Bhankar will be presently discussed. Critics and rasiks have not failed to point out the various chaya-s or nuances of other raags present in Bhankar - everything from folk tunes to serious and sombre raags. I have personally counted over a dozen. Not many raags have the distinction of drawing from a vast network of influences and still be deemed a raag and not a ragmala. From the apparent chaos of such sightings as Bhatiyar, Nand, Lalit Pancham, Vihang and Vibhas, to name only a few, what emerges is still a living melodic entity with traceable parentage, siblings and far reaching familial ties. These musical ties cannot be explained merely by thath association. Marwa thath to which Bhankar is ascribed cannot account for the komal dhaivat used in all the performances surveyed (except Vilayet's), while ang can. Bhairav ang can easily explain the presence of Bhairav and Gauri in Bhankar. Purvi ang eases the entry of such raags as Purva and Vihang. Similarly Marwa, Bhankar's original parent scale, can facilitate the presence of Bhatiyar, Pancham, Jait, Lalit Pancham, Puriya, Puriya Kalyan, etc. Lalit can reveal its original shuddh dha countenance through the Marwa ang and also its komal dha personality through Purvi ang. Kalyan ang can account for the presence of Yaman, Nand and Kedar. It is Vibhas however, with its multiple provenance from either Marwa, Bhairav or Purvi thaths, which can provide Bhankar with unity and stability no matter which gharana performs it: G r - m -- G, P G r S. And as completion to the Vibhas derived phrase, the S - m - m- P (He Kartar) of Kedar is employed. Each artist carries out his artistic discovery of the raag in one predominant ang, as the examples have clearly shown. Vilayet's artistic temperament in Bhankar gravitates towards Marwa thath. He, in a sense, gives this raag back to Marwa thath. The Bhankar he plays is his and only his but, from the evidence of ang prediliction discussed earlier on, it is not completely divorced from the tonal universe of any of the other samples. Not unlike Sharafat Khansahib who also performs this 'small' raag for well over an hour, Vilayet Khan lets his raag breathe in newly discovered spaces in the same house (the picture of Bhankar as a house with many wings [angs] comes to mind). In his hands the raag acquires breadth and expanse because Bhankar, rich and multi-dimensional, as we have seen, can exist as a Moghul miniature or as a Renaissance mosaic or fresco. It is Marwa thath then (specifically Puriya, Puriya Kalyan) which provides the solid foundation for Vilayet Khan's badhat in Bhankar. This thath also serves to conjure up Kalyan ang in Khansahib's version and the presence of Yaman, Nand and Kedar. This would explain the predominant use of shuddh nishad in his Bhankar which springs to life and grows beyond its restricted vocal usage and appears in all three octaves. This also explains the predominant G/N sangati during the early stages of the alap, as opposed to the quick establishment of P/S (vadi/samvadi) of the vocal tradition. But when the Pancham is finally established in Vilayet Khan's Bhankar, it breathes palatial. The 'small' house has expanded; it has added new rooms, a solarium and a magnificent garden. The gat Khansahib plays, doubtless his own composition, adheres with perfect balance and symmetry to the image of the raag revealed in the alap. It is a genial composition at once personal, different from the vocal tradition, yet still linked to it by a melodic physyognomy which is undeniable. The physical and emotional traits of Bhankar become more pronounced in the Masitkhani gat. They are simultaneously chiseled in the form any gat tries to impose on a raag, yet pulsating pulsating with inner life and further melodic possibilities. The basic structure of the gat is as follows. The mukhra (lead in phrase) begins on the fourteenth beat and not the usual twelvth. -DP G - r^SS | m- m- P- P- | P- PD N- ND | P- mm G - rm | G (mukhra) The Vibhas tries to reaffirm its predominant role in the raag, but in VK's conception it has has to yeald to a peaceful coexistence with Bhatiyar (visible in the phrases P D N; P G r S, and even in the S ^ m jump which it shares with Kedar), Hindol (in the ascending M D S' which introduces the antara) and also in a mysterious kinship with Gaur Sarang evoked in the phrase G r m G, despite the rishab being komal. The frisson of Lalit is also felt in the embellished treatment of the tenth beat in a variation of the gat: mm G - transmutes into D^Mm or even D^(P)Mm, with the addition of an almost imperceptible Pancham. Interesting to note too that unlike the vocal compositions, the Madhyam and not the Pancham takes the full weight of the sam. The Madhyam in Bhankar provides the serene repose in an otherwise dramatic atmosphere and sweet restlessness of the komal Rishab and tivra Madhyam of Marwa thath. As early as his extended play recording of Bhankar and in three other archival performances, Vilayet Khan has been constant and faithful to his mental image and execution of Bhankar. This would suggest that the talim is deeply rooted and that the approach to the raag is anything but whimsical, as some have remarked. Instead of getting lost in the maze of controversy surrounding Bhankar, it would be better to wander through the spacious halls and corridors under the guidance of Vilayet Khan who has opened the doors of this unique raag to us in this recording.
Originally published as liner notes for India Archive Music
Copyright 2004 Machh Music Productions
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