Dhrupad is a genre that comes under hindustani classical music and is the oldest-known style of vocals associated with it. Now, it denotes both a form of poetry and also the style of music in which the poetry is sung. This upcoming performance, titled Dhrupad Sandhya, aims to educate the audience about the art form and encourage more people to pursue and learn it. We speak to Murali Mohan Gowda, one of the vocalists to know everything about this upcoming performance.
“Dhrupad is a very rare art form in India. It’s probably one of the most ancient art forms. Especially in Bengaluru, it is even more rare, because we hardly have any dhrupad performances. I shifted to Bengaluru three years ago and since then, I have been training students here. So, two of my students will also be performing at the event. This will be their maiden dhrupad performance. What makes this performance different is that I generally perform alongside the rudraveena, but for this particular performance, I will also be singing,” begins Murali.
Murali belongs to a tradition called the dagar gharana in which they play the rudraveena in the same manner in which they sing and he will be giving a live demonstration about it. Murali also wants to use this opportunity to introduce the audience to dhrupad, talk about its history and what makes it different from the other classical art forms.
Talking about how the musicians for the performance were selected, the vocalist reveals, “The other two vocalists apart from me are Manasi Rao, who started training with me a year ago and Nayana Udayashankar, who is not a full-time musician but has been training with me for three years now. I selected both of them because they come from two different age groups and also because I wanted to break the misconception that dhrupad is a very masculine art form.”
When asked about the aim of the performance, Murali says, “The main aim of the performance is to educate the audience about the dhrupad art form and give them an experience of it in the dagar tradition. The music is slow-paced and it is all about improvisation. The first section, which is called the aalaap, doesn’t have any words. It is very abstract. Because the music is very slow, some people might find it a bit difficult to understand in the beginning, but after a period of time, they will match the energy with the performer and experience the peace and calmness that this music can bring.”
Following Dhrupad Sandhya, Murali has other performances lined up but his focus is more on teaching. “I am also open to collaborations with various art forms, like theatre and dance, which I have been doing for quite some time now,” he adds, before signing off.
Entry free. April 20, 6 pm. At Untitled Arts Foundation, JP Nagar.
Email: alwin@newindianexpress.com
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