The Bihar Brothers bring their original compositions to the city

Sanjeev Jha and Manish Kumar, popularly known as Bihar Brothers take the stage at the Bangalore International Centre for an evening of the Hindustani classical music form known as dhrupad. Both the singers have been practicing the art form for over a decade. We spoke to Sanjeev about his music and what audiences can expect from the performance.

“We intend to present the hidden esoteric aspect of dhrupad through our self composed bandishes written by great Indian saints and scholars like Vidyapati Ji and Sant Surdas. We will also present some work written and composed by us,” says Sanjeev.

The origins of dhrupad can be found in the Samavedas. This form of music has always been spiritual in nature. The original compositions of this style are focused on realising the ‘self ’ and the presence of God within the composers. Traditionally, dhrupad involves an alaap, a dhrut alaap and a bandish based on a taal.

The singer, while talking about the changes that have taken place in the art form in recent years says, “We have seen a shift in the nature of compositions; from the traditional language to ones with newer and easy-to-identify lyrics, and this has led to an increase in the number of dhrupad performances and performers."

Sanjeev shares that his dhrupad singing is based on ragas. Each raga comes with its own well-researched
grammar, timing, mood and style of rendition. He also adds that dhrupad has always been accompanied by the pakhawaj (a percussion instrument) and that the serious nature of the music can only be matched by
the instrument.

After their performance in the city, the duo plan to work on their ‘Dhrupad Yatra’ project which aims at taking the art form to every household and village of the country.

Entry free. November 3, 7 pm. At Bangalore International Centre, Domlur

alwin@newindianexpress.com  

@al_ben_so