Goa’s rich romance with the greatest home grown cultural musicians can liger only if we preserve and encourage the cultural lineage
They say that history is nothing but an account of men.While men may falter in their accounts, they tend to leave behind arecollection of events that may have transpired. It is from these recollectionsthat we know what our greatest triumphs and pitfalls are. We try to emulate ourtriumphs, and erase the mistakes of the past, so that we may move forward.
This moving forward is applicable to all areas, music noless than others. Goa has had an immensely rich history when it comes tomusicians. Those who have an affinity towards Indian classical music will beall too familiar with the names Kishori Amonkar, Jitendra Abhisheki andTulsidas Borkar. While they were hugely popular musicians, they could havereached far greater heights than they did. Their restrictions were geographicalmore than anything else. Goa did not have the kind of infrastructuraldevelopment that was required for them to excel.
Their next generation however, surpassed their abovementioned predecessors. The likes of Kesarbai Kerkar, Mogubai Kurdikar,Khapruma Parwatkar and Sridar Parsekar left Goa for better prospects. In doingso, they garnered the international recognition they sought.
The key to building towards retaining the best musicians, orany artists for that matter is a provision of needs. Goa is a utopian venue.The current issue is merely one of infrastructural development. If all needs ofa musician were met, no one would leave the state. This is a given.
The chief of these infrastructural needs would be a regularplatform to showcase the talent of these artists. Looking at the 1980’s, onecan trace back to the origins of ‘Samrat Sangeet Samaroha’. It was a festivalthat invited the top artists of Indian classical genres to perform. Fastforward 30 years, and where do we find ourselves? At a point in time that onlyhas ‘Samrat Sangeet Samaroha’ to show for the musical efforts of classicalmusicians. There has been no development on this front, which is the first stepthat needs to be taken. In the recent past, I have, along with my peers, formeda group called Swastik. It serves as an organisation that preserves art andculture. Last year, we organised Swarmangesh, a programme dedicated to theshowcasing of classical music. It was inaugurated by Lata Mangeshkar, and waswell received. However, that being said, expecting private organisations tokeep hosting such events is a little unrealistic.
Furthermore, venues need to be either constructed fromscratch or revamped. The current state of the two venues used to publiciseIndian classical music are in a state of disrepute. By the ‘two venues’, Irefer to Kala Academy and Goa College of Music. The changes that need to bemade in these places are not as much in terms of their physical structure asthe structure of policies. These changes need to be initiatives that have to beundertaken by the government. If there was a policy formulated by thegovernment by which musicians could be ensured of a steady income oremployment, greater numbers of the youthwould proceed in that direction. The closest that has been achieved in thisdirection is the founding of Goa College of Music in 1999. However, what doesone do after graduating from this institution? There is no guarantee ofemployment in any form. This is another detriment to people venturing in thedirection of Indian classical music.
The government has said in the past that aid would beextended to help culturally inclined musicians. However, eons have passed withno progress having been made. That statement brings to mind the expression, ‘youcannot fool all the people all the time’. This is beyond true. What happenswhen artists get tired of waiting for the aid they seek, realise their truepotential and leave the state like their predecessors? Will they leave as well?This is why it is paramount for them to receive the help from the governmentthat I mentioned earlier.
Assuming that the revamping process does happen as a part ofthe new programme; one area of focus should be the generation of awareness of agreater diversity of Indian classical music. Classical music has always beenbroadly divided into Bhajans and Natyageet and a bulk of the general publicremains ignorant about the various genres available to them. The best way ofdoing this is the method employed centuries ago. Known as the ‘Guru-ShishyaParampara’, it involved interaction and training on a one to one basis. Thelevel of attention that was paid to the students was detailed, and as such, sowas the development of their skill level.
If a platform is sought as a role model, the best one tolook to is the ‘Sangeet Research Academy’ in Kolkata. Their infrastructure isabsolutely top notch. It imparts training at a grass root level; somethingsorely lacking in Goa. A strong foundation of this nature, coupled with acombination of dedication, hard work and family support is a perfect blend ofelements required to succeed.
If all of the above needs and requirements are met, I firmlybelieve that Goa will be ideally placed to be a frontrunner in the country as acentre for Indian classical musical excellence.
Dr Pravin Gaonkar is a professor of commerce, an academicscholar and an Indian classical musician. Having started out late in hismusical career while he focused on teaching ‘Business Finance and MarketingManagement’, he has today performed over a thousand times in all. With aninternationally critically acclaimed performance in Singapore, at the country’sTemple of Fine Arts, he is one of a few artists that aims at taking Indianclassical music further by infusing it’s element into other genres. His firstventure, collaborated alongside Sonia Shirsat, and released in Lisbon inOctober 2012 during an electrifying joint performance, has seen him turn thestoic Fado on its head, and has been widely received
