ANTARGEET : SONG OF THE SOUL INTERVIEWS OF RENOWNED MUSICIANS
Dedication
“This book is respectfully dedicated to the sacred memory of those great departed personalities who could not see them in book form.”
Swapan Chaudhuri
This collection of interviews with prominent musicians is a labour of love, shared generously withus by an eminent educator and venerated musicologist. Music is an ephemeral art. We enjoy it in the moment. Afterward, it only lingers invisibly in our memory and nourishes our human soul, Artistes value live performance on stage, and the enjoy the immediacy of the applause and appreciation they gain from the audiences sitting in front. At best, gurus may preserve musical knowledge by teaching a select group of disciples in order to ensure the continuation of their gharana. In other words, a performing artist’s way of preserving music belongs mostly to the oraltradition. Except in commercial recording, music is studied largely as maukhik vidya, transferred across generations within the interpersonal framework of the guru-shishya parampara. This collection of interviews is unusual in this regard. It is intended to introduce individual musicians and their musical thinking to a general audience of students, teachers and scholar.
There could not be a more perfect individual for this valuable task than Vijay Shankar Mishra. Born in an illustrious family of musicians in Banaras, Mishra is heir to a musical legacy of 300 years for which the holy city is known. He learned the Banaras Baj of tabla from his father Tabla Shiromani Pandit Gama Maharaj, and his thoughts and discussions about music and musical histories is firmly based on his practical knowledge. Vijay Shankar Mishra is a passionate educator, a zealous promotor of music, and a tireless institution builder who has earned almost 100 prestigious awards. He has groomed many disciples and is invited as examiner for M.A. and Ph.D.at various national institutions. He has served as a member of the audition board for All India Radio and Doordarshan, and has been a jury for competitive youth festivals. Above all, Mishra is a prolific writer, with 18 books and over 7000 articles for national Hindi newspapers and magazines to his credit. He has written insightful life sketches of musicians, and published numerous, probing interviews of musicians. His essays are also translated in many other languages of India. Mishra is a disceming critic who writes with remarkable skill to interest a general audience and nourish their hunger for cultural knowledge. At conferences, he is known as an orator who impresses audience with profound learning and inimitable ease and wit. He is well-known shedding light on crucial, controversial and untouched topics of immense importance and relevance. In other words, this volume is put together by a true authority of music and music cultures of India.
In a context where it is hard to come by any serious discussion of music for a general reader, Mishra’s penetrating essays are a rare contribution. Going beyond a musician’s biography. Mishra’s interviews give us a glimpse of every musician’s training and background, as well as their thought process and vision for music. Using his own deep love and understanding of music, he frames pointed incisive questions to draw out the subtle details of the musician’s intellectual experiences, and reveals how music is finely woven into the emotional layers of their long and complex life. The collection will remain a valuable record for further study and reaearch, and an enjoyable read for anyone interested in the musical cultures of India. I sincerely wish Vijay Shankar Mishra will continue his noble mission of documentation in the future, and my blessings will always remain with him for that purpose.
Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri
17-1-2024
